Can The Lakers Escape The Play-In Tournament?

Can the Los Angeles Lakers evade the play-in tournament this season, unlike their seventh-seeded 2023 selves?

With the 2024 NBA postseason now just five games away, it's fun to think about. Of course, they're just the ninth seed at present in the Western Conference, and first need to leapfrog the two teams in front of them. At 44-33, the Lakers are just one game behind the eighth-seeded Sacramento Kings (44-31) and 1.5 contests behind the seventh-seeded New Orleans Pelicans and sixth-seeded Phoenix Suns (both 45-31).

The Lakers' shaky 125-120 win tonight against a lowly Washington Wizards was a great first step. Heck, LA isn't even that far from the fifth-seeded Dallas Mavericks. The Lakers are just two games behind the 45-30 Mavs.

Ultimately, with all the talent on these four rosters ahead of the Lakers (the fourth-seeded, 47-28 LA Clippers are probably uncatchable for the Lakers), it seems most likely that the Lakers could, at best, make it to the seventh or eighth seed in the conference. That would essentially save Los Angeles a play-in game. As the ninth or tenth seed (the 41-34 Golden State Warriors are currently the tenth seed), LA would need to win two play-in tournament contests to advance to the playoffs. As the seventh or eighth seed, the Lakers could theoretically win their first game, a 7-8 seed matchup, to move on. But they need to win tonight's game first.

Last year, the Lakers were the seventh seed in the West, and it didn't stop them from a run of playoff upsets en route to a conference finals berth, where they fell to the Denver Nuggets in a hotly contested sweep. Here's hoping they can do it again.