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Brian Windhorst Cannot Find a Single Reason Not to Believe in the Red-Hot Lakers

The Lakers have rolled all the way to second in the Western Conference.

Kyle Koster

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) and guard Luka Doncic (77) react after a play during the first quarter against the LA Clippers at Crypto.com Arena.
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) and guard Luka Doncic (77) react after a play during the first quarter against the LA Clippers at Crypto.com Arena. / Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Lakers look like a new team since trading for Luka Doncic, which makes all the sense in the world because having both him and LeBron James on the same team is a pretty solid plan. They captured their sixth consecutive victory by downing the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday night and, just like that, are in possession of the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. It's a marathon, not a sprint and it's conceivable that the Lakers will eventually lose but for right now, they look entirely capable of winning an NBA title.

Brian Windhorst was on Get Up on Monday morning to react to the development and what has to be music to the ears of all Los Angeles fans.

"I am looking for a reason not to believe in this team, but they woke up today with a No. 2 seed," the NBA insider said. "They are really in a good place right now."

Fact check: true.

In setting up the question, host Mike Greenberg said that he didn't think things were supposed to be this good this quickly for the Lakers. And that's probably the prevailing thought most people had. At the same time ... why not? When Doncic was traded there seemed to be this odd thing where a lot of pundits forgot what type of player he is, especially coming off an NBA Finals trip.

Windhorst pointed out that this is now nine straight wins for the Lakers over teams with winning records so they're not beating up on also-rans. In short: everything is going great for the purple and gold and the trade becomes even more unbelievable with each passing day.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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