NBA Betting Season Preview: Los Angeles Lakers

Kobe Bryant and the Lakers are the favorites to win the championship. (AP Images)"]

The Los Angeles Lakers have a budding dynasty on their hands, and it'll be up to the likes of Cleveland, Boston, Orlando, and San Antonio to knock them out.

According to NBA futures odds, the Lakers are +200 favorites to defend their crown.

They should collect an awful lot of regular-season victories while playing the outstanding offense and strong defense they did last season, except maybe even better with a more experienced, physical presence in Ron Artest in the place of slim, athletic Trevor Ariza.

If both Artest and Andrew Bynum have big, productive roles alongside Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, the Lakers will likely repeat. They also have young players such as Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, and Shannon Brown who expect to get better and challenge veteran Derek Fisher for playing time.

Last season the Lakers finished with a record of 65-17 (43-29 ATS), en route to being NBA champions.

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