Lakers Rumors: LA Front Office Confident Team Will Qualify For Postseason
Your Los Angeles Lakers, who will take the floor again tonight against the miserable 10-27 Charlotte Hornets, currently sit at a less-than-inspiring 15-21 season record for 2022-23, good for just the 13th seed in a talented Western Conference.
The team's front office has appeared reticent to make a win-now move that would require it to sacrifice future draft capital the team would need to get off the expiring deals of overpriced veteran point guards Russell Westbrook (who remains a good player, just expensive and an awkward fit), Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn.
In a larger piece examining the Utah Jazz's trade assets and how the team is approaching this year's February 9th deadline, Jazz beat reporter Tony Jones of The Athletic notes in a seeming aside that the Lakers' front office is confident that LA will qualify for the postseason. Whether he is speculating or speaking from the vantage point of an inside tip, it's fascinating that LA would have any kind of confidence at all, given how badly the Lakers face-planted last year.
Evening assuming that, in a broader definition of "postseason," Jones is including the play-in tournament that allows teams to qualify for the playoffs proper, yours truly is actually somewhat skeptical that LA will make it. A relatively timely return for Anthony Davis, and better-than-anticipated health for Davis and fellow injury-prone All-Star LeBron James going forward, could do a lot to change that.
The Lakers currently sit 2.5 games behind the 10th-seeded Jazz for a crack at the play-in tournament, but just five games ahead of the 15th-seeded Houston Rockets for their conference's floor and nadir.
The current play-in tournament race is led by significantly better teams than LA: the Phoenix Suns (currently the 7th seed), Portland Trail Blazers, Golden State Warriors, Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves are all striving for those four play-in slots along with the Lakers.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently in the thick of the hunt, too, but it remains entirely possible that both Thunder and Jazz management ultimately opt out of the race. There's no guarantee that the Lakers can make the postseason, so the team's supposed optimism is, frankly, unfounded and a bit disconcerting.
