Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NBA. All year long we ask questions of the most connected people Los Angeles Lakers Fans and fans across the country. Register here to participate in weekly email surveys.

While the Lakers have mostly the same personnel as last season, the new year has brought optimism among fans based on overall player talk and the performance of key rotation players during training camp.

Ahead of the season opener, we asked fans in our latest SB Nation Reacts poll how many wins the Lakers would finish the season with.

The results were interesting as the most popular win number chosen by fans was 37% for 50-54 wins. Second place was 45-49 wins at 33% and third place was 40-44 wins at 16%.

Note that the least voted option was 55+ wins at 14%; However, the graphic has an error.

The Lakers are undefeated at 3-0 in the first week of the season. So it’s hard not to be high on this team when it played so well and beat three teams that were strong Western Conference opponents last season: the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings.

In addition to better rotations and positive reviews from players, JJ Redick’s use of AD as an offensive center has unlocked his potential. He has scored 30+ points in all three games this season and appears to be an early MVP candidate.

It’s internal improvements like these that, if they can sustain them, will help the Lakers break the 50-win mark for the first time since the 2020 title year.

Last season, despite all the hardships and frustrations of fans and players, Los Angeles still won 47 games. It will be difficult to improve at all in an always difficult conference, especially without significant changes, but a three-game lead is no ridiculous task.

If they can continue to build off this great start and avoid any further key injuries, the 55-win mark may even seem realistic if they are still among the top four teams in the West come Christmas Day.

However, before we get into all of that, there is still a lot to do in the meantime. The Lakers are embarking on their first road trip and their first full month of basketball is just around the corner.

Of course, they won’t go undefeated in all of these games, but if they continue to play with the quality they’ve shown, they should still be on their way to a 50+ win season.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.