This year's showdown marks the first NBA Finals between two teams who missed the playoffs the previous season and it is the Lakers, powered by three-times champion James and Anthony Davis, who are favored in the best-of-seven games series. James, who has reached nine of the last 10 NBA Finals, won his first two championships with Miami in 2012 and 2013, picked up a third in 2016 with Cleveland and joined the Lakers in 2018 with the goal of restoring the franchise's glorious past.