The end of the 2022-23 season is nearly here and teams are starting to get a clear picture of what the postseason will look like.
Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Lakers, it looks like their quest to avoid the Play-In Tournament is going to come up short after losing to the L.A. Clippers earlier in the week. However, they should be proud of how far they’ve come considering there was a legitimate chance they would miss the Play-In altogether before the trade deadline.
With the standings starting to solidify, teams have begun to rest their key players in preparation for the postseason. For the Lakers, it seems they’ve also taken a conservative approach to their regulars as they ruled out Dennis Schroder hours before their game against the Phoenix Suns.
Prior to the matchup, Darvin Ham explained that Schroder is dealing with neck and soreness so the staff wanted to give him some rest.
“I think just overall wear and tear. Sometimes things kick in while you’re laying in bed sleeping. He’s been battling, I call him Mr. 94-50 just the way he is tenacious with his on-ball defense, navigating screens and all that. So just trying to get out ahead of it. Extreme neck soreness, it happens. I’ve actually experienced that as a player before. We just got to do all we can to protect him and make sure he’s getting the proper treatment. We’ll try to give him a couple of days.”
Schroder has played well off the bench and as a spot starter, and it appears the minutes are finally catching up to him. It doesn’t seem like an injury to be too concerned about and if he was absolutely needed to play, he probably could’ve suited up.
The only thing to be a little nervous about is the fact that D’Angelo Russell is dealing soreness in his foot that he’s admitted he’ll need to manage the rest of the season. If Russell is forced out of a game and Schroder is less than 100 percent, that would be a huge problem for the Lakers, who don’t have too many guards behind them.
LeBron James says it is what it is when it comes Play-In Tournament
The loss to the Clippers really hurt the Lakers’ chances of getting the No. 6 seed. Although there’s technically a chance for them to still capture it, it would require a tremendous amount of luck.
LeBron James didn’t seem too concerned about the situation, though, as he said L.A.’s possible Play-In inclusion is what it is.
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