Can the Lakers still fall to the Play-In tournament? Here’s what needs to happen

The LA Lakers continued their inconsistent run of form with a 136-120 loss to the Oklahoma Thunder. The Lakers have now gone 5-5 in their last ten games and their postseason seeding could suffer as a result.

J. J. Reddick has steered the Lakers to third in the Western Conference at time of writing but their 48-31 record on the season is just one win better than the 47-32 record shared by the LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies.

The battle for home advantage in the West is extremely competitive. The Lakers - along with the Rockets and the Thunder - will all be playing basketball beyond the end of the regular season this weekend but the Lakers are at risk of dropping into the Play-In Tournament.

What do the Lakers need to do?

In each Conference the top six team will qualify for a spot in the first round of the NBA playoffs. However teams placed 7th-10th in their respective Conferences will advance instead to a Play-In tournament. The 7th and 8th place teams will go head-to-head, with the winner taking the No. 7 seed in the Conference. The loser of that game will then take on the winner of the 9th vs 10th clash, with the winner grabbing the No. 8 seed and the final postseason place.

To avoid all that, the Lakers just need a top six finish in the West but it’s not yet guaranteed. LeBron James and co. have three games remaining in the regular season: Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Portland Trail Blazers. If the Lakers win all three, they are guaranteed to take the No. 3 seed.

If the Lakers win two of their final three games they will definitely avoid the Play-in Tournament. Two wins would take them to 50 on the season. The Clippers, Nuggets, Warriors and Grizzlies would each have to win all three of their games to get to that mark, but the Nuggets and Grizzlies play each other on Friday. Therefore the worst that the Lakers could do is finish sixth, taking the final playoff spot.

If the Lakers win only one of their final three games the picture is wide open and all bets are off. The Lakers have a headline-grabbing team but their lack of consistency in recent weeks will be a real concern for Reddick as they head into the postseason with high expectations.

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