Despite starting their season off 2-10, the LA Lakers are now primed to make at least the play-in tournament this season, unlike last year.
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This was a team that paid a redundant player in Russell Westbrook its highest wages this season. The Lakers were below .500 until their 74th game of the season. It took a humongous effort after the trade deadline for the team to get to the 9th seed.
Replacing Russell Westbrook with 3 valuable starters/rotation pieces in D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt has been a move worth its weight in gold. All 3 of them bring different strengths that LeBron and Anthony Davis would like to employ.
D’Lo has been a capable primary facilitator in James’ absence, in addition to spacing the floor. Beasley has had his ups and downs, but his sheer 3-point volume also adds to the spacing on the Lakers.
Vanderbilt, meanwhile, has been the underrated signing of the season. He’s turned the Lakers’ defense around nearly by himself with his high-voltage plays. Vanderbilt crashes the boards with aplomb, takes few shots and sticks to his assignments every night.
All-in-all, the Lakers sport a much better look right now and could possibly make a deep postseason run. To get there, however, they’ll need to win a few games.
What does the remainder of the Lakers’ schedule look like?
The Lakers have the 6th-easiest remaining schedule for the season according to Tankathon. However, the first of their remaining games is against Minnesota, 1 win ahead of them in the play-in standings. A win in this game would go a long way towards solidifying their play-in berth.
They have easier outings in Houston and Salt Lake City after that – games in which they should get wins. They have sterner tests against the Clippers and Suns – with the Clippers game being the second of a back-to-back set.
Their final game of the season will be at the Crypto.com Arena against Utah, who’ll likely be out of play-in contention by that point. This means that at least on paper, the Lakers are already favored to win at least 3 games and establish a .500 record.
However, they’ll probably need a record of at least 42-40 to get to the 7th/8th seeds. The forthcoming one-game cushion could prove to be a real difference-maker.
What are the Lakers’ chances of making the playoffs?
The Western Conference standings still have some settling to do by the end of the season. However, the table will likely look similar to the way it does now.
The Lakers are 1.5 games behind the Warriors, with Golden State having only 5 games remaining. They likely won’t dislodge Steph Curry and co, meaning that they will have to make the postseason through play-ins.
They doubtless have the most star power among the current play-in teams to push through 2 single-game eliminations, even if they finish 9th. The Mavericks – 1.5 games behind – are unlikely to make up the deficit unless they win all 5 of their remaining games.
