The Los Angeles Lakers' first season with LeBron James did not go as planned. James suffered a groin injury on Christmas Day and missed 17 games, and then the messy Anthony Davis trade saga affected the team before and after the trade deadline in February as they failed to make the playoffs.
This season, however, should go much better. Even if they weren't able to get Kawhi Leonard in free agency, they did finally complete the trade for Davis, and made important supplementary additions like Danny Green and Avery Bradley while retaining key role players from last year's team. Their depth will be questionable due to all the players they gave up in the Davis deal and a lack of salary cap space, but they have as much top-end talent as any team in the league.
If they aren't a contender for the Western Conference crown this season, something will have gone very wrong. According to SportsLine's simulations they currently have a 9.3 percent chance to win the championship for the first time since 2010.
Ahead of the 2019-20 season, here's a look at the Lakers' roster and projected starting lineup as things stand.
Lakers roster
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope -- G
- Alex Caruso -- G
- Quinn Cook -- G
- DeMarcus Cousins -- C
- Troy Daniels -- G
- Anthony Davis -- F/C
- Jared Dudley -- F
- Danny Green -- G/F
- Talen Horten-Tucker -- G
- LeBron James -- F
- Kyle Kuzma -- F
- JaVale McGee -- C
- Avery Bradley -- G
- Dwight Howard -- C
- Rajon Rondo -- G
- Zach Norvell Jr. -- G (two-way player)
- Kostas Antetokounmpo -- F (two-way player)
Projected starting lineup
- Avery Bradley -- Point Guard
- Danny Green -- Shooting Guard
- LeBron James -- Small Forward
- Anthony Davis -- Power Forward
- JaVale McGee -- Center
