The L.A. Lakers conducted most of their free-agency business right at the beginning of the off-season, re-signing their own key players from last season as well as making some notable additions that are likely to improve the roster. According to NBA writer Mark Medina, the Lakers believe they may be ready to take on the 2022/23 reigning NBA champions, the Denver Nuggets.

NBA news – L.A. Lakers

The L.A. Lakers immediately looked to shape their roster ahead of the 2023-24 season after a disappointing exit in the Western Conference Finals of the 2023 NBA playoffs.

Lakers GM Rob Pelinka stated very early on that the 17x NBA Champions were looking to retain much of their roster that finished the 2022-23 regular season, with many of their current players entering free-agency.

The purple and gold ensured they retained Austin Reaves by signing him to a four-year, $56 million deal which many executives around the league believed was a steal as they already deem him to be playing as though he is a $100+ million player, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

The LakeShow further ensured continuity by re-signing Rui Hachimura to a three-year, $51 million contract, per Spotrac, after the 25-year-old came alive in the team’s post-season run helping them achieve multiple wins.

During free-agency, they picked up former Miami Heat guard, Gabe Vincent, as well as Jaxson Hayes, Taurean Prince, Cam Reddish and re-signing D’Angelo Russell, per NBA.

One notable deal made was the contract extension of superstar Anthony Davis, who signed an NBA record three-year, $186 million deal seeing him under contract through the 2028 season.

The Lakers are currently tied with the Boston Celtics with 17 NBA championships to their name – the most of any other team in league history, but they will be going into next season hoping to break the tie and be the outright franchise titles leader.

Whether they have enough roster pieces to do so, though, remains to be seen.

Are the Lakers ready to try and win NBA championship No. 18?

Medina believes that losing to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals in a 4-0 sweep last season is enough motivation going into next year to beat them, especially considering the amount of trash talk that took place between both sides, of which is likened to the Showtime Era vs. Pat Riley back in the 1980’s.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the journalist said: “They [the Lakers] are always about championships. They want to make sure that the Boston Celtics don't get ahead of them in that championship arms race, which is tied at 17.”

“But they're obviously not going to say that they feel like they're the favorites to win because they didn't win the title last season. But I do know that of all the things that motivate them to win a title beyond the fact that the Lakers' history is about that, beyond the fact that they want to eclipse the Celtics' championship ring totals, the Denver Nuggets winning the championship has also served as motivation because they lost to them in the Western Conference Finals.”

“There was a good amount of trash talk about the Lakers during the [Nuggets] championship parade. When I asked Jeanie Buss about that, she likened kind of the comments that Pat Riley with the Lakers used to make during the Showtime era about guaranteeing or repeat and things like that. She made it clear to me that she feels like the Lakers will be ready for them.”

How did the L.A. Lakers perform last season?

The Lakers arguably had one of the greatest mid-season turnarounds that the NBA has ever seen.

After starting the season 2-10 with a big three of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, they finished the season somehow cementing themselves as the No. 7 seed with a 43-39 record after making multiple personnel changes at the trade deadline, ultimately earning them a play-in tournament spot, per the NBA.

Despite an overall net rating of 0.7 which was 16th best in the NBA during the regular season, the Lakers completely overturned that during their deep playoff run to rank fourth-best with a net rating of 2.4, behind only the Denver Nuggets, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics.

The Lakers will be hoping that next year, with a full season of their roster playing together they can move up the rankings and secure a higher seed for the 2023-24 playoffs.

Only then will they become hopeful of making yet another deep playoff run and avenging the Denver Nuggets who will likely be looking to achieve back-to-back NBA titles.

The Lakers have shown glimpses of being a championship-caliber team, but it’s up to them to execute their potential as a squad in order to achieve the ultimate goal of winning an NBA title and breaking the tie with the Boston Celtics to stand alone as 18x World Champions.

In order to do that, though, they will likely have to get through the reigning champions, the Denver Nuggets.

Can the Lakers avenge last season's disappointment? The NBA world awaits to find out.