Stick a Fork in the Lakers Championship Hopes
By Matt De Saro
The Los Angeles Lakers celebrated their 10 year anniversary of winning the 2010 title by going all the way in 2020 for the franchise’s 17th NBA championship. With a roster full of All-Stars and a few future Hall-of-Famers, the Lakers were primed to remain in the mix for the foreseeable future. However, as we are now aware, that plan has not panned out as the Lakers would have hoped.
Cut to the end of February 2022 and the Lakers are 27-33 and currently sit outside of the playoff bubble in ninth place in the Western Conference. After opening the season -5000 at WynnBET Sportsbook to make the playoffs, things couldn’t be going much worse for the Lake Show right now. Their odds to win the title have plummeted and they look destined to fall under their 52.5 projected win total.
Throw Away Your Lakers Championship Bets
At some point, over the last few weeks, it became clear that the narrative of the Lakers is shifting away from “will they win the title?” to whether or not they will even make the playoffs. And while that may sound extreme, the fact is t things are looking grim for this team in 2022 and heading into the future. What makes their downfall even more interesting is that the Western Conference is having a bit of a down year and does not look like the clear favorite between the East and West. Had this been a more traditional season of dominance from the West, the Lakers would likely already be well out of the running for the playoffs. But, I feel that it is only a matter of time before the Lakers throw in the towel as their peers in the West have begun to wake up and leave LAL in the dust.
As of this writing, the Lakers are on a two-game losing streak and closer to falling outside of the top 10 than they are to climbing the ladder to overtake the Clippers in eighth. The Pelicans and Trail Blazers are both on the Lakers’ heels and have been seeing more success lately. It wouldn’t surprise me to see the Lakers completely fall apart and fall to the 11th spot in the West ahead of just the Spurs, Kings, Thunder, and Rockets at the bottom of the conference. Basically, what I am saying is that if you are holding a Lakers 2022 Championship ticket, I feel for you. And if you are thinking of making a play on the Lakers down the stretch, I would suggest rethinking that course of action.
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