The Los Angeles Lakers will be very exciting to watch this season. LeBron James and Anthony Davis will be looking to improve the already impressive chemistry between each other, while Lakers fans will get to see how the new guys will look with Dennis Schröder and Montrezl Harrell among others donning the uniform for the first time.
In addition to the excitement we’ll get from our superstar duo and the new players on the team, we’ll be getting some competitive and thrilling games all season for a pretty simple reason. The Lakers are the 2020 NBA Finals champions. Their at the top of the mountain, with 29 other NBA teams wanting to knock them off that mountain this season (with about 10 teams that are actually serious about it). LeBron James knows this, which is why he told the other Lakers about the “bullseye” that will be on their backs this upcoming season (per Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen & Roll).
“The bullseye becomes even greater… For me the bullseye has been on my back since I came into the league, and then you add the Lakers name on top of that… the bullseye has always been on this franchise.”
LeBron's message to teammates about how hard it is to defend a title:
"The bullseye becomes even greater… For me the bullseye has been on my back since I came into the league, and then you add the Lakers name on top of that… the bullseye has always been on this franchise."
— NBA INSIDER HARRISON FAIGEN (@hmfaigen) December 7, 2020
As LeBron points out, if there’s someone in the NBA that knows about the bullseye being on your back, it’s him. As a three-time champion coming into this past season with the Lakers, LeBron has embarked on three attempts to repeat in his career. He succeeded the first go around, as the Miami Heat won back-to-back championships with him, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. He failed to repeat in the 2016-17 season, falling to the Warriors who had just brought in Kevin Durant. What are you going to do, eh?
And as LeBron also pointed out, this franchise is used to defending titles. The Lakers won the championship in 2000 and in 2010, winning the title again in both of the following seasons (the early 2000s team would end with a three-peat).
Let’s hope the Lakers are up for the challenge this season as well.
