How did the LA Lakers go from 13th seed to 7th in a span of 9 weeks?
The LA Lakers will end their season as the seventh-seed in the Western Conference following a solid win in their final game against the Portland Trail Blazers. With a shocking turn of events following the trade deadline, we took a look at how the Lakers turned their season around.
The LA Lakers had one of the worst starts to the 2022-23 season in the NBA. Although they made some impressive additions to their roster in the offseason, the Purple and Gold didn't necessarily look like title contenders.
It was evident that the Lakers had problems as Russell Westbrook was still on the roster after an underwhelming 2021-22 campaign. These problems were realized when the Lakers started the new season with a 2-10 record.
However, with new head coach Darvin Ham displaying immense faith in the superstar guard, the Lakers simply marched on.
Injuries plagued the roster as Anthony Davis missed a significant amount of time. The string of losses this led to saw the Purple and Gold drop to as low as 13th in the West.
As the trade deadline rolled around, it was evident that the 25-31 Lakers needed to make adjustments. In a miraculous turn of events, the Lakers' front-office managed to make some astonishing moves to greatly bolster the roster.
The Rui Hachimura trade was the first domino to fall. This was followed by the acquisition of D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt all while trading Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley. The Lakers' trade deadline haul was finally topped off by the addition of Mo Bamba to add depth in center spot.
The new additions immediately injected new life into the Lakers. Although superstar LeBron James missed a significant amount of time due to injury, the Purple and Gold racked up an impressive 18-8 record after the trade deadline.
Slowly and gradually climbing the Western Conference ladder, the Lakers ended the season as the seventh-seed.
There was a brief moment where the Lakeshow even had possession of the sixth-seed. Regardless, the Purple and Gold did a solid job of turning their season around and securing a place in the top half of the play-in bracket.
#LakeShow ball movement. 💯 https://t.co/EZFcsTeBEV
Also Read: LA Lakers add Tristan Thompson and Shaquille Harrison to roster for 2022-23 NBA Season
The LA Lakers will play the Minnesota Timberwolves for the seventh-seed
The end of the regular-season marks the start of the playoffs. However, for the teams ranked 7th to 11th, this marks the start of the play-in tournament. The seventh-seeded LA Lakers will battle it out with the eighth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves for a place in the playoffs.
Although Minnesota took the regular-season series against the Lakers, the Lakeshow will enjoy a small homecourt advantage on Tuesday. Additionally, with the Timberwolves seeing forward Jaden McDaniels sidelined with a fractured hand, the Purple and Gold may also see more opportunities to score.
Jaden McDaniels punched a wall on the way to the locker room 😬
He is out the rest of the game with a hand injury https://t.co/QVGMp1hful