For as bad as the Lakers season was trending in the middle stages of the season, the possibility of the team missing the postseason entirely felt impossible, both a mixture of not believing matters could get that bad for the Lakers and the acknowledgment of just how bad the bottom of the Western Conference was.
But the Lakers’ tumble down the standings hit rock bottom on Tuesday as their loss to the Mavs dropped them to the 11th seed in the Western Conference and out of the play-in games.
Technically, the Lakers and Spurs are tied on records and the Spurs own the tiebreaker of better conference record, a tiebreaker they’re going to keep as they have five more wins against the Western Conference than the Lakers with only seven games left.