The NBA regular season has come to an end, and the ranking of each team has been basically determined, with the top six teams in the division having the qualification to go directly to the playoffs, while the 7-10 teams need to decide two teams through the playoffs to enter the playoffs.
No one would have thought that the Los Angeles Lakers, such a luxurious team, would now fall to eleventh place in the West. If the season ends now, the Los Angeles Lakers will lose their playoffs, their qualifications for the playoffs, and their bid for the 2021-22 NBA championship.
The Lakers' performance this season can be said to be very bad, except that their signings look luxurious in the offseason, and their performance this season is completely incompatible with a championship team. As of now, the Lakers' record is only 31 wins and 46 losses, which is completely incompatible with the playoff teams.
As the regular season draws to a close, multiple teams are preparing for the final sprint. The Los Angeles Lakers, who have lost five consecutive games, are gradually moving away from the playoffs, and the situation in the playoffs has become precarious. In the ranks of the Western Conference playoffs, the Clippers have decided to compete in the playoffs, the Pelicans, Spurs and Lakers are competing for seats, and the Timberwolves and Nuggets at the top of the list may also fall to the playoff area.
In this regard, the US ESPN media made a prediction today, analyzing the trend of Western Conference playoff competition, of which the Los Angeles Lakers have a promotion probability of only 11%, which is the most undesirable team in the current competition. Unsurprisingly, the Los Angeles Lakers will most likely end their regular season season in eleventh place in the West, and according to NBA rules, eleventh place in the West means that they will be out early. With an 11% chance of advancing to the play-offs, in addition to ensuring that the rest of the game is fully successful, it is also up to the competitors to make mistakes, otherwise there is only a theoretical possibility.
At the beginning of the season, the Los Angeles Lakers were once regarded as the team of the Western Conference, but after a four-a-year struggle, the Lakers who came to the end of the season showed a completely different situation. Now even entering the playoff area has become extremely difficult, so it can be seen that the Lakers can not only be described as disappointed and regretful this season, but more should be sad and helpless.
Unless the Los Angeles Lakers win all of the next five games in China, they are likely to face an early exit. They are now in a precarious position, and the next opponents they face are the Nuggets, The Suns, Warriors, Thunder, Nuggets, and in addition to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are ranked fourteenth in the West, it is difficult to beat the other three teams.
At present, the Lakers enter the playoffs is almost only the theoretical possibility, whether to let James and Davis come back to support the team to ensure that they enter the playoffs, or let James and Davis take turns to ensure health to prepare for next season, the Los Angeles Lakers face a difficult choice.