Can the Los Angeles Lakers role players step it up and turn LA into a real contender?

Following a tumultuous season for the Los Angeles Lakers that cost LeBron James a full season in the twilight of his prime, LA has seemingly gotten themselves back on track, battling through adversity earlier in the year to grab themselves a guaranteed playoff spot as the seventh seed for the 2022-2023 NBA season. Of course, the weak start they got themselves off to required that they narrowly edge out a Minnesota Timberwolves team missing their former Defensive Player of the Year in Rudy Gobert in the 7th and 8th seed Play-In matchup. A big part of their turnaround ...