Report: Bleacher Report Predicts That Paul George And Chris Paul Will Join The Los Angeles Lakers In 2022. Would This Team Be A Title Contender In The NBA?

In the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers are one of the best teams in the league. From Lebron James and Anthony Davis being the best duo in the NBA to having a great coaching staff in Frank Vogel and Jason Kidd, the Lakers are projected to win it all this season. Unfortunately for the Lakers, superstar center Anthony Davis is a free agent this summer and could most likely sign to a different organization if the Lakers disappoint. But according to the Bleacher Report, they believe that this potential dynasty is just getting started. 

Bleacher Report believes that the Los Angeles Lakers will sign Paul Goerge and Chris Paul in 2022 to pair alongside Lebron James and Anthony Davis. However, in 2022, Lebron would be 38 years old, granting him one of the oldest players in the league. Even though Lebron does not appear to be slowing down despite his grey beard, every great eventually deteriorates. The other aspect that needs to be factored in when discussing the possibility of Paul George and Chris Paul joining the Lakers is Anthony Davis’s contract situation. Reality is, this is Anthony Davis’s team as he is a young superstar that has many years left in the tank if he remains healthy. With that being said, Davis is also a free agent this season and is looking to receive a max-contract and an opportunity to win a championship. If Anthony Davis re-signs, the possibility of Paul George and Chris Paul would be likely but very expensive. 

With Chris Paul being a big-time name and Paul George being one of the best players in the NBA, both players would expect a decent amount of money to entice them. If the Lakers can manage to pull this off, would this team become successful? 

A team of four bonafide Hall of Famers should be the favourites to win a championship in theory. However, when dissecting the Lakers organization’s history, they are notorious in signing old superstars that lack the same production they once did. From signing Karl Malone and Gary Payton in 2004 to attempting to build a team around an ageing Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard, the Lakers are convinced that signing ageing superstars can win them a championship. It worked for Kareem Abdul Jabbar, but in the last 20 years, it’s been an absolute failure! If the Lakers sign Chris Paul and Paul George in two years from now, George will be at a suitable age of 32, but Chris Paul would be 37 years old while Lebron would be 38. In essence, the faces of the Lakers would be Anthony Davis and Paul George, with two ageing superstars that could make a decent impact. With most of their salary cap being eliminated from signing Paul George and Anthony Davis, how successful would the Lakers be? 

With rising teams in the west such as the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, and the Utah Jazz, the Lakers would be competing against some of the best players and teams in the next generation. With most of those teams already making a significant impact in the NBA standings, the Lakers would have a difficult time matching their productions due to father time catching up. However, Anthony Davis and Paul George are the focal points of this team wish would easily crown the Lakers as a top-three team in the Western Conference and potentially the entire NBA! 

The only factor that is concerning the Lakers attaining Chris Paul and Paul George is lack of depth. Reality is, all four of these superstars would want their piece of the pie, which could be more than 80% of the Lakers cap-space. The Denver Nuggets, for instance, already possess some superstar talent like Nikola Jokic while also having potential future all-stars in Michael Porter jr and Jamal Murray. Furthermore, Denver has one of the best benches in the league as they continue to draft underdogs and make them into significant rotational assets that they can use. A prime example of this is Bol Bol, who was selected 44th overall by Denver and is now one of the best players on his team as he is a defensive stretch big! If Denver continues to draft, sign and develop lower end players to complete their roster, they will have the argument of being the biggest threat for the Lakers. Another team that has a significant chance of beating the Lakers is Luka Donic and the Dallas Mavericks. WIth Luka already being a top 10 player in the NBA today, reaching the finals is highly probable. The Mavericks also possess Kristaps Porzingis, a former All-Star recipient who is looking to be one of the best power forwards/centers in the next decade! But similar to the Lakers, depth might be an issue for this team as two of their players would have super-max contracts. The future of the Mavericks looks intimidating. Even though the Lakers would possess four future Hall of Famers, the probability of them beating more young and developed teams would be decently low given the future of how basketball will be played.

Furthermore, signing Chris Paul is the only player that makes little to no sense in terms of impact as the Lakers would already possess a star play-maker in Lebron James. Chris Paul would have to come off the bench, and if he is eager to win a championship, he would most likely accept that role, which would elevate the Lakers chances. The only issue, Chris Paul would request a decent chunk of money hence why signing him could be an absolute failure at the age of 37. Even though Chris Paul is playing great basketball with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the chances of continuing a production similar to what he is doing now is close to impossible. 

In the end, forming a team like this would please many NBA fans while also crushing some. From a basketball perspective, the Lakers would be an exciting team to watch that might fail to correlate on the basketball court. With so much talent being presented on the court, it would be tough to determine how the ball would be shared between Anthony Davis and Paul George as both players are hungry to score the basketball. As far as being successful, the Lakers would be a tough match-up, but due to how well the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks have drafted, traded, and developed, those teams have a much higher ceiling in making the NBA finals. The Lakers would be a fun team to watch and would bring many great story-lines, but Denver and Dallas are just getting started as NBA fans are still unaware of what’s going to come in the coming years. Is this a championship team? On paper, they would be, but due to the rising teams, the Lakers would be a tough match-up for any organization to face and might make the finals, but due to father time, their chances at winning a championship would be very slim. Anthony Davis and Paul Goerge are terrific NBA players and are both top ten in the league; however, they are both unproven stars when it comes to winning games or playoff series. With George having more success than Anthony Davis when he was with Indiana, his tenure with OKC was not the same as he lost his shooting touch and was questioned if he can be relied on as being the primary option for a championship team. Anthony Davis was drafted in an unfortunate circumstance and has his greatest chance this season to prove whether or not he can make an impact on winning a championship while average ridiculous stats! Until both these players can prove themselves to be reliable winning first options on a championship team, they would be crowned the championships as they would be the faces of the Los Angeles Lakers.