Los Angeles Lakers
PG – Rajon Rondo: 79 (Uh… Lonzo Ball?)
SG – Kentavious Caldwell-Pope: 76
SF – Brandon Ingram: 82
PF – LeBron James: 98 (The LeBron James Effect)
C – JaVale McGee: 77
The Los Angeles Lakers projected with a winning record or even considered a playoff team is because of one person: LeBron James.
It doesn’t matter how pitifully average the Lakers’ starting-five looks otherwise, with LeBron James in the lineup, it’s going to look a lot better than it really is.
And so, a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in five seasons will do so this year, something that would have been considered an anomaly if not for the LeBron James Effect.
Granted there is likely one error in the 2K lineup, the fact that Rajon Rondo is projected as the starting point guard and not Lonzo Ball – a switch I believe will occur in real life). Even so, Ball’s rating isn’t any better than Rondo (they are both rated as a 79), so while the face might change, the rating will not.
Head-to-head, Phoenix’s starting five’s beats out the Lakers’ starting five 3-2, however the LeBron James Effect skews the rating significantly.
I do project that the Lakers will not sweep Phoenix as there will be at least one game where LeBron won’t quite be able to carry his mediocre roster over the top and the better overall Suns roster will overcome the lesser Lakers allowing Phoenix to steal a win.
Total Rating Score: 412 Average starter rating: 82.4