The Lakers know that they can’t put LeBron James’ ambition for a fifth title into jeopardy by failing off-seasons. So they are one of the most active franchises this year, making brave moves to become title contenders. Still, are they as good as their EC counterparts in the Brooklyn Nets?

Last year, it was a no-brainer that the Nets were a 2x better team than the Lakers. However, with the arrival of Russell Westbrook, that narrative has changed ergonomically. A former NBA Champion weighed both units and explained why the Nets still own the edge.

Matt Barnes picked Brooklyn Nets without hesitation

In a recent interview, Kevin Durant’s 2016-17 teammate Matt Barnes disagreed with Kendrick Perkins who placed his bets on the Lakers. The 41-YO retired basketball player expressed, “I’m a Laker fan at heart but I’m gonna have to disagree with you. I’m leaning more towards the Brooklyn Nets. One because of age, and two because their three stars shoot the ball with a great accuracy.”

Turns out 2020-21 was the only season where The Beard played fewer than 62 games in his entire career. Plus, Kyrie Irving missed some of the regular season games because of the league protocols and all that impacted the Nets’ standings. But that, hopefully, was a one-year thing.

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Just as Matt noted, “James Harden is very durable. So his injury this year hopefully was a fluke, hopefully he’ll be back to his normal stuff. Kyrie’s been in and out but most of the times you can count on Kyrie. Kevin Durant is Kevin Durant, he has proven it time and time again. But this team is a little bit younger and they can shoot the ball.”

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The one area where the EC giants rule over the Lakers

Interestingly, the average age of the Nets’ Big Three is 31 while the same for the Lakers’ Big Three is 32. However, the remaining roster of the Lakers is certainly much older than the Nets’ line-up. Plus, with the departure of Alex Caruso, the Lake Show is now further troubled with their bench worries.

Still, their top worry is their shooting. As the former GSW player added, “when they’re [Nets] trying to find pieces, it’s just more pieces. The Lakers need a lot of shooting to help stretch the floor… you can find the guys who can shoot but can they give you anything on the other end as far as the defense of accountability comes? The Brooklyn Nets have a lot of firepower in their Big Three than the Lakers.” 

But the one thing that Matt did not consider was the entry of 2x Block Champion Dwight Howard and how he can run defense so smoothly. So the Lakers can use their recent signings and develop them as shooters while the defense is taken care of.

But what do you think, did Matt make more sense than KP (in the video)? Help us know in the comment.

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