How the purple and gold perform in possible seeding scenarios for the Lakers tiebreaker

 How the purple and gold perform in possible seeding scenarios for the Lakers tiebreaker

The Los Angeles Lakers suffered a defeat to the Golden State Warriors on opening night, which caused them to drop to the bottom of the Western Conference standings. The Lakers weren't even able to enter the top 10 in the conference standings from October 18, 2022, to March 4, 2023, thereby making them a lottery club for the first four and a half months of the 2022–23 season

How much of a difference a month can make. The Lakers are currently ranked seventh in the West as of this writing. They can mathematically place anywhere between No. 4 and No. 11, giving them the option of having home-court advantage in the opening round or being completely disqualified from the play-in competition. They will probably fall somewhere in the middle, but there are a number of limitations to that statement.

With 38 losses each, the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, and Pelicans are currently tied. The NBA's tiebreaking rules are quite complex, especially when numerous teams are involved, so technically they might end up tied with as many as eight different clubs. So let's look over these possibilities and develop a plan for what would happen if the Lakers and their rivals tied.

The unbreakable ties

Let's get this out of the way: the Lakers' greatest possible record at the end of the season is 44-38, and their worst possible record is 40-42. Technically, ties are possible with all but six of the teams in the conference. Too many games have already been won by the Kings, Grizzlies, and Nuggets for the Lakers to catch them. Too many games have been lost by the Rockets, Spurs, and Blazers for them to catch the Lakers. Any other conference team is fair game for a potential tie.

the interteam matches

Most two-team ties are easily resolved. The tiebreaker is decided by whose team has a better head-to-head record against the other. The Suns, Clippers, Warriors, Timberwolves, Pelicans, Thunder, Mavericks, and Jazz are the other eight clubs that the Lakers might be linked with. These tiebreakers currently work out as follows:

The Lakers have the two-team tiebreaker over any of those four times because they have won the season series against the Warriors, Pelicans, and Thunder.

A two-team tie would disadvantage the Lakers in both scenarios because they have already lost the season series against the Timberwolves and Mavericks.

Three-plus team ties

The NBA uses the following procedure to resolve standings ties when three or more teams are involved:

Winners of a division always defeat non-winners. The Lakers will not be part in these situations though, as the Nuggets, Grizzlies, and Kings have all secured higher records than the Lakers.

The next statistic is the winning percentage of games between the three teams.

Only when all of the teams involved are in the same division does winning percentage inside the division follow.

The conference's winning percentage is then given.

The next-to-last tiebreaker is the winning percentage of clubs in the top 10 in the relevant conference.

The sixth and final tiebreaker is the point differential.