NBA Official Doesn’t Think Spurs Had To Try To Out-Edge Lakers

San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA News
NBA Analysis Network

The Los Angeles Lakers season could officially be over as early as tonight. If they lose to the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs defeat the Denver Nuggets, they will be ineligible to qualify for the NBA Play-In Tournament.

It has been a tumultuous season for the Lakers, who came into the campaign as one of the favorites to win the NBA Finals. They likely aren’t going to even have a chance to compete for it as they are two games behind the Spurs with four to play and San Antonio owns the tiebreaker as well.

There was a lot that went into Los Angeles being in this position. Injuries were a big reason why, as LeBron James has played in only 56 games. He was more available than Anthony Davis, who has played in only 39. The ill-fated Russell Westbrook trade did not pan out well, either.

The Lakers have no one to blame but themselves for their performance this season. For all intents and purposes, they handed the San Antonio Spurs a spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament.

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According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, officials around the league have shared that San Antonio had no intentions of pushing for a playoff spot. They kind of just backed into one because of how poorly the Los Angeles Lakers played.

“I don’t think the Spurs were ever trying to make a run at it; it just came back to them,” said one Western Conference official. “The Spurs were good enough to just keep treading water and the Lakers kept losing.”

There is likely a lot of truth to that. Los Angeles has gone 10-27 in the second half of the season, which is worse than the Portland Trail Blazers, who are 11-26 and actively looking to improve their draft lottery position.

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Portland has been routinely sitting players during the second half of the season and traded away CJ McCollum, Norman Powell, Robert Covington, and Larry Nance Jr. at the deadline with an eye toward the future.

The San Antonio Spurs fell into the same category ahead of the deadline. They traded veterans Thaddeus Young and Derrick White for future first-round picks as they were sellers. But, that didn’t stop them from moving up the standings, along with the New Orleans Pelicans, to overtake the Lakers.

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Knowing that the Los Angeles Lakers were pushing for a postseason spot but are going to come up short while a team such as the Spurs were just going about their business makes it so much worse to stomach.

This is arguably one of the worst seasons in Los Angeles Lakers’ franchise history given how high expectations were coming in and how far off from them they are going to land.

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