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NBA: These Lakers are different

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/Hoops Central illustration
The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most historic and recognizable franchises in sports. Some of the greatest of all-time have worn the purple and gold: Wilt, West, Magic, Kareem, Shaq, and Kobe just name a few.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis are next in that long line. It's the arrrival of "The Brow" that has reshaped L.A.

Just think back to last year when The King arrived. The Lakers were expected to immediately do huge things: Playoffs, The Finals, maybe even a title.

It was anything but a smooth season, as they went 37-45 and missed the playoffs. LeBron constantly had the scoring load solely on his shoulders. His numbers were great as usual, but the cast of guys around him struggled. It was a disappointment to say the least.

This past summer you heard those same Lakers narratives: Questionable coaching, good but not good enough free-agent signings outside of LeBron, and dysfunction in the front-office.

To quiet the critics, L.A had to do something big in the offseason. They did just that, firing coach Luke Walton and replacing him with Frank Vogel, and making a blockbuster trade with the New Orleans Pelicans to bring Anthony Davis to town. While they gave up four future first-round draft picks, it's about the now.

There are only so many more chances for LeBron to win it all, and bringing in AD has turned them around completely.

The NBA's best duo has the Lakers out to a 23-3 start. They are winners of six straight games and take their game away from home as well with 13-1 road record and are 3.5 games up on their in-city rival the Clippers in the West standings.

So a long story short is, these are not your same ol' Lakers: These Lakers are different

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