The LA Lakers won their 17th NBA championship on 11 October and the new season will kick-off from December 22. This means, the finalists LA Lakers and Miami Heat hardly got the time to recharge their batteries. The off-season was of duration of only 77 days and it is not easy for the players to be once again at their best after a hectic previous season.

It is expected that Lakers will use LeBron James and Anthony Davis with guile as they would want them to be at their best. In fact, it could be the case that Frank Vogel will keep rotating his best players keeping their workload in mind. Both the talisman were rested in the first two preseason games but got the game time under their belt in the match against Phoenix Suns.

James stated that they are still not where they wanted to be before the season but they will need to accept the current situation. In fact, the teams like Golden State Warriors and the Hawks got more than nine months in their off-season.

Thus, it is going to be difficult for the Lakers to hit the ground running but the champions will look to come up with their best.

James added that it is going to be a long season and they have put in the hard work to be ready for the season but would have definitely liked some more time. 

LeBron James said, “It’s just different, obviously. With the lack of games. The situation obviously with all the COVID protocol and things of that nature. It’s been a different training camp. 

“For the time that we’ve had, which hasn’t been that much, I feel like we’ve put in the work and gotten better. Obviously we’re not where we want to be long term, but that’s absolutely okay because it’s a long season, it’s a long journey. I think to the credit of the guys we’ve gotten better as the days went on.”

The defending champions will kick start their season against the LA Clippers on 23th December at 8:30 IST.