With the Pelicans beating the Hawks 117-112 on the road, the Lakers officially dropped to tenth in the West.
After the Pelicans won today's victory, the record came to 30 wins and 41 losses, equalizing the Lakers, and with the advantage of the confrontation record, the Pelicans temporarily surpassed the Lakers and rose to ninth in the West, and the Lakers dropped to tenth in the West.
Although the Lakers have dropped to tenth in the West, they are still in the playoff area and are still eligible for the playoffs. However, the Lakers are only 3 wins ahead of the Spurs, and it is still possible to fall out of the top ten in the West, lose the qualification for the playoffs, and completely miss the playoffs.
If you can keep the top ten in the West, it doesn't make any difference whether the Lakers are ninth or tenth, and they have to win two playoffs in a row to make the playoffs anyway, but they are ninth and have home advantage in the tenth playoffs.
Although the Lakers still qualify for the playoffs, their hopes of making the playoffs are slim, and with the Lakers and Pelicans' current record, they are also eligible for the playoffs, which is unfair to the Timberwolves and Clippers because they are too far behind.
The Lakers are currently 11.5 wins behind the Timberwolves and 5 wins behind the Clippers, and the win gap is so large that there should be no more playoffs, otherwise it would be obviously unfair. If the Timberwolves or Clippers miss the playoffs this season because they lost the playoffs, the format of the playoffs is bound to be questioned.
Of course, in the current state of the Lakers, even if they can participate in the playoffs, they may be difficult to win two games in a row, and they can't even win the Pelicans, so the possibility of making the playoffs is almost zero, and whether they can participate in the playoffs is not so important.
However, if the thick eyebrows can come back early, plus James and Westbrook, the Lakers may still create miracles in the playoffs, winning two consecutive games to reach the playoffs. But that would be unfair to the Timberwolves and Clippers.