Ranking the Lakers’ biggest threats for home court in the Western Conference

While chances of the West’s No. 1 seed are mighty slim for the Los Angeles Lakers, with the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder seemingly lording over the conference, the possibility of a top-four seed and hosting a first-round playoff series is assuredly on the table — despite some skepticism in mainstream circles.

Yet plenty of other teams are contending for one of those spots in what should be another busy Western Conference middle class this season. Mainstays like the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves and Houston Rockets will once again be in the picture. Upstart, youth-laden teams like the Utah Jazz and Portland Trail Blazers are aspiring to assert themselves. The Golden State Warriors are old and highly flawed yet talented and still led by a top-10 player in Stephen Curry. The Phoenix Suns will hope to build on their surprising 2025-26 campaign.

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To sort this all out, I’m ranking four teams I deem as Los Angeles’ grandest rivals for securing a top-four seed and home-court advantage this spring. Let’s get to it.

4. Utah Jazz

The Jazz are very young. They’ve won 39 games combined over the past two seasons. A top-four seed would be an incredibly dramatic improvement from last year’s 22-60, 15th-place finish out West.

But I am not particularly enamored with the Phoenix Suns, whose starting five feels incongruent (Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and Miles Bridges lack reliable shooting and high-feel decision-making), or Portland Trail Blazers, who have major unknowns in projecting what key players such as Ja Morant and Damian Lillard may look like and how they’ll mesh.

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Plus, both teams are already bitten by the injury bug; Mark Williams is out indefinitely with a torn labrum while Shaedon Sharpe will be re-evaluated in roughly five months following a torn right meniscus (though this unfortunate setback could help declutter Portland’s guard room).

More than anything, this is a bet on the talent and offensive upside of Utah’s roster. Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., Keyonte George and Darryn Peterson ooze shooting and should fit snugly into head coach Will Hardy’s offensive…

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Publish date : 2026-09-16 18:30:00

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