Lakers insider predicts decent start to the 2024-25 season in their first three tough matchup games
The LA Lakers face a stern test when they play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday (Oct. 22) at Crypto.com Arena. They follow it up with two more challenging home games in a back-to-back series against the Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings on Oct. 25 and 26 respectively. While the scheduling quirk caused quite a debate on social media, Lakers insider Jovan Buha of The Athletic painted a more optimistic picture.
Speaking on his podcast Buha's Block, the analyst weighed in on the team's first three games of the season saying that the Purple and Gold have had tough opening slates over the last few years. He added that it felt like the league would benefit from the Lakers' slow starts.
"With this opening slate here, they have a three-game homestand to open things up against Minnesota, Phoenix, and Sacramento. It's not ideal to have a back-to-back in your second and third games, but it is a home back-to-back and the Lakers have been a much better home team than a road team at least last season. I suspect they will be a pretty good home team again this season, so I think they are gonna start 2-1 across these three games."
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Last season, LA went 28-14 at home, and 19-27 on the road as they finished seventh seed in the regular season. They booked a playoff date with the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs but went down 4-1 despite looking impressive and primed to win a couple more contests.
The T-Wolves and the Kings had the better of LA last year. While the latter had a 4-0 regular season series sweep, Minnesota was 3-1. The Lakers enjoyed a decent run over the Suns winning 3-2 in their five meetings last season.
LeBron James addressed the Lakers expectations for the upcoming season
When asked about his thoughts regarding the Lakers' upcoming season, LeBron James focused on the prep work over bold statements. Speaking to the media in July while gearing up for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 4x NBA champion said it was all about putting in the work.
"My expectation is for us to go to work every day, try to get better every day, and push each other every day. Me as a captain, A.D. as the captain, we got to hold everybody accountable from the player standpoint. We're coming in with a new system, so we have to learn the system and see what Coach Redick and the rest of the coaching staff want us to do, and then go from there."
LA has been one of the quiet teams this summer with no massive signings or even trades of any magnitude. Per reports, they did try and land Klay Thompson, and DeMar DeRozan, but lost both veterans to the Dallas Mavericks and the Kings respectively.
All signs point to a run-it-back season, at least till the trade deadline. It will be interesting to see how they fare under JJ Redick and a new batch of assistant coaches.