Despite being close to.500 for most of the season, the Los Angeles Lakers are still said to be a team that one Western Conference official is afraid to play in the playoffs.

The manager for the Western Conference told ESPN, “I don’t want any of them in the playoffs.”

When play starts Monday, the Lakers will be in ninth place in the conference with a record of 28–26. After 55 games last season, they were 25–30, but they came back to make the play-in round and the 2023 Western Conference Finals. Even though they lost all three games to the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets, it was amazing how they went from being an average team to a conference winner.

The Lakers can win again because LeBron James and Anthony Davis are still two of the best players in the game. In December, when they won the first In-Season Tournament and the NBA Cup, they showed what they could do when they were up against other teams. James was named the first MVP of the NBA season, which was his 21st.

Also, they’ve won four of their last five games, including big wins on the road against the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks to start the month. They beаt the New Orleans Pelicans by 17 points the last time they played, and on Tuesday they play the weak Detroit Pistons.

Even though the Lakers have been doing well lately and in the beginning of the season, not everyone thinks they are real contenders. A few days ago, Kevin Garnett said that anyone who thinks that is “delusional.”

The NBA trade deadline was last week, and the Lakers were not able to make a big deal. However, they did add senior Spencer Dinwiddie to the team. The 30 year old was moved from the Brooklyn Nets to the Toronto Raptors. He then agreed to a buyout so that he could search for work elsewhere.

Dinwiddie has scored 12.6 points and given out 6.0 assists per game this season, which is his 10th in the NBA. He was born in Los Angeles and is expected to give the backcourt more depth and important playoff experience. We don’t know yet if his addition will be enough to keep the Lakers in the running for the playoffs or even take them all the way to the 2024 NBA Finals.