The Los Angeles Lakers navigated an unprecedented 2019-20 NBA season to win their 17th championship. Now as we approach what is set to be another strange and likely dysfunctional season, the Stats Insider futures model has crunched the numbers and appointed the Lakers as 17.4% favourites to do it all again.

But before the season tips off and a soon-to-be 36-year-old LeBron James embarks on his search for a fifth ring, we have some questions. 

Are the Lakers better this year?/Did they improve more than anybody else in the West?

The Lakers replaced Avery Bradley, Danny Green, Dwight Howard, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo with Alfonzo McKinnie, Dennis Schroder, Montrezl Harrell and Wesley Matthews. They got younger and more versatile. In Harrell and Schroder, in particular, the Lakers picked up the reigning Sixth Man of the Year and his runner up. 

The 2019-20 NBA Champions have reloaded and look like a better team heading into the 2020-21 season. Have they reloaded better than every other Western Conference playoff team, too?

Clippers: It's difficult to say the Clippers improved while losing a productive guy like Harrell. Especially when losing him to the Lakers. Serge Ibaka is a nice addition and could fill Harrell's minutes well enough, but the likes of Nic Batum and Luke Kennard don't move the needle. Cohesion, rather than improved personnel, will be the deciding factor for the Clippers.

Nuggets: Jerami Grant is an underrated loss for the Nuggets. His defensive ability hasn't been replaced in free agency either. Denver is a good team, and they will improve in 2020-21, but it all comes down to internal development rather than personnel changes.

Rockets: The Rockets are a shambles. They need to catch lightning in a bottle to take a championship level step while also making sure that bottle doesn't shatter into a thousand draft picks in a James Harden trade.

Thunder: Unfortunately for the Thunder, future picks don't score points today. The rebuild is underway in OKC.

Jazz: Like the Nuggets, the Jazz are a good team relying on the development of young players to take the next step. Although Derrick Favors is a nice readdition.

Mavericks: A healthy Kristaps Porzingis improves the Mavericks from the start. A well-integrated Josh Richardson could see Dallas move further up the standings than many expect. 

Trail Blazers: Robert Covington and a healthy Jusuf Nurkic is appealing. Enes Kanter can have a positive impact on the offensive end, too. But at the end of the day, they're joining a team that finished with a below .500 record last season.

We can assume the development of Denver, Utah and Dallas along with what will surely be a more cohesive LA Clippers. New Orleans and Memphis are in a similar boat built on development to Denver, Utah and Dallas. Meanwhile, Phoenix appeal as a playoff team while  Golden State welcome Steph Curry back to the fold. But none can say they have added more over the offseason.

Remarkably, the Lakers may have increased the distance between themselves and the playoff peloton.

Will the defence improve too?

The Lakers finished with the third-best defensive rating in the NBA last season. Allowing 106.1 points per 100 possessions, only the Milwaukee Bucks (102.5) and Toronto Raptors (104.7) boasted a better defensive rating than the NBA champions.

A resurgent Dwight Howard and plucky JaVale McGee had plenty to do with LA's defensive fortitude. The unlikely duo, along with Anthony Davis, of course, ensured opponents shot just 58.9% inside five feet - the fourth-lowest mark in the league. However, despite losing two defensive-minded big bodies, the Lakers defence can improve further in 2020-21.

Davis we know will again be among the Defensive Player of the Year candidates. That's a given. It's an award Marc Gasol won back in 2012-13. While the 35-year-old is at the tail end of his career and doesn't display the quick feet or breakneck bounce of Howard and McGee, Gasol is a savvy defender. He's smart, often getting to points on the floor before the offence knows they're heading there.  

Wesley Matthews is an excellent addition and has already made it clear  that he knows his role in this team: "I am gonna do whatever it is that they want me to do. I would like to think I know a thing or two on the defensive end. I can read situations, I can make adjustments on the fly and I'm a defensive mind on a team full of defensive-minded people."

At 6'7", Harrell doesn't have the size of a Davis, Howard or McGee. Nonetheless, he's still an effective rim protector. Harrell will cause a handful of matchup problems defensively for Frank Vogel. Davis may need to loosen up on his unwillingness to defend at centre a little more often. But overall, Harrell is a solid defender and one that only gets better with confidence and occasion.

While the Lakers lost two quality perimeter defenders in Bradley and Green, they may yet improve on the defensive end. Vogel will likely have at least two of Davis, Gasol, Matthews, Harrell and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope on the floor at all times. 

Defence wins championships and it's already won this group one. Now, they look better positioned defensively heading into their championship-defending season.

What's the plan for Kuzma?

Believe it or not, Kyle Kuzma is still on the roster. He's generating minimal buzz heading into a contract year.

Kuzma doesn't have the overall potential of Michael Porter Jr . He disappointed last season and never looked entirely comfortable within the makeup of the roster. However, like Porter Jr. with the Nuggets, Kuzma could play a key role and decide how much the Lakers improve this season.

Overshadowed by Talen Horton-Tucker's outbursts Kuzma has been a key part to the Lakers preseason games so far, but he knows his role will fall away once Davis and James make their way to the court. That doesn't mean he can't still be effective with the ball, though.

He's a confident scorer. Too confident at times. James will find him if he's open and Kuzma will take the shot if it's there. His 31.6% three-point shooting last season needs to improve. There is little doubt Kuzma will try to shoot his way out of that slump. But where he can add more to the offence is in his creativity, on drives, in particular.

Kuzma drove the ball 260 times last season. Of the 118 players that recorded 260 or more drives, only four players registered fewer than Kuzma's 67 passes while only eight finished with a lower pass percentage than the forwards 25.8%. Kuzma can, at times, be fodder for opposition rim protectors. They can rely on his unsound confidence and sag off their man to collect him. A season-long focus of passing out of drives and improving on his rather lacklustre 1.3 assists per game can do more for Kuzma and the Lakers offence than his sporadic heat-check moments.

Fogel touched on Kuzma's playmaking development  after the Lakers preseason opener: "We want him to continue to improve his perimeter shooting, to be that type of quick catch and shoot guy at his size really provides a great offensive dynamic for us. Obviously, the decision making as he attacks the paint is something he'll continue to grow with."

Plenty were surprised the Lakers didn't trade Kuzma away throughout the off-season. Most assumed it would be a given. But Vogel must see enough in Kuzma to keep him on the roster. At the very least, his $3.5 million this year and the potential to significantly outproduce that number on the court appeals.

The fourth-year forward won't make or break the Lakers championship chances. He may not even end the season on the roster. But if Kuzma can take another step in the right direction and carve out a role in the rotation, he can make the ride a whole lot smoother for LeBron and company.

Will they win it all again?

The Stats Insider futures model thinks the Lakers will go back-to-back. So too does this purple and gold clad NBA writer.

James has shown no signs of slowing down as he enters his 18th year in the league. With his successor in Davis signed through to the end of the 2024-25 season, even if James does begin to decline, he has a top-five player and a long-time Laker to be to fall back on. He has two Sixth Man of the Year candidates, top tier defenders, developing young talent and a coach that knows how to pull the strings surrounding him now, too. 

The 2019-20 champions look better on paper now than they did while lifting the trophy in October.

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