National Basketball Association

Are Lakers a Western Conference finals threat?

Updated Apr. 10, 2023 8:02 p.m. ET

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the NBA's most intriguing teams heading into the postseason.

The squad got off to a horrendous start, but after a historic stretch from Anthony Davis, LeBron James' usual greatness, plus a significant boost from a few assets acquired via trade, L.A. became the first team in two decades to finish with a winning record (43-39) after starting 2-10.

So how good are they heading into the postseason?

Shannon Sharpe isn't high on the purple and gold despite his love for the team, giving it just a 15% chance to qualify for the Western Conference finals.

"Eventually one day, we're going to see a play-in team possibly win, but it's hard because it's not a one-off," he told Skip Bayless Monday on "Undisputed."

"In football, [it's] one game. A team gets hot, they can take off. Man, to beat a team four out of seven, that's something entirely different. But they do have two top players in the NBA, LeBron and AD. They have great complimentary pieces. I love Austin Reaves. [D'Angelo Russell| can shoot the 3, he's great with LeBron in the pick-and-roll.

"But sometimes they get a little careless with the basketball … they can turn the ball over three or four times. They have these spells where they go three, four minutes and don't score the basketball. That's concerning to me, because … they had trouble putting away Utah [on Sunday]. All the teams in the playoffs will be better than Utah."

Bayless was much more optimistic.

"I'm giving them a 50% chance to win the West. I believe it will be L.A. vs. Phoenix for the Western Conference finals and I believe Phoenix will win that in seven games," Bayless predicted.

"This is the weirdest year in the West I've ever seen. I look at Denver, they have the sixth-best odds to win the title this year, [Lakers] have the seventh-best. Are [the Lakers] better than Denver? Next in line, how about Memphis? They have the eighth-best odds, [Lakers] have the seventh. So they should be favored over Memphis, who they're going to play in the first round of the playoffs."

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