LeBron James’ move to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Western Conference has undoubtedly changed the NBA. After LeBron’s incredible eight straight Finals and (Eastern Conference titles) his move has opened the door to teams such as the Celtics, Raptors, 76ers, and Wizards to make the Finals. For years the Eastern Conference has been considered the weaker of the two conferences, now LeBron gets to see how he matches up to the best of the west night in and night out. But don’t we already know how LeBron matches up against the West?

We’re not talking about against the Warriors in the Finals too easy. We’re talking about LeBron’s Cavs versus the Western Conference over the past few seasons. LeBron was amazing last season. He played in all 82 games. Yet his team’s record against the Western Conference was 15-15. It was 500. Ok, the Cavs were a bit of a mess this past season. Half the team was traded mid way through. Kevin Love was injured for part of the season. Fine. Let’s look at the Cavs record against the Western Conference the previous season. Kyrie is still there. LeBron is there. Kevin Love is there. What was the record against the West? They only went 16-14 against the Western Conference.

Does this mean anything? Well maybe. It means the Lakers should not yet crack open the champagne. Given LeBron’s recent teams are .500 or slightly better than .500 against the West this could portend a similar record for the Lakers. The Lakers, who are coming off a 35 win season, could be on the outside looking in of the playoffs if they finish .500 or even slightly above .500 in conference play. The Denver Nuggets missed the playoffs 10 games over 500. Four more wins they would have been the three seed in the West yet they missed the playoffs entirely. That’s how good the West was last season. If the Lakers go .500 against the West and pick up lets say 20 wins against the East that could put the Lakers at around 46 wins, the same as the outside looking in Nuggets.

The Western Conference remains incredibly deep and talented. In order for LeBron to make his ninth straight appearance in the Finals allot of things need to go right. He undoubtedly make the Lakers contenders but the Western Conference also got better. Paul George stayed with Oklahoma City, Chris Paul and the reigning MVP James Harden are still in Houston, and of course the Golden State dynasty remains firmly intact and oh yeah what if Boogie Cousins is healthy in April.