We're not sure if you heard the news, but the Lakers now are seen as the favorites to win the NBA title next season after pulling off a trade for Anthony Davis.
With the Warriors nursing their wounds from a grueling NBA Finals loss to the Raptors that saw both Klay Thompson (torn ACL) and Kevin Durant (ruptured Achilles) go down with severe injuries, the rest of the Western Conference is ready to pounce.
The Lakers are the sexy team at the moment, but Andre Iguodala wasn't shocked by the blockbuster deal.
"I expected them to make a lot of moves," Iguodala said Friday on ESPN's "First Take." "Rob Pelinka, my old agent, I knew he would use that brain of his, that Michigan brain. And then, you got LeBron, he's in the later stages of his career. He wants to win now."
The pairing of James and Davis will be a formidable one, but Iguodala isn't ready to dump dirt on the Dubs just yet, especially since he expects Thompson to come back even better than before his knee injury.
"It's going to be interesting," Iguodala said. "With LeBron, they gave us some troubles last year, and they really took it to us with that core. I thought Luke Walton did a really good job, I got to say that. I thought he did a really good job his entire tenure there ... But with the Lakers, with LeBron, you got a chance at a championship. You got to respect what he's done throughout his whole career. Talk about living up to expectations and exceeding expectations from a high school kid. That's just an amazing achievement in itself. He was deemed the second greatest basketball player of all-time in high school. How many of those guys fizzle out?
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"But I'm confident in us. Klay will be back in February I hope. He's a fast healer. We going to have another run at it. It's not over."
The Warriors will have an uphill battle next season, especially until Thompson returns from his torn ACL. (This also assumes that Thompson will re-sign with the Dubs, which appears to be a near-lock.)
As the NBA Finals loss to the Raptors showed, the Dubs are in need of shooting and wing depth in order to put an effective supporting cast around Steph Curry. They drafted Michigan guard Jordan Poole in the first round on Thursday, but will need to find some more complimentary pieces in order to make it through the grueling West without Thompson.
[RELATED: 2019 draft class will referendum on Dubs' front office]
James and Davis will look to capitalize on the Warriors' misfortune, but the Lakers have their own issues to deal with.
Don't write the eulogy the five-time defending Western Conference champions just yet.
