After NBA All-Star weekend last week in Cleveland, the business stretch of the NBA season has begun.
With a little under 24 games remaining per team before the post-season begins in April, the tournament’s franchises will be looking to improve their seeding to ramp up the focus on achieving a place in this year’s playoffs.
One of those teams fighting to secure a place in the playoffs this year are the Los Angeles Lakers.
DraftKing contributors Garion Thorne and Matt Meiselman, along with Rotowire’s Nick Whalen joined DraftKing show ‘The Sweat’ to discuss whether the Lakers will make the playoffs by the time April rolls around.
Each contributor outlined key factors in their verdicts. Thorne discussed the weakness of other teams lying in the play-in tournament spots and tipped the Lakers to win the play-in tournament.
Building on his co-host’s comments, Whalen questions Lakers players such as LeBron James and Anthony Davis in their ability to remain healthy during the rest of the season.
Meanwhile, Meiselman expands on Whalen’s take, as he too believes that the Lakers star players cannot be trusted when it comes to their health and chemistry as a team.
Additionally, the panel highlighted the potential New York vaccine mandate change that would allow unvaccinated Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving compete at home for the first time this season.
They also discuss the ramifications of the injury to Chris Paul and how that will affect his teammate Devin Booker and the newly paired superstar duo of James Harden and Joel Embiid and if it could help or hurt Embiid’s odds of winning his first NBA MVP.
