When it comes to the Los Angeles Lakers, Brian Windhorst is more bullish on the franchise’s long-term outlook than he is its championship aspirations for the current season.
His employer’s analytics department, however, seems to think the ESPN NBA senior writer is selling the Lakers short.
During Wednesday’s episode of Get Up, Windhorst expressed skepticism Los Angeles could realistically make a run to the 2025 NBA Finals considering its roster’s current flaws. Mike Greenberg noted that the numbers disagree, with ESPN Analytics touting the Lakers as the biggest threat to the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the Western Conference.
“I am floored by some of the things that have come up on our screen,” Greenberg said. “The Lakers have the second-best chance, according to our analytics, to make it to the NBA Finals from the West behind only Oklahoma City.”
“The computer doesn’t have to defend Nikola Jokić,” Windhorst replied snarkily, referencing the Denver Nuggets’ three-time MVP center.
Point taken.
Greenberg proceeded to point out that while betting markets might flawed, they also seem to agree with ESPN Analytics’ optimistic outlook (although it’s worth noting that ESPN Bet’s current odds place the Lakers behind the Thunder and Nuggets in the Western Conference). That resulted in a(nother) epic Windhorst rant, this time about how betting odds are hardly the best indicator for basketball’s most famous franchise.
“There’s almost never a good bet that you could make odds-wise on the Lakers because the sportsbooks take advantage of the irrational Laker fan,” Windhorst said. “And I actually can’t even blame the irrational Laker fan, because irrational Laker fans get players like Luka Dončić
and Anthony Davis and LeBron James falling out of the sky to them. So I’ll let them be irrational, but I will disregard sportsbooks who have to balance out the irrational Lakers fans wagering.”
As for ESPN Analytics, Windhorst responded: “It is an interesting number. I just have to point out that the matchup advantages that certain teams are going to have, I think it’s going to be hard for the Lakers to overcome it.”
Brian Windhorst: “There’s almost never a good bet that you could make odds-wise on the Lakers because the sportsbooks take advantage of the irrational Laker fan. And I actually can’t even blame the irrational Laker fan, because irrational Laker fans get players like Luka Doncic… pic.twitter.com/NvUMmqLiry
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 12, 2025
While Windhorst admitted that he didn’t know for sure how the Lakers’ season would play and that JJ Redick’s approach to the James-Dončić partnership has been “interesting,” his primary stance seems to be that the sizable hole in the team’s frontcourt is too big (literally and figuratively) to ignore. Ultimately, there’s a reason why Stephen A. Smith spent Tuesday suggesting the Lakers sign Dwight Howard — another notion Windhorst was quick to dismiss in hilarious fashion.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.