Thunder NBA Cup: Power ranking each West Group B team

3. Los Angeles Lakers

The biggest highlight for Los Angeles Lakers fans over the last few weeks was watching stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis win gold for Team USA at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was really exciting to see the star duo play and fit well alongside other NBA superstars on the worldwide stage.

But now, the reality is the pair are heading back to LA with a lot of urgency and, in many ways, pressures riding on this upcoming season.

To put it simply, James and Davis are easily capable of winning basketball games on any given night. They're two of the game's greatest players to ever lace them up.

Adding to that, they are the defending champs of the NBA Cup, having won the inaugural tournament last season.

However, this Lakers team hasn't made many changes from their 2023-24 campaign that, ultimately, found them succumb to a gentleman's swept in round one of the postseason against the Denver Nuggets.

It's a very similar roster, highlighted by the fact the franchise did not make a single free agent signing this offseason. This, partnered with the long injury history of Anthony Davis and the aging LeBron James waves a bit of a red flag for Los Angeles.

The Lakers are top-heavy, and they should be expecting big jumps from Max Christie and Austin Reaves, who can take over the secondary roles to elevate this team in the standings. Still, after another season of being in the Play-In Tournament hunt and enduring minimal roster changes, it's hard to envision the Lakers as causing all that much trouble, at least in the regular season and during NBA Cup matchups.