After making many changes to their roster in the offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers are clearly one of the favorites to win the 2022 NBA title.
Retired NBA champion John Salley believes the Lakers deserve to be called the greatest team ever if they reach some milestones this season.
“Their thing should be, ‘Hey, fellas, we gotta win 74 games,'” said Salley. “Then they go down in history. They’re better than the Golden State Warriors, better than the Chicago Bulls 1996, greatest team ever. The problem with the Warriors is they won 73 games, but they lost in the championship to LeBron [James]. If these guys do the same thing, 73 wins, 74 wins out of 82, and you win the championship, it would be the greatest team of all time.”
Surpassing the Warriors’ record for the most number of wins in a regular season would certainly be quite a feat for a stacked Lakers roster.
However, the Lakers will probably prioritize preparing for a title run rather than aim for that record. After all, Lakers players likely saw how chasing the regular season record took a toll on Golden State during the 2015-16 season.
If the Lakers win it all this coming season, it would give the franchise one championship more than the Boston Celtics. That achievement would certainly strengthen the Lakers’ case as the league’s best franchise.