Who Has A Better Chance At Winning The 2020-21 NBA Championship, The Los Angeles Lakers Or Brooklyn Nets?

The Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers are currently the favourites to make it out of the East and Western Conference. With both teams making significant moves both in the off-season and during the season, these two franchises are hungry to win a championship. While both teams have what it takes to win a championship, only one can be crowned a winner! With that said, let’s take a look at which team has the better chance at winning the 2020-21 NBA championship. 

Brooklyn Nets

Out of all the NBA teams, the Brooklyn Nets have been undoubtedly the busiest team this season. From trading for James Harden at the beginning of the season to recently signing LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin, the Brooklyn Nets are determined to win a championship. While this team is loaded with former All-Stars, three out of the six are no longer in their primes. DeAndre Jordan, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge are all way out of their primes and are, at best, big-name role-players. Griffin and Aldridge might be former superstars in the NBA, but Joe Harris, Jeff Green, Bruce Brown and Nicholas Claxton are all much more valuable. 

Even though the Nets are forming an Infinity Gauntlet against the Western Conference, this team has quite a bit of holes. For one, this entire brand-new roster has yet to play a single game healthy together. Signing a ton of talented players is an interesting approach when forming a championship roster, but chemistry should always be an organization’s north star. For instance, the Los Angeles Clippers had a deep roster filled with promise and potential but ended up blowing a 3-1 lead in the Semi-Conference Finals. The Clippers last season taught the rest of the NBA that a team cannot win a championship without chemistry. 

Another glaring concern that the Nets have is the lack of a true rebounding center. Even though the Nets did sign DeAndre Jordan, he is no longer his All-Star self as he can not play for more than 25 minutes per game. Early in his prime, Jordan would play up to 35 minutes per game which is insane! 

The lack of a true rebounding center is what will hurt this team the most. Scoring the basketball will not be an issue for Brooklyn but an inside presence to grab rebounds or play above-average defence. The Nets currently ranked 27th in the NBA for defensive rating, which is abysmal for a team wanting to win a championship. If there were no other superteams in the NBA, this would not be as big of an issue. However, this is an issue because of how many superteams there are in the NBA today. 

Los Angeles Lakers

Last season, the Los Angeles Lakers won their first championship in ten years. After a long, frustrating, and emotional decade of not competing, the Lakers are precisely where they want to be, which is, competing for an NBA championship.

After beating the Miami Heat in the NBA finals last season, the Lakers were confident that they would win back-to-back championships. However, after the Nets unexpected rise as the probable favourites to win the NBA championship, the Lakers mantle as champions could be at risk this season. 

Although the Nets have an incredible roster, the Lakers are not so far off. Matching six former (three being current) All-Stars is tricky but, the Lakers have other weapons that the Nets lack. For one, rebounding the basketball is not an issue as the Lakers have recently signed Andre Drummond. Drummond, for years, has led the NBA in rebounding while being a solid inside defender. His role on the Lakers is simple, out-rebound everyone else, and is a nuisance defensively. The Nets may have great offensive options, but the Lakers are already one of the best defensive teams in the NBA without having Drummond on the roster! 

Great offence is vital for any championship contending team, but it is only half of the game. What the Lakers have that the Nets lack is a balance between offence and defence. It seems as if Brooklyn purely focused on forming the greatest offensive team in NBA history and failed to bring any other great defenders other than Kevin Durant and Bruce Brown. In terms of depth, the Lakers surpass the Nets after the signing of Andre Drummond. To compare, the Lakers projected bench unit after this signing and when healthy would consist of the following players. 

Comparing Benches

Lakers bench- Montrezl Harrell, Kyle Kuzma, Talen Horton-Tucker, Markieff Morris, Wesley Mathews, Alex Caruso, and Marc Gasol.

What this bench unit offers is an excellent balance of various skill-sets. When breaking down the big-man positions, the Lakers have a great inside presence that can rebound, defend and score in Montrezl Harrell and have two solid three-point shooting bigs in Marc Gasol and Markieff Morris. As far as the guards and forwards, Wesley Mathews, Alex Caruso, Talen Horton-Tucker, and Kyle Kuzma are solid backup options for the starting roles. They provide a variety of skills that range from defence, shooting and rebounding. Overall, the Lakers roster is complete but, does it match the Brooklyn Nets bench? 

Nets bench- Jeff Green, Bruce Brown, Landry Shamet, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Nicolas Claxton, Blake Griffin, and LaMarcus Aldridge. 

The Nets bench possesses more well-known names like Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Jeff Green. However, when factoring age and where these players are at skillset-wise, they simply do not match the top players coming off the Lakers bench. Brooklyn’s bench still has a great assortment of talented players, but most of their bench is one-dimensional. When looking at the Nets bench, none of them are known or have developed to become a rebounding or defensive presence inside the free-throw line. While this bench does have elite three-point shooting, only Jeff Green and Bruce Brown are great defenders, but even then, they lack a rebounding threat. Overall, this bench is weaker than the Lakers bench as they lack a key, fundamental aspect of the sport, which is rebounding and defending inside. They may have answered their scoring problems, but who will guard Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond, and LeBron James? 

Concluding thoughts

The Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers have made significant upgrades to essentially compete against one another for the 2020-21 NBA championship. With history repeating itself, both organizations have been in this scenario before, with the Lakers beating them twice in the NBA finals. While the Nets currently have a much better roster than the Jason Kidd era, the Lakers are not so far off. Overall, both teams have a real shot at winning the 2020-21 championship, but unless the Nets can sign another former All-Star, they are nowhere near the Los Angeles Lakers. Both teams are superb at offensive, but the Los Angeles Lakers dethrone them defensively. Considering that defence is the other half of basketball, it is obvious who will be crowned the 2020-21 NBA champions!