This offseason has led to some of the most interesting Free Agency moves that NBA fans have seen in quite some time. And while we are left to speculate of how our favorite teams will stack up in the upcoming season, there has been an underlying question in the back of some fans’ minds regarding the state of Los Angeles basketball and which team will prove to be the better ball club.
In years past there has always been one team to show its dominance over the other whether it had been the Los Angeles Lakers or the Los Angeles Clippers. Looking back into the history of the league, the Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960, while the Clippers moved to Los Angeles fairly recently in 1984, starting the “rivalry”. History would also tell you that the Lakers have been typically been the better franchise between the two with the overall All-Time Series being 101-52, favoring the Lakers. This is not, however, a fitting representation of the two teams in their current respective states.
As a full disclaimer it is only right to state that making comparisons of which team is better than the other is utterly speculation and cannot fully be assessed due to the many variables that go into an 82-Game NBA Season. However, if we can assume that both teams are at their healthiest, playing a 4-Game Regular Season Series, would one team emerge victorious over the other, or would we find ourselves tied a two games a piece.
Upon review both rosters in their current states, the point can clearly be made that while both teams are stacked respectively, the Clippers depth is more young with loads of potential versus the Lakers’ multitude of veterans with a handful of young players. Aside from the bigger off-season acquisitions in Davis and Cousins, the Lakers have been able to sign exceptional role players such as Avery Bradley, Jared Dudley, Quinn Cook, and two-time NBA Champion Danny Green. The Lakers seem to have found fitting pieces to surround their stars with, hopefully able to provide for their team while the others are off the floor. For the Clippers, aside from the obvious George and Leonard, have not acquired many big names other than Maurice Harkless in the Jimmy Butler deal that sent him to Miami. That is mostly in part by the fact that the Clippers had no need to fill up a roster quite like how the Lakers did. In terms of depth, however, I give the edge to the Lakers.
Now that we’ve talked a bit about the entire rosters, I suppose we should now focus on the potential starting units of these teams and how their match-ups play out. We can assume that the starting five would look something like Beverly, George, Leonard, Harrell, and Zubac assuming that Lou Will comes off the bench as per usual for the Clippers, while the Lakers have Lebron at point guard, either Bradley, Green, or KCP, Kuzma, Davis, Cousins for the Lakers. From an offensive standpoint the Lakers would seem to have the upper hand, perhaps by only slightly, but more specifically through individual scoring, while the Clippers would be absolutely terrifying on the defensive end. Not to take away the fact that the Lakers have very solid defenders on their team, but the sheer grit feeling that fans get from Beverly and Harrell alone, to not even mention Defensive Player of the Year Candidates Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, is ridiculous. When discussing starting fives, I give the edge to the Clippers.
To say what team would win in a regular season series between the Lakers and Clippers is too hard to tell, especially when these teams come with fresh acquisitions that really change the face of the team. I personally believe that every game between the two clubs will be nothing but a tightly contested game from wire to wire, and to say who comes out on top, we’ll just have to wait and see once the season rolls around.
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