Are People Underestimating the Lakers After Free Agency?

On Thursday's program, we talked about ESPN's (very, very early) Power Rankings, which had the Lakers at 10, which translates to 7th in the conference. Not exactly outrageous, but are there reasons to believe that broadly the Lakers are being underestimated? Keep in mind, the Lakers made a massive improvement at center (Deandre Ayton), gained some defensive capability in the backcourt (Marcus Smart), replaced at least some of the shooting that they lost with Dorian Finney-Smith going to Houston (Jake LaRavia) and added a little athleticism to the development program (Adou Thiero) without sacrificing any of their trade assets and only one rotation player (DFS). But mostly, are people just kinda forgetting how good Luka is when he's at his best? Last season was his first missing out on the All-NBA First Team. And if you get high-end Luka combined with the LeBron James that finished 6th in MVP voting, does that put LA's star power at a level other teams can't quite compete with? How much does that sort of star power matter in this NBA? Meanwhile, James posted another provocative Insta pic on Thursday... is this one real trolling or NBD? HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: Are the Lakers being undersold? SEGMENT 2: Are people forgetting how good Luka is? SEGMENT 3: Another Instagram Pic from LeBron! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 5-Hour ENERGY Time to fuel up and turn it up with 5-hour ENERGY®️ Transfusion! Go to https://5hourenergy.com today and use my promo code LOCKEDONGOLF to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Monarch Money Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel Right now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER : 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.