If the NBA ended its regular season on Monday afternoon (that’s a thing now due to the COVID-19 protocol), the reigning champion Lakers would be the sixth seed in the West for the 2021 playoffs.
But the league is moving forward and the final two weeks are for now. As a result, LA may have trouble placing it at that location.
LeBron James is working his way back from an ankle sprain and the team is anticipating how to play with him and Anthony Davis. The Lakers lost 0–1 to the Raptors 121–114 at home on Sunday night following James ’return, and they will host the Nuggets on Monday.
MORE: Seeding scenario, breakdown for final spot in 2021 playoffs
They are dangerously close to falling to a 7-8 game in the NBA’s play-in tournament. LA (36-28) is tied for sixth place with the Trail Blazers and the teams will meet in Portland on Friday. The winner will receive a head-to-head tiebreaker. The Lakers held the tiebreaker at this time with a better conference record.
James Told reporters on sunday It does not matter where the Lakers are preferred if he is not close to full strength, at least for the postman, but he is not thrilled that there are play-in games in general.
“If I am not 100 percent, it does not meter at the end of the day, close to 100 percent, it (that) is not the point where we land. This is my mindset, ”he said. “If it happens that we stay in the sixth or fifth place or whatever it may be, or if we end up in the playoffs, whatever… The thing is that whoever came up with that s.s. He should be fired, but whatever.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver was talking about a play-in tournament in 2019 and the team owners were reviewing the 2018 proposals. James was against the idea of a play-in when it was first brought out.
He also suggested early in the NBA’s Coronavirus Hetus in March 2020 that teams battling for the final spot in the West should play round-robin to decide it. The league eventually held a 8-9 game in the Orlando Bubbles last summer. The Blazers defeated the Grizzlies in that game and then lost to the Lakers in five games in the first round.
Now James’ team may have to play their part in the playoffs this year under such a format. You can understand why he would want someone to lose his job over it.
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