Reasons the Lakers Should Avoid Tanking
Two games into the season and fans are already calling for the Los Angeles Lakers to tank. The biggest reason they shouldn’t: the draft lottery.
The Los Angeles Lakers have started off the season 0-2 with a pair of embarrassing losses.
First they blew a big lead and lost to last season’s worst team, the Minnesota Timberwolves. They followed that up by getting blown out by the Sacramento Kings, in a loss that included giving up 74 points in the first half.
It’s easy to say the Lakers are not very good this year. This is a team that fans know will not make the playoffs. Because of that, a portion of the fanbase is calling on the Lakers to throw away the season and tank for a good draft pick already.
Tanking is a bad idea for one major reason: the Lakers could finish last in the league and still lose their first round pick. Most fans know by now that the Lakers first round pick is owned by the Philadelphia 76ers. The pick will only remain with the Lakers if it falls in the top three draft spots. With that thought in mind, certain fans still want to tank.
Yes, the Lakers awful, but no they should not tank. The problem is the draft lottery.
Even if the Lakers have the worst record in the entire NBA they would still have a 35 percent chance of falling out of the top three in the draft thanks to the draft lottery.
And that’s the odds if they are the single worst team. If they tank and only end up the third worst, the odds of losing the pick become even greater.
Just think for one second about how bad the Lakers were last season. They were disgraceful, with the worst record in franchise history, and they were still only the fourth worst team in the NBA.
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There were three teams who still lost more games than the Lakers last season. Think about that for a moment and then remember that the Lakers added more raw talent to this year’s roster, with the likes of Roy Hibbert, Lou Williams and D’Angelo Russell coming on board.
These Lakers are going no where near the playoffs but last place? Sure, Byron Scott will cost the Lakers a few games (like the Season Opener), but it just feels unrealistic for this Lakers team to be the very worst in the entire NBA.
The Lakers are better off developing their young guys in a competitive environment, one where the team plays to win night in and night out with the support of the fans. More so, you’ve never heard of a top free agent wanting to play for a team that tanked their previous season away.. wait…
Next: Lakers Fans and Their Tendency to Overreact
All said, the draft lottery makes tanking a very dangerous game for the Lakers this season. So far the front office seems averse to the idea and as hard as it may be to watch these Lakers, fans should forget about the idea too.