Another NBA opening night is upon us and for the fourth time in the last eight seasons, the Golden State Warriors will begin the year by receiving their championship rings and raising their championship banner.
Winning the 2022 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, the Warriors have now entered “dynasty” territory and they have controlled the last decade of basketball.
Stephen Curry is still playing at an all-time high level and looking at those around him, it is hard to imagine that the Warriors will be falling off anytime soon. Klay Thompson and Draymond Green remain right by Curry’s side, Andre Iguodala is preparing for his “Last Dance” season, Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins are fresh off of massive contract extensions and the Warriors have a plethora of talent coming in behind all of these guys. .
The Warriors will undoubtedly be favorites to win another championship and they are currently favored to win their first game of the new season against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Things have not been great in Los Angeles since the Lakers captured their 18th championship in team history in 2020, as the Lakers have gone 75-79 the last two years, failing to make the playoffs this past season.
Completely revamping their roster in the offseason, the Lakers are hoping not only to remain healthy, but to get back to the playoffs and have a chance at winning yet another championship. Things will not be easy for this group though, as LeBron James is not getting any younger, Anthony Davis has struggled to remain on the floor and Russell Westbrook remains one of the biggest question marks in the entire league.
It is always fun to watch the Warriors and Lakers anytime they square off and here is what to watch for in preparation for Tuesday’s opening night showdown.
Can the Lakers Keep Up With the Warriors From Deep?
Perhaps the biggest question mark surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers entering the 2022-23 season revolves around those around their star players.
The one thing that has always made teams led by LeBron James successful is the fact that they had viable three-point shooting options. Looking at the Lakers roster right now, it is hard to point to anyone and think that they can knock down multiple three-pointers a game other than James, who is not really known to be a three-point shooting threat!
This is a big concern for the Lakers right now and in this opening night matchup against a team that just averaged 14.3 made three-pointers per game a season ago, how will they be able to match the Warriors shot-for-shot from the perimeter ?
The quick answer is that they will not be able to and if they let the Warriors make 15 or more three-pointers, this game could get ugly very quickly, as the Lakers will be lucky to get any production from the perimeter.
Converting in transition and being one of the top scoring defenses like they were during the 2019-20 season is the only way the Lakers can be real contenders in the Western Conference this season and a big part of finding success depends on Anthony Davis.
He is going to need to be effective in the paint as a primary scoring option and most importantly, he is going to need to stay healthy. As cliché as it sounds, the Lakers’ success this season depends on Davis’ health.
Andrew Wiggins to Pick Up Right Where He Left Off:
In the 2022 NBA Finals, Stephen Curry was fantastic, but the Warriors may not have been able to defeat the Boston Celtics without the contributions of Andrew Wiggins.
Not only was he effective as a scorer both on the drive and from the perimeter, but Wiggins really made a name for himself with his stellar on-ball defense and rebounding abilities. In fact, Wiggins led all players in the Finals with 53 total rebounds and he averaged a series-high 8.8 rebounds per game.
Given his length and athleticism, it seems like Andrew Wiggins has really found his calling card in this league with the Warriors as a key rebounding threat that crashes from the perimeter to the paint on every single shot. His second-chance opportunities kept the Warriors’ offense alive in the 2022 NBA Finals and now entering the new year, Wiggins’ role on this team has been created.
He recently put pen to paper on a new four-year, $109 million extension and the best thing from Wiggins’ perspective about being on this roster is the fact that he doesn’t need to be their primary scoring option offensively.
Playing off of Curry and Thompson, Wiggins is sometimes the third-best scoring option on this team, but with Jordan Poole emerging as a key scoring weapon as well, he can sometimes be viewed as the fourth-best scoring option on this team. The fact of the matter is that opposing teams do not put their best defenders on him, which is why he had a breakout All-Star season.
Andrew Wiggins is not the best scorer in the league and never will be, but he plays to his strengths and uses his athleticism to his advantage. Plus, he is coming off a season in which he shot a career-best 39.3 percent from three-point range.
Another All-Star season is on the horizon for Wiggins if he can replicate the success he had last season and if he can continue to grow as one of the better rebounding wings in this league.
Warriors to Find Depth in Their Youth:
The departures of Damion Lee, Nemanja Bjelica, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Otto Porter Jr. have definitely sparked some conversation about whether or not the Warriors have the depth they need to sustain success.
Well, they did bring in Donte DiVincenzo on a very favorable deal in free agency to try and replace some of this lost production, but a vast majority of the Warriors’ depth will consist of their recent first-round picks throughout the years.
The down years the Warriors had following their defeat in the 2019 NBA Finals may have been the best thing to ever happen to this organization simply because they ended up having the ability to draft high-potential guys like James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and others.
This young core Golden State has is as good as any other team’s young core and what makes them special is the fact that they are already getting championship experience.
James Wiseman is finally healthy and will be an impact center behind Kevon Looney that the Warriors have never had, Jonathan Kuminga will be a utility-like player that the team can use for really any purpose, especially defensively as he continues to grow, and Moses Moody has shown flashes of being another elite-level perimeter scorer for this team.
Obviously all the attention for this team will be cast on guys like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, but in order for the Warriors to win another championship, this young core will need to continue growing and be a factor from opening night on.
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