The Lakers have LeBron James and before he missed 5 weeks with an injury the Lakers occupied the 4th seed in the West and looked to be one of the best teams in the league after defeating the Golden State Warriors on Christmas day. However, LeBron did miss 5 weeks and in his absence the Lakers came crashing down.
As of today, the Lakers are the 10 seed in the West a game and half out of a playoff spot. Not only would the Lakers have to sneak into the top 8 with just 27 games left, they would have to make the conference finals despite having one of the lower seeds.
Good news is there is an opportunity to jump some of the teams occupying the eight playoff sports. The Clippers, who are currently in the eight spot, essentially traded away all their stars in an effort to sign marquee free agents this summer. The Jazz and Spurs have both been erratic this season and the Kings, while impressive, are still too young to win the games needed late in the season.
The Lakers will get either a seven or six seed and at that point anything is possible.
