Los Angeles Lakers: Draft Position Secure Despite Wins

As the buzzer sounded on the Los Angeles Lakers’ 100-97 victory over the Utah Jazz, the team found itself in the midst of another streak.

This isn’t unfamiliar territory for the Los Angeles Lakers. They’ve recently had streaks of nine and seven. Of course those numbers symbolize games lost; unenviable displays of ineptitude by a franchise in the midst of one of its worst seasons ever.

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What is unusual about the new tally is that it is a winning streak.

Yes, it’s a mere two games, and yes, the victories have come over sub-.500 squads. At this point in the season, fans will take what the team will take what it can get in terms of on-court excitement.

Of course, fans are well aware of the narrative by now. Winning is normally fun, but every “W” for the Los Angeles Lakers works against them in their quest to retain their draft choice (top-five protected), now owned by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Los Angeles sits with the fourth-worst record in the NBA, and if they slip out of the bottom five, the odds of them keeping the pick become low enough to make this season officially the most meaningless in the history of the franchise.

Basically, winning for the Lakers is cute, but incredibly stupid.

The competition for the title of most inept team in The Association is stiff, but the Los Angeles Lakers are truly a contender.

The heaviest favorites reside out east, as the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers more closely resemble their D-League affiliates than any of their fringe playoff teams over the past few years.

After the Knicks shut down their star for the season, the 76ers did them one better and parted ways with their best player in Michael Carter-Williams, doubling down on their infatuation with tanking by snagging the like-minded Lakers’ pick from Phoenix in the process.

Now, even riding a two-game winning streak, the Los Angeles Lakers are in prime position to make it a three team race for the number one overall selection in this summer’s draft.

The only competition left out west is the Minnesota Timberwolves, a franchise that has a good, young roster and is beginning to focus on developing their wealth of talent. The result has been a 2-1 record, and an offense that looks like it can compete with anybody on any given night.

The Lakers are only two games behind Minnesota in the race for the worst record in the conference, and should pass them soon given the way the Timberwolves are playing.

As far as who is in fifth-place, the Orlando Magic lie 2½ games away from the Lakers in the standings, and have looked much better since firing their head coach. The Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings follow, but both have already won 20 games this season, and will truly need some intervention from the tanking gods to pull off a leap into the top four.

So, as the Lakers continue to win games that they probably shouldn’t, they can allow themselves to do something that they should have all along: enjoy the victories with peace of mind.

Next: Lakers Can't Lose With Top-5 Pick

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