Lakers News: Rival West Play-In Candidate On Cusp Of Giving Up

The competition is thinning for your Los Angeles Lakers.

At 41-38, your Los Angeles Lakers currently occupy the Western Conference's seventh seed, but are tied by record with its sixth seed -- tonight's competition, the Los Angeles Clippers.

The tenth-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder's 136-125 loss to the Golden State Warriors last night puts them 14.5 games behind both LA franchises, who both have three left to play. Your Lakers' place in the West postseason race seems secure already, but now, it appears even more likely that they will soon punch their ticket.

The Athletic's Shams Charania recently revealed in a FanDuel TV segment that the Dallas Mavericks were "seriously considering" prematurely ending the seasons of All-Star guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.

Because Dallas owes a top-10 protected 2023 first round lottery pick to the New York Knicks (as a result of the Kristaps Porzingis trade many moons ago), and since the team has been terrible post-Irving trade and is clearly not going to make any kind of noise in the postseason, the team obviously wants to keep the selection. Tim MacMahon of ESPN reports that the Mavericks currently have 76.3% chance of retaining the selection, assuming they don't move up into the playoffs.

The 37-42 Mavericks are currently the 11th seed in the conference, just 0.5 games behind the reeling Thunder. Both clubs have lost three straight contests. Dallas is just being tactical and striving to remain in the lottery.

Both LA clubs will be the beneficiaries of the Mavericks' surrender, if that's the course of action the club takes at this late juncture.

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