Why the Los Angeles Lakers are completely safe from play-in tournament
By Jason Reed
When LeBron James rolled his ankle and suffered a high ankle sprain on March 20 against the Atlanta Hawks it seemed like a legitimate threat that the Los Angeles Lakers could fall all the way to the seventh seed. If so, the Lakers would have had to participate in the NBA’s new play-in tournament.
The seventh and eighth seed will play one game to determine who the seventh seed in the conference is for the first round of the playoffs. The loser of the seventh-eighth game will play the winner of the ninth-tenth game to determine who the eighth seed in the conference will be.
This means that a team can finish as the seventh seed in the conference and miss the playoffs with two consecutive losses. A 10th seed can make the playoffs with two consecutive wins.
Anything can happen in two games and the Los Angeles Lakers falling into the play-in tournament would have been terrible. As the fifth seed in the West nearly a month later, it still seems possible.
Don’t worry. The Los Angeles Lakers have no threat of falling into the play-in tournament.
Anything can happen in the game of basketball but it feels pretty safe to say that the lowest the Los Angeles Lakers could possibly fall is the sixth seed in the West. That is despite the Lakers having two games against the seventh-seeded Dallas Mavericks as well as a tough schedule to close the season.
In the final 15 games, the Lakers have to play the Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Portland Trail Blazers and Phoenix Suns. A third of the games are against tough teams, another two are against the team that is hoping to jump the Lakers.
On paper, it is possible. In reality, it will not happen. Here is why.