Lakers reportedly eyeing a matchup with a certain division rival.
Your Los Angeles Lakers have been riding high following the momentum of some huge mid-season trades at the deadline. There is a new energy in LA as the purple and gold have gone 4-1 in their last five games, capped off by a 27-point comeback victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
The rest of the NBA is taking notice as the Lakers gear up to finally stake their playoff position in place. As a team that has been on the outside looking in for most of the year, they are now just 2.5 games away from the sixth seed in a very close Western Conference.
Brian Windhorst of ESPN reported Monday that it is the sixth seed indeed in which the Lakers are hoping they end the season. He furthered those claims by adding that the ten hopes that they play the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the playoffs, who are currently in third place.
Seeing that the Kings have not made the postseason since 2006, inexperienced is definitely an understatement here. However, Sacramento’s front office have made some key roster moves in the past year that have led to their most successful season in a long time.
With All-Star De’Aaron Fox running the show at point guard, the Kings play at an incredibly fast pace and that could be an issue for the Lakers seeing that they traded away their own former defensive-minded guard, Patrick Beverley, to the Chicago Bulls. Fox is also joined by post-playmaker Domantas Sabonis and former Laker Malik Monk.
Fox and Monk reunited this season after originally playing together at Kentucky University. Monk had a solid season with LA last year posting averages of 13 points on 40 percent from three. He recently recorded a career-high 45 points against the Los Angeles Clippers last Friday.
In four head-to-head matchups with each other this year, the Kings have come out on top over LA in three of those games but they have all been decided by an average of seven points. The Lakers were also dealing with injuries in most of those games and if this first round “dream” does come true, they will have a chance to make up for the previous losses. None of the bouts took place following LA’s total trade deadline makeover, either.
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