On April 1, Beijing time, the Los Angeles Lakers will challenge Utah Jazz on the road today, and before the game began, the American media Basketball-Reference predicted the final ranking of the East and West, in which the Lakers have a high probability of not being able to rank among the playoffs this season.
As can be seen from the data, the 72.2% probability that the Lakers will not be able to rank in the top ten in the West, and they only have a 24.7% chance of reaching the playoffs with a 10th place record, and a 3.1% probability of reaching the ninth place.
Even so, many fans still have some visions for the Lakers to impact the playoffs, but the data shows that the probability of the Lakers being able to make the playoffs is only 4.9%. That means they're basically going to work straight into the offseason after the regular season is over to prepare for next season.
In fact, before the final release of this prediction ranking, the Lakers already had a plan to let Anthony Davis and LeBron James return to the next direct matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans.
But if the Lakers, who lack Zhan Mei today, lose to the Jazz, they will fall to 11th in the West, and the Spurs will have to fight the Blazers twice next, so Zhan Mei's comeback is likely to be useless to some extent.