After the Lakers knocked off the Suns 121–107 on Friday night, the Los Angeles moved to 42–39 on the season, which clinched a winning record regardless of what happens in Sunday’s regular-season finale against Utah.
The Lakers started the year 2–10, and dealt with spurts of injuries to Anthony Davis and LeBron James, before changing the makeup of the roster at the trade deadline around the two superstars.
James is pleased with how the year has turned out for the Lakers after the adversity the team has dealt with.
“Oh and five. Two and five. Two and 10. … I was just telling AD, I was like, ‘Man can you believe that we’re going to finish this season above .500?’,” James said. “After everything that’s gone on this season, we’ve turned this thing around. And it’s the regular season, obviously, there’s a lot more basketball to be played. But to know that we’re going to finish a few games above .500? It’s pretty cool.”
The Lakers could finish anywhere from the No. 5 seed to the No. 9 seed depending on how the game against Utah goes on Sunday and what teams around them in the standings do. Ideally for Los Angeles, they would finish with the No. 5 or No. 6 seed to avoid the Western Conference play-in tournament.
Regardless of what happens, James and the Lakers will be prepared for what’s to come, as the team looks to put together another run to a championship.
