The biggest 'IF' for the Lakers in the upcoming season

The  Lakers still need to improve their roster if they want to compete for the championship. They just added the all-NBA defensive player Patrick Beverley. Still, that's not enough if they want to surpass the better teams in the West Conference. Still, two-time NBA champion with the Lakers, Norm Nixon, believes that the biggest issue for the team is the health of their top players.

The Lakers's three best players right now are LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Patrick Beverley. Russell Westbrook is up there, but there's no guarantee that he is going to be with the team in the upcoming season.  Still, the first three mentioned have a serious issue when it has come to injuries in the last couple of years.

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Norm Nox explained in an interview for Clutchpoints, that even after the LeBron James $97 million extension, the team can still build around him. “You can definitely build with him and Anthony Davis. But IF is always health. If they can stay healthy. LeBron has always been healthy, but if Davis can stay healthy, they’ll be good,” explained the former all-star player.

Since arriving with the Lakers in the 2019-20 season, Anthony Davis has missed 84 games. LeBron James was known as an ‘Iron-man’, but since he joined the Purple and Gold in 2018-19, he has missed 71 games due to injury/rest. Meanwhile, Patrick Beverley, since the 2017-18 season, has missed 155 out of 390 games.

The Lakers plan for next season

The Lakers need to add a couple of players that can win a couple of games when their stars aren't available. More likely than not, the three players will miss time during the season.If they depended on those three, they'd miss the playoffs.