Andrew Bogut thinks Lakers will finish 10th in Western Conference this season

John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports

Former Milwaukee Bucks star big man Andrew Bogut thinks the Los Angeles Lakers will finish in the No. 10 spot in the Western Conference this season.

The storied Lakers franchise finished the 2022-23 regular season with a 43-39 record and the No. 7 spot in the Western Conference. Los Angeles defeated Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies in six games in the first round of the playoffs and Stephen Curry and the defending champion Golden State Warriors in six games in the second round.

But the Lakers’ impressive 2023 playoff run came to an end in the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets. Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets swept the Lakers in four games en route to the 2023 NBA title.

Bogut played for the Bucks, Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers during his 14 seasons in the NBA. Most recently, he averaged 3.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game in 11 games played with the Warriors franchise during the 2018-19 season, his last season in the NBA. That iteration of Golden State lost to Kawhi Leonard’s Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals.

The 38-year-old Bogut played the best basketball of his pro career during his time with the Bucks. He spent the first seven seasons of his career with them after the team drafted him with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2005 NBA Draft.

Arguably Bogut’s best season as a Buck was during the 2009-10 season. The big man averaged 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game during the regular season while shooting 52.0 percent from the field. He was awarded a spot on the All-NBA Third Team for his excellent two-way play that season.

Bogut also led the 2009-10 Bucks to a solid 46-36 record during the regular season as well as a playoff appearance. Milwaukee lost to the Atlanta Hawks in seven games in the first round of the playoffs.

It seems incredibly unlikely that the Lakers will end up with the No. 10 spot in the Western Conference when the 2023-24 regular season is all said and done.

After all, the team is fresh off a Western Conference Finals appearance and had a productive offseason in which it added guard Gabe Vincent and big man Christian Wood.