Lakers News: Where L.A. Fits In Zach Lowe's League Pass Rankings

The ESPN hoops expert's view of the team's watchability diverges greatly from his performative outlook.

ESPN NBA reporter Zach Lowe has unveiled his compulsively readable annual "League Pass Rankings," an appraisal not exclusively of the quality, but more of the watchability of the league's 30 franchises. Your Los Angeles Lakers ranked significantly higher on this list than they typically do when it comes to their actual season expectations.

Lowe is clearly bullish on the team's watchability, if not its ultimate quality. He notes that he actually had the team ranked second overall in his 2021 League Pass list, owing primarily to his interest in the fit of the team's then newly-acquired veteran point guard Russell Westbrook alongside stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Lowe calls last season's club, which allocated major minutes for veterans who are no longer in the league this year, was actually somewhat monotonous as a watch.

Though Lowe notes James and Davis remain interesting, he doesn't view this year's vintage of the team as much of an upgrade. Lowe thinks AD is a better fit playing center in a lineup featuring both James and Westbrook, rather than the two traditional fives on the team's roster (Thomas Bryant and Damian Jones).

So why is L.A., a team projected to be a play-in club by many, listed this high?

Because Lowe thinks the team boasts the "prettiest court" in the NBA, and boasts a terrific stable of jerseys. Oh, and he loves the risk for unintentional comedy on a team rife with potential chemistry problems. Lowe wonders if James will begin to look visibly annoyed with his teammates if Los Angeles appears doomed for a first-round exit later this season, and if assumed tensions between Patrick Beverley and Russell Westbrook, rivals on opposing teams but supposedly "best friends" on the same team, will eventually boil over into some questionable body language.