Through about a quarter of the season, the Los Angeles Lakers currently have an 8-13 record. Despite this, Larry Nance Jr. believes making the playoffs is realistic.
So far this season, the Los Angeles Lakers are off to the start that many people expected. With a lot of new faces and young talent, the Lakers have certainly had their fair share of poor games to start the season.
In the Western Conference, making the playoffs was always going to be extremely challenging for the Lakers. This offseason, we saw a lot of All-Stars move West, and the conference is loaded on paper.
Despite many teams improving on paper, there have been a few that haven’t lived up to expectations. Mainly due to injuries, the Los Angeles Clippers are going to have a hard time making the playoffs this season.
In addition to the Clippers, the Oklahoma City Thunders are having a very difficult time winning games despite them adding both Paul George and Carmelo Anthony this offseason. Recently, Larry Nance Jr. spoke with Harrison Faigen of LakersNation.com about making the playoffs. Here’s what he had to say.
"“That’s definitely something I keep track of for sure,” Nance said this week. “[Making the playoffs is] something I would love for this team, I think everybody here would love for the team. It’s very realistic the way it’s shaping up right now.”"
With the season being a quarter of the way over, the Lakers still could make a push and become a playoff team. As the season goes on, the Lakers should get better as some of their younger players begin to improve. However, the Western Conference is still extremely difficult despite some teams not living up to expectations.
Recently, the Lakers played one of their best games of the season against the Golden State Warriors. At home without Kyle Kuzma, the Lakers went head-to-head with the defending champs and nearly beat them.
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If the Lakers are able to play like they did against the Warriors, they could certainly beat most of the teams they face. However, with the team being below .500 still, they could use some wins to help keep the playoff hopes alive early on.