Getty Zion Williamson
While the 2018-19 season for the Los Angeles Lakers hasn’t gone nearly as planned, the team finds themselves on the brink of missing the 2019 NBA Playoffs. After a brutal stretch coming out of the All-Star break, they hold a 30-34 record and look poised to land in the lottery, not the postseason. But for some Lakers fans, it seems they’d be willing to live with that, under one circumstance.
That the lottery trip results in Duke Blue Devils star Zion Williamson wearing purple and gold.
While Williamson is projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming draft, the Lakers’ lottery chances continue to increase as they struggle. Obviously, that’s not how most fans expected to see this season going, but it’s given many people interesting opinions as the final stretch of games approaches.
Lakers Fans Call to Tank for Zion Williamson
Lakers should just tank the rest of the season and gain as many ping pong balls as possible. Tank for Zion. @VeniceMase
Hear me out. Now that the post-season is practically unattainable, I say Lakers start making moves for next year. Bring up all the G league players. Give our squad a break and tank for Zion like any sensible team under .500
How bout this…. What if the Lakers new plan is tank out, and ship all those same players and future 1st rounders they planned to send to Pels, to whoever gets the top pick for Zion???? I see you @MagicJohnson
Welp it’s officially Tank for Zion time Lakers
Obviously, even if the Lakers were to land in the lottery, they’d need some major luck in order to earn the No. 1 pick and have a clear path to landing Williamson. While they enter Wednesday night with just 30 wins, the New York Knicks (13), Phoenix Suns (14), Cleveland Cavaliers (16) and Chicago Bulls (19) have all won fewer than 20 games.
It certainly wouldn’t be off the table, but for the time being, the bulk of Lakers fans still seem to be more focused on the slim playoff chances. With that said, if the team gets eliminated from contention, don’t be surprised if the chatter to tank for Zion begins to really heat up.
Lakers Playoff Chances & Odds
As of Wednesday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets, the overall postseason outlook for the Lakers isn’t good. According to the two projection systems created by FiveThirtyEight.com, they have no better than a one percent chance.
FiveThirtyEight’s ‘CARMELO’ system gives the Lakers odds of exactly one percent. The Elo system is even worse, offering LeBron James and company less than a one percent chance. If those numbers aren’t quite daunting enough, look no further than ESPN”s Basketball Power Index (BPI) which currently gives the Lakers odds of less than 0.1 percent.
For good measure, Basketball-Reference.com, which runs their simulations 7,500 times, pegs Los Angeles’ postseason outlook right at 0.1 percent. None of these numbers will leave fans feeling good, especially considering Basketball-Reference currently has the Lakers with a 2.8 percent chance to win the lottery.
According to those marks, the chances of landing Williamson in the draft are better than making the playoffs. It’s not great to hear, but at least the chance to pick up the Blue Devils star could wind up being on the table.
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