Lakers News: Why A Postseason Date With Memphis Might Not Be So Bad For LA

Today's Memphis news could open the door for an LA upset.

At 42-39, your Los Angeles Lakers currently occupy the seventh seed in a knotted-up Western Conference, but could finish anywhere from fifth to ninth depending on how the rest of this weekend's games shake out.

If the Lakers do stay in the seventh seed heading into the playoffs (i.e. if they finish the season ranked seventh and subsequently defend the position in their play-in game against the West's eighth seed), they will face the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies.

It was reported today by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN that Grizzlies starting center Steven Adams is likely done for the postseason with a lingering right knee PCL sprain. Memphis reserve power forward/center Brandon Clarke had already been ruled out for the year last month with a torn left Achilles tendon.

Memphis will thus be missing two of its top three big men in a hypothetical playoff matchup against your now-healthy Los Angeles Lakers. The Grizzlies just boosted former two-way power forward Kenneth Lofton Jr. to their standard 15-man roster in part to compensate for these losses, but it's not really fair to expect Lofton to contribute much off the Grizzlies' bench behind starters Jaren Jackson Jr. and Xavier Tillman.

LA will get a chance to finish strong tomorrow, when it faces off against a 36-44 Utah Jazz team that's incentivized to lose as it jockeys for draft position. There's a chance they can vault into the fifth or sixth seed and avoid playing bonus play-in games next week. An ideal finish would be the sixth seed, which would give them a nice combination of rest next week and another potentially vulnerable first round opponent in the third-seeded Sacramento Kings, making their first playoff appearance since 2006. But suddenly, the seventh seed looks pretty appetizing, too.

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