3 biggest Lakers overreactions to the first week of the season

It's good to be a Los Angeles sports fan right now. The Dodgers are only two games away from clinching a World Series title thanks to Freddie Freeman and a dominant bullpen, and the Lakers are off to a 3-0 start that nobody saw coming.

Let's talk about the Lakers, because although they returned mostly the same roster as the one that scuffled to 47 wins and a 7-seed last year, they look like a completely different team through the first week of the regular season.

L.A. is one of just four unbeaten teams remaining in the league, but whereas the Celtics, Cavs and Thunder have been able to beat up on the lowly likes of the Wizards, Pistons and Bulls, the Lakers have taken out three serious Western Conference contenders to start the year in the Timberwolves, Suns and Kings.

The NBA season is a grind, as Lakers fans well know. L.A. won the inaugural In-Season Tournament (now known as the NBA Cup) last year, leading fans to believe that a deep playoff run was in store. The team that reached the playoffs was just a shell of the one that celebrated after defeating the Pacers for the title though, and the Lakers were ousted in the first round of the playoffs by a flawed Nuggets team that was then bounced by the Wolves.

Hollywood is where starry-eyed optimists come to chase their dreams, so we're certainly not going to put a damper on the Lakers' hot start by implying that this year will end up like last year did. This is a team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, and a new head coach in JJ Redick that, through three games at least, seems to be pushing all the right buttons. Let's not settle for second-best, Lakers fans. Let's dream big. Where could this season lead?

Lakers overreaction 1: Anthony Davis is going to win his first MVP award

Let's begin with Anthony Davis, who is kicking ass and taking names thus far this season. Perhaps AD was inspired by being part of the gold medal-winning Olympic team, or perhaps he's playing with a mean streak after being snubbed once again for Defensive Player of the Year. Whatever the reason, he's taken his game to a new level, and if he can sustain it, he's going to win the MVP.

Nikola Jokic has had a stranglehold on the MVP award, winning three of the last four years. Joel Embiid took it home two years ago, with Giannis Antotokounmpo winning back-to-back in 2019 and 2020.

Davis may not exactly be a fresh face in the league, but he'd be new blood as far as the MVP is concerned. The highest he's ever finished in the voting was third in 2018 as a member of the Pelicans, but what he's doing through three games makes that season look like a period of load management.

Davis is averaging 34 points and 11 rebounds per game on the year, and he's striking the delicate balance of fitting into the Lakers offense but playing with an aggression that has made him unstoppable. He's already attempted a ridiculous 15 free throws per game while going against the likes of Rudy Gobert, Jusuf Nurkic and Domantas Sabonis, and he's still playing his customary exemplary defense.

Jokic is incredible, but there's something off about the Nuggets and it would take one of the greatest seasons of all-time for him to overcome voter fatigue and walk away with his fourth MVP anyway. Embiid has publicly said that he won't be playing back-to-backs this year (and possibly ever again!), which hasn't helped the anti-Embiid sentiment that most NBA fans seem to have right now. The Bucks are 1-2 to start the season, and with Dame Lillard and Khris Middleton another year older, may not be in a position to keep Giannis in the running.

That means that someone new could break through, and though there'll be stiff competition from guys like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic, AD will be right in the mix as long as he and the Lakers keep this up.

Lakers overreaction 2: The Lakers will be a top-3 seed in the West

Davis has deserved every bit of praise that he's received for his hot start, but it's also been a team effort that has gotten the Lakers to 3-0.

LeBron James, now in his 22nd season, still has it, as he demonstrated in putting up a triple-double against the Kings on Sunday that included 16 fourth quarter points.

Austin Reaves has shown that he's ready to take on a leading role. He's one of only 10 players in the league that are currently averaging 18 points, six rebounds and six assists on the year, and the rest of that list looks like a who's who of current NBA royalty.

Rui Hachimura has been a model of consistency with 16.7 points and seven rebounds per game. Dalton Knecht looks like a rookie that's ready to contribute immediately. Max Christie and Gabe Vincent have been solid role players.

D'Angelo Russell is the only starter that has struggled through the first three games. Either he'll find his three-point stroke or GM Rob Pelinka will ship him out for someone that can provide a consistent outside threat. With LeBron playing point forward, it minimizes the need for a traditional starting point guard anyway.

The West is going to be a war this year. There are a dozen teams with legitimate playoff aspirations, and if the Lakers want to stay ahead of them, they'll need to keep their foot on the gas. Oklahoma City is a sizeable favorite to be the 1-seed in the conference, but can L.A. finish second or third? I don't see why not.

Lakers overreaction 3: JJ Redick will win Coach of the Year

It stands to reason that if the Lakers make a leap to the upper ranks of the West, JJ Redick is going to get plenty of credit. Any coach that takes over a team and leads it to a higher finish is an instant Coach of the Year contender, but with how much publicity the Lakers coaching search received this summer, Redick would be a near-lock if the Lakers can snag a top seed.

The vibe around the Lakers is different than it was under Darvin Ham, who seemed like a dead man walking at times last year. Ham was definitely scapegoated to some degree for the team's failings, but a coach's number one job is to convince a team that he can lead them, and that just wasn't the case by the end of last season.

Redick, who easily could be seen as an interloper that cut the line on his way to one of the most famous coaching gigs in sports, has put in the work to make the Lakers relevant again. The story that came out on Sunday about Baron Davis seeing him watching game film while at the car wash is the kind of thing that only gets revealed when a team is in a good place. If the Lakers were 0-3, there'd be whispers behind the scenes that he wasn't up for the job and was losing the locker room.

Being LeBron James' head coach has not been a job with a long shelf life. Only Erik Spoelstra lived to tell the tale, not unlike the one guy in Smile that lived even after seeing all those creepy visions. We all need to take a deep breath and realize that it's early, and if things go south at any point, it will likely be Redick's head on the chopping block. What if it doesn't, though? LeBron has never had someone coaching him that he not only respects but is also friends with off the court. Old heads would scoff at the notion that that's the kind of relationship that should exist between a coach and his star player, but this isn't your daddy's NBA.

The more wins the Lakers can stack up early, the more the team will begin to believe that a deep run is possible. There were times in the offseason when LeBron seemed content to just get to play out the string with his son on the team, but after the first week of the season, we're already seeing that competitive fire come out again. Redick has had a big hand in that.

The Lakers aren't going to go undefeated, Anthony Davis will probably not average 34 a night, and there will be bumps in the road of JJ Redick's tenure. It sure is nice to get off to a hot start and dream about the possibilities, though.