Sept. 8, 2026, 8:46 p.m. PT<\/p>\n
Plenty of people expect the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> to be at least a little bit worse this season after losing LeBron James and several other starters and rotation players this summer. There are even some who feel that missing the playoffs is a real possibility for the team.<\/p>\n But there are also a few people who are confident that the Lakers will pleasantly surprise people. One man who is in that category is Charles Barkley of “Inside the NBA,” and he hasn’t exactly been someone who has regularly praised the Purple and Gold over the years.<\/p>\n While on “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” Barkley said that<\/a> Los Angeles probably has a better roster than Luka Doncic did in the 2023-24 season when he carried the Dallas Mavericks<\/a> to the NBA Finals, and he even said he wants to see L.A. do well (h\/t Basketball Network<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u201cI really want to see the Lakers do well,\u201d said Barkley. \u201cFirst of all, I\u2019m a big Luka fan, a big Austin Reaves fan. I think they\u2019re gonna be better than people realize. Luka and Kyrie [Irving] took the Mavs to the Finals, come on, man. This team is probably better; this team is probably just as good as that team.\u201d<\/p>\n It could be argued that L.A. has a better big man in Walker Kessler than any of the big men (Dereck Lively II, Daniel Gafford, P.J. Washington, Maxi Kleber) Dallas had when it got to the championship series. The Lakers also have an excellent scoring threat and ball-handler off the bench in Collin Sexton, which is the type of player Dallas didn’t have that year.<\/p>\n