Los Angeles Lakers are set up nicely if NBA goes straight into the playoffs

The Los Angeles Lakers have been the first seed in the Western Conference all season and if the NBA jumps straight into the playoffs then the rest of the seeding is ideal for LA.

The NBA season is postponed due to concerns around the coronavirus pandemic and there is a legitimate chance that we might not see the Los Angeles Lakers back in action until the summer.

While there are no concrete reports of when the league will be back in action, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that owners are bracing for mid-to-late June as the best-case scenario.

If the league were to play out the remaining 20 or so games for each team it would push the NBA Finals all the way back to August, which could be something that would be intriuging for the league as a potential ratings experiment.

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However, if the delay is drug all the way back to July or even August, the league very well could hop right into the NBA Playoffs to salvage what is left of the season and crown a champion. If that is the case, it would benefit the Los Angeles Lakers.

The current seeding of the Western Conference is perfectly ideal for the Lakers. It goes far beyond the Lakers being the number one seed, as that is obviously an advantage, as the rest of the conference maximizes the easiest path for the Lakers and the hardest path for their biggest foes.

The Lakers would square off against the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, which is the perfect first-round matchup. The Lakers need an easy, non-stressful first round in the playoffs and Memphis provides just that, whereas if the New Orleans Pelicans snuck in it could have gone to six games in the worst situation.

The team would then play the winner of the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder. Both are solid teams but are a much better matchup than the sixth seed, who is the Houston Rockets.

The Rockets, meanwhile, would play the Denver Nuggets in round one and the winner of the Los Angeles Clippers and Dallas Mavericks. This is where it gets better for the Lakers.

The Mavericks are a really tough matchup for the first round. While the Clippers will still likely win the series, the Mavericks has size with Kristaps Porzingis and a borderline MVP candidate in Luka Doncic.

That is a series where Dallas could easily steal a game in LA and stretch it out to six games, making each game marginally close.

Then the Clippers would have to face either the Nuggets or the Rockets. The Nuggets are extremely hard to beat on the road and the elevation could play a part in the Clippers’ gas tank.

The Rockets are a high-energy, explosive team that is going to make the Clippers play at an extraordinary pace for the entire season. While it is more likely than not that the Clippers beat Houston, the Rockets could upset the Clippers if a few things go their way.

But even if they don’t, that is a series that will likely go at least six games and be high-tempo throughout.

So by the time the Western Conference rolls around, the Lakers will be on fresher legs, having only played 8-10 games in the ideal situation where the Clippers may have played 12 tight, intense, draining games.

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When you have two elite teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers you start splitting hairs, and the difficulty of the previous playoff series very well could help swing the result.

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