Lake Show Life
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Lakers’ path to the NBA Playoffs just got a whole lot easier

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 07: Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates his basket with Dennis Schroder #17 and Rui Hachimura #28 during a 112-103 Lakers win over the Memphis Grizzlies at Crypto.com Arena on March 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2023 NBAE. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 07: Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates his basket with Dennis Schroder #17 and Rui Hachimura #28 during a 112-103 Lakers win over the Memphis Grizzlies at Crypto.com Arena on March 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2023 NBAE. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Lakers reinvented the roster at the trade deadline and the results have been fantastic thus far. Los Angeles is 7-3 since the new additions started playing and a lot of those games have come without LeBron James.

As it stands right now, the Lakers are in play-in position as they are tied with the New Orleans Pelicans for the ninth-best record in the Western Conference. Los Angeles is 1.5 games back of the seven and eight seeds and is two games back of the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers.

While the Lakers are dealing with bad injury luck of their own, they have been able to stay afloat with this new roster. Now, other teams in the Western Conference are starting to pick up injuries of their own, significantly increasing LA’s chance of making it into the NBA Playoffs.

Luka Doncic and Kevin Durant injuries benefit the Lakers.

Injuries are never something to root for and that is not at all what Lakers fans should be doing. However, we would be lying if we simply pretended like these two injuries didn’t have big implications for the Lake Show this season.

Luka Doncic is dealing with a thigh issue and is set to get an MRI to diagnose the extent of the injury. His timeline is extremely unclear but Doncic himself said it “wasn’t good”. While they have Kyrie Irving, not having Doncic will likely result in Dallas falling in the standings.

Right now Dallas is tied for the seventh seed. A 1.5-game cushion is not big at all and the Lakers could end up leap-frogging them rather quickly as long as they keep winning basketball games.

Kevin Durant suffered a scary non-contact injury while warming up for the Suns on Wednesday. Durant could miss the rest of the regular season with an ankle sprain that could also impact his availability in the NBA Playoffs.

https://twitter.com/sportingnews/status/1633633264685531136

Phoenix is currently the fourth seed in the Western Conference. It is unlikely that they fall all the way to the Lakers but with the team not having much depth at the deadline anything can happen. Phoenix is only five games ahead of the Lakers and 3.5 games ahead of having to play in the Play-In Tournament.

Los Angeles obviously does not have a clean bill of health but the team has been able to stay alive thus far with LeBron James out. If these injuries are as serious as they could be then the Suns and Mavericks are not as big of challenges to the Lake Show.

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