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Basketball fans rejoice. The Los Angeles Lakers play preseason basketball in just under three weeks. Although the roster transformation this offseason was exciting, fans are going into the post-LeBron James era cooking up a soup of intrigue, uncertainty and a sprinkle of skepticism.
My Septembers, like many of yours, are marked by an insatiable appetite for NBA basketball. Not to mention the Lakers embarking on the official start of the Luka Dončić era.
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Inspired by our friends across the network — as much as we can use that word to describe Celtics fans — I want to try and predict some statistical benchmarks for each player on the Lakers’ roster. Some of these projections may seem impossible, others may be the key to a successful Lakers season. Let’s get right into it!
Luka Dončić wins MVP
I’m bending the rules a bit on this first one and am predicting an award rather than a stat.
Rookie of the Year, two scoring titles, six All-Star selections and a Finals appearance. There are only a few accolades left for Dončić as he enters the prime of his career. Boasting 33.5 points, 8.3 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game averages last year, Dončić made a late-season push for the award as the Lakers finished as the No. 4 seed.
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According to Stathead, only one other player in NBA history had a season with those averages — Luka Dončić in the 2023-24 season, where he led Dallas to the Finals and finished third in MVP voting.
As a matter of fact, only eight players have ever earned at least six All-Star and All-NBA selections, two scoring titles and won Rookie of the Year: Dončić, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Durant, Allen Iverson and Bob Pettit. Dončić is the only one without an MVP.
If Los Angeles (yet again) outperforms its perceived national preseason projections and Dončić has a similar (or even better) season as last year, he must be seriously considered for the award.
Austin Reaves averages 25+ points per game
Austin Reaves is the defining example of a basketball success journey. He’s improved his overall production every single year since he signed…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/one-bold-statistical-prediction-member-152400888.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-19 15:24:00
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