It wasn't until Saturday that I even believed the Lakers could actually be out of the 9-10 play-in game. It felt like it was going to require a volume of winning that I wasn't sure the Lakers had in them.
Realistically, I'd say they finish in the 7-8 play-in game given their current form and, hopefully, don't play the Kings in any more games this season. But the six seed will be a very real possibility with a win Sunday night against the Wolves.
A very simple and realistic change the NBA should make next season is to make the IST championship supersede any other tiebreakers. The Lakers are in a three-way tie for the sixth seed? Well, they won the In-Season Tournament, so they're the six seed.
The NBA may be best served to add some small bonuses to winning the IST rather than any more big bonuses. I think you're further increasing how much teams try in this if they know winning it guarantees them a tiebreaker advantage.
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