The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the biggest stories since trading for Luka Doncic, and it's been less about the deal and more about how it's changed their team. The Lakers are now second in the Western Conference, and people are now starting to talk about them possibly making it to the NBA Finals.
Kendrick Perkins is buying into the hype, and he went even further to say the Lakers changing the NBA.
“Right now, the Los Angeles Lakers are saving the NBA,” Perkins said on NBA Today. “How excited were you guys a month ago before the Luka Doncic trade?”
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“We could get Boston versus the Lakers with the superstar power. Then you take a deeper dive, you say, who's going to stop them from meeting up in the Finals? All the fans around the world probably were in and out coming down to what's going to happen in June. Now they're committed, they're all in. And when you have showtime back in LA, now all of a sudden the excitement, the energy, and everything else is back toward the NBA.”
Perkins makes some great points, and the landscape of the NBA has changed since the Lakers acquired Doncic. Some initially thought that the pairing of Doncic and LeBron James wouldn't work, but they've been a match made in heaven so far.
There were also doubts about how the defense would perform, but even after trading away Anthony Davis, their play on that side of the ball has improved.
There is a real chance the Lakers could be in the Finals in June and at this point, it wouldn't be a surprise because of how well they've been playing. Some say that the NBA isn't the same unless teams like the Lakers and New York Knicks are good, and this is exactly what the fans are getting now.