On October 12th Beijing time, former NBA star Arenas showed great confidence that the Lakers will capture the championship in the upcoming season. This three-time All-Star guard, famous for his candid and daring comments, has once again issued a provocative forecast.
Arenas is placing all his bets on the Lakers for the new season, firmly believing they will secure the 2025-26 NBA championship. He boldly declared that if the Lakers start the season with five straight wins, he would get a tattoo reading "Lakers 2026 NBA Champions."
During a podcast, when asked about his expectations for the Lakers this season, Arenas bluntly stated: "Champions."
He added, "Some people ask if I dare to bet — if we (the Lakers) start with 5 wins in a row, I'll get a tattoo of a trophy with the word 'Champions'." According to the schedule, the Lakers' first five games will be against the Warriors, Timberwolves, Kings, Trail Blazers, and Timberwolves again. Achieving five straight wins will likely be very challenging.
The last time the Lakers started with a 5-game winning streak was back in the 2010-11 season, when they actually began with an 8-game winning streak, finishing 57-25 but falling short in the Western Conference semifinals.
Arenas believes that even if LeBron James retires after this season, the Lakers will still have enough strength next year to compete for the championship defense.
"Champions, whether he (LeBron) is on the team or not," Arenas said. "We might accidentally pull off back-to-back titles. But for this year, 2026, we’re good."
Last season, the Lakers finished the regular season with a 50-32 record and were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, losing 1-4 to the Timberwolves.