EL SEGUNDO — After back-to-back years of being “a revolving door”, as LeBron James put it, the Lakers meticulously made the roster moves they have over the last 10 months so they could have what they’re experiencing going into the 2023-24 season.
Continuity.
Connectedness.
A greater sense of familiarity with one another on and off the court.
“I love the continuity that we added to our team, the camaraderie off the floor – all that plays a major role in success in today’s basketball,” D’Angelo Russell said after Monday’s practice. “A lot of talent. You can compete with some of the best teams, but when it’s time to win, lacking that continuity, lacking that camaraderie, lacking that likeliness that you have with our teammates with a year, that builds and adds a lot to the team.
“Not having that is a big factor in winning and losing games and having it now is going to be a big factor in winning and losing games.”
The Lakers won’t have to look too far back – or forward – for a reminder of how important continuity can be when it comes to contending for an NBA title.
The Denver Nuggets, who swept the Lakers in last year’s Western Conference finals and who the Lakers will open the regular season against Tuesday night in Colorado, won the NBA championship not only because of the high-end talent they had but also because of their cohesion and understanding of one another.
When play started to bog down, the Nuggets knew exactly what – and how – to get themselves out of precarious spots in ways only players who have spent an abundance of time together do.
“That cohesiveness, that camaraderie, that chemistry on the court, definitely helped them,” James said. “We can just learn to be better. We all wanted to be better individually during the offseason and kind of bring that to the ballclub. If you come back a better player both on the floor and mentally, then it makes the team better.”
Roster stability has proven to be a difference-maker when it comes to winning an NBA title throughout league history, especially the last few seasons.
That is why it was a priority for the Lakers this summer.
They returned six (James, Russell, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt) of the top seven players from last season’s playoff rotation.
The Lakers made most of their additions ahead of last season’s trade deadline with Russell, Vanderbilt and Hachimura – moves General Manager Rob Pelinka referred to as “pre-agency.” All three signed new contracts with the team over the summer.
They didn’t make any massive offseason roster changes during the offseason, but they still added significant players who are young and, for the most part, should bolster the team’s 3-point shooting: Gabe Vincent, Jaxson Hayes, Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish and Christian Wood.
“The new additions that we got, I feel like we’ve added some really good pieces that can complement the guys that were already here,” James said. “I don’t think it’s going to be fully shown on Tuesday or Thursday or whenever we play after that. But if we can get better throughout the course of the season, throughout every week, throughout the course of every road trip, we could be a really, really good team.”
Throughout training camp and preseason, all the Lakers have spoken about is not only getting to where they got to last season but going even further.
Although the preseason ended with a 2-4 record, there are signs that this is the franchise’s most well-equipped squad since winning the championship in 2019-20.
The offense will rely on a more egalitarian system with better spacing, creating opportunities for the Lakers’ playmakers and scorers.
Davis and James are both healthier but shouldn’t be relied on to carry the offensive load on a nightly basis.
There’s better balance, which will be needed in a deep Western Conference.
Health, as always, will be a factor. Vanderbilt, a starter for last season’s playoff run, missed five of six preseason games because of left heel soreness and his status has been deemed “day-to-day.”
“We’re a very confident team,” Davis said. “We’re confident in our abilities and what we can do as a team. We’ve shown that a little bit in the preseason, just how good we can be. There’s a lot of good teams in the league. It’s a lot of teams in both conferences that have a chance to be contenders, but we’re focused on ourselves and know what we can do. And know if we play Lakers basketball on both ends of the floor, we give ourselves a chance to win every night.”
Proving that begins Tuesday.
“[The Nuggets are] the ones who knocked us out,” Davis said. “Not only knocked us out but swept us in the Western Conference finals so that’s always going to be a thing now for us for this season, to take those matchups a little more personal.
“But it’s fun. Ring night for them, so you always want to spoil a ring night. But we can’t put too much into it. It’s one game. They made some changes, we made some changes so pretty sure they’ll be ready just like we will.”