Beijing time on March 20, the NBA Lakers lost to the Wizards on the road, they once held a 16-point lead, but unfortunately the last quarter was played by Porzingis to play a reversal, after losing this game, the Lakers' winning rate became 42.3%, the difficulty of entering the playoffs is not high, but want to enter the playoffs, this may be a problem, first of all, the Lakers may have to beat the Pelicans, and then defeat the Timberwolves or Clippers, unfortunately, the lakers recently faced these 3 teams have lost, The Clippers swept the Lakers in the regular season for 2 consecutive seasons, and you really have a hard time believing that the Lakers can win 2 consecutive life-and-death battles to enter the playoffs, but this Sai Weng lost his horse and knew that it was not a blessing? The Lakers do not enter the playoffs in fact, there will be some benefits, the US media "Lakeshowlife" listed 3 points, may wish to see the US media listed 3 major benefits?
1 Westbrook is more likely to be out of the Lakers next season
Russell Westbrook's performance in the last 2 games is very good, but from the overall point of view, Wei Shao is somewhat inappropriate in the Lakers, especially in the case of his annual salary of up to $47.1 million next season, Wei Shao holds the player option, the average player will certainly not be willing to give so much money, but just like Dennis Schroeder, some players think that you can't figure it out, if the Lakers can't get into the playoffs, this is estimated to make Wei Shao feel disheartened, which will make Wei Shao leave the possibility slightly improved, Of course, this possibility itself is not very likely, it may be from 0.1% to 0.11%, since the US media have said that it is a benefit, it is not too small...
2. Can reduce LeBron's "mileage"
LeBron James is 37 years old, very few NBA athletes can continue to fight at this age, Zhan Huang is like a superman, his performance is indeed incredible, but this is incredible is one thing, age growth is another thing, injuries, pain is likely to be more and more, if the Lakers miss the playoffs, this means that Zhan Huang can rest for a while, next season, 38-year-old Zhan Huang may continue to maintain the current performance, Anthony Davis's situation is also worth mentioning, He made a hasty comeback in the playoffs last season, ended up injured again, and missed the playoffs, which allowed Brother Thick Brow to get a longer rest, and Zhan Huang's contract has 1 season left, and he is well-nourished and ready for next season, which is indeed a good thing in some ways.
3. The Lakers management has an operational advantage
The Lakers won the championship in 2020, and then they ushered in the shortest offseason in the history of the NBA, in that offseason the Lakers did a lot of operations, but the results later showed that the Lakers did not do well in that offseason, if the Lakers can not enter the playoffs this season, which means that the Lakers management can have a few more weeks to operate, earlier than many teams into the offseason operation, the Lakers management has an operational time advantage, relative to the championship, The 3 benefits mentioned by the US media are worthless, but if the probability of not winning the championship is highly likely, then get some benefits, which seems to make the Lakers look less bad this season, right?