Kendrick Perkins says Warriors have better shot than ‘dysfunctional’ Lakers at making run

Former Boston Celtics big man Kendrick Perkins thinks that the Golden State Warriors have a better shot at making a run in the 2024 playoffs than the Los Angeles Lakers.

“What I’m lookin’ at when I look at the Warriors, I’m looking at a team that has bought all the way in, right?” Perkins said. “A team now that has finally got over that hump, that’s saying, ‘You know what? We’re taking ourselves out of the equation and losing ourselves within the team.’ When I look at the Lakers, I see a dysfunctional organization right now. We don’t know if Darvin Ham is gon’ play D-Lo (D’Angelo Russell) in the fourth quarter. We don’t know what type of minutes he’s gonna get. He may go to IG and post something about dloading and all things to that nature.”

The Lakers came out on top against the Warriors in six games in the playoff series between the two teams in the 2023 playoffs.

Fast forward to the current day, and the Warriors and Lakers are in similar positions in the Western Conference playoff race. The former sits as the No. 9 seed in the conference with a 33-28 record, while the latter is right behind Golden State as the No. 10 seed and boasts a 34-30 record.

Both teams have been playing winning basketball as of late. The Lakers are winners of six of their last 10 games and only a few days removed from picking up a win over the Oklahoma City Thunder — who are in a tie with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the top record in the Western Conference at 43-19 — on March 4.

As for the Warriors, they own an impressive 7-3 record over their past 10 contests and are fresh off a 35-point home win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday. The Bucks headed into the game riding a six-game winning streak and hadn’t lost since losing to the Memphis Grizzlies on Feb. 15 prior to the All-Star break.

The Lakers have a tough portion of their regular-season schedule on the horizon. Each of the team’s next four games will be against opponents with records above the .500 mark in the Bucks, Timberwolves, Sacramento Kings and Warriors.

But on the bright side, the Lakers will play three of those four contests at Crypto.com Arena, with the one exception being the matchup versus the Kings on March 13.

Not only will the Lakers’ upcoming game against the Warriors on March 16 be a rematch of last year’s playoff series, but it could also have postseason implications as both teams have some winning to do in order to qualify for the playoffs.