Why This NBA Season Is More Important for the Lakers Than You Think

The 2017-18 NBA season doesn't really exist for the Los Angeles Lakers. At least, not in the way it exists, for example, for the Golden State Warriors or the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Boston Celtics or the San Antonio Spurs, or even the Brooklyn Nets whose overperformance this year could scupper Cleveland's best-laid plans. For Luke Walton, Magic Johnson and the rebuilding Lakers, the 2017-18 NBA season that begins on Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena when the Celtics visit the Cavaliers is about intangibles, a deliberately frustrating and ambiguous term that stands, in this case, for small steps in the direction marked "Playoffs" and, eventually, the NBA Finals.