Kendrick Perkins believes the Los Angeles Lakers have enough offensive firepower to remain among the Western Conference's better teams, but he also warned that the expectations surrounding the franchise have not changed under new ownership.
Speaking on ESPN's NBA Today, the 2008 NBA champion said he expects Los Angeles to feature one of the league's strongest offenses behind Luka Doncic.
"Well, I think they're going to have one of the best offensive teams in the league," Perkins said. "They still have one of the best offensive players in Luka Doncic. They got enough offensive firepower to win games in a regular season."
Perkins went even further when assessing the Lakers' place in the Western Conference, naming only four teams he currently views as stronger on paper.
"It's only four teams in the Western Conference that I feel like are better than them on paper," he said. "The Nuggets, Spurs, OKC, and the Minnesota Timberwolves."
Perkins says championship standard remains unchanged
Despite viewing the Lakers as being somewhere behind the West's top contenders, Perkins stressed that simply being competitive will never be enough in Los Angeles.
The Lakers are entering a new ownership era under Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, while the roster has also fully transitioned into Doncic's hands.
For Perkins, neither change lowers the expectations surrounding the franchise.
"They're right in the middle of the pack," Perkins said. "But here's the thing -- the middle of the pack doesn't mean nothing to the Laker fan base. I don't give a damn if it was Jesus Christ owning the Lakers, it would still be the same standard, meaning that anything short of a championship is a bust."
Perkins believes that pressure will now fall directly on Doncic as the unquestioned face of the franchise.
"And so now you start this new era, the official era of Luka Doncic has officially started, and now he's on the clock, because the Laker fan base, they're spoiled," Perkins added. "They're built on championships."