The Los Angeles Lakers have yet to find their groove even though LeBron Jamesis finally back after several weeks nursing a high-ankle injury. The regular season is nearing its end and the purple-and-gold are in serious jeopardy of falling to the play-in tournament, the NBA's latest head-scratching idea.
That tournament will give the teams with the 9th and 10th seed a chance to make the playoffs regardless of their record, and those who end up in the 7th or 8th seed could miss their chance to make the postseason.
Clearly, several players like Luka Doncic have stood up against such a risky idea, as there's no point in competing hard for months just to get knocked out of the playoffs if you have a bad game at the end of the season.
LeBron James Says The NBA Needs To Fire Whoever Came Up With The Play-In Tournament Idea
"It doesn't matter at the end of the day. It doesn't matter where we land. That's my mindset. Whether we end as sixth or fifth. Whatever the case may be or we end up in the Playoff whatever that thing is. Whoever came up with that s**t needs to be fired. But whatever,"a clearly angry LeBron said after their loss to the Toronto Raptors.
Lakers Players Say They're Not Worried About The Play-In Tournament
“We’re not worried about the play-in, like at all. I don’t even know what the date is for that, so if it’s next month, that won’t involve us," said Markieff Morris a couple of weeks ago.
“We control our own destiny. We have to start playing with a sense of desperation. Even though we are in the playoffs as of right now, we’re not that far up from being in the play-in game. So we gotta play with a sense of desperation," Anthony Davis added.
The Lakers need to play with some urgency. They're currently sitting at the 6th seed in the Western Conference and in serious jeopardy of falling to the play-in tournament, so they better start making some adjustments.
