Lakers will either be 3rd or 4th in NBA’s Western Conference

The Lakers have already secured homecourt advantage for their first round playoff series that’ll start next weekend. 

The biggest question that’ll be answered Sunday evening: What seed will the Lakers enter the postseason as?

With Friday’s win over the Suns, in addition to the results of the games involving the teams around them in the Western Conference standings, the Lakers are guaranteed to be a top-four seed in the Western Conference for the playoffs.

The Timberwolves (48-33) have been locked in as the sixth seed.

The Rockets (51-30) became the fifth seed after falling to the Timberwolves on Friday, in addition to the Lakers’ win and the Nuggets’ victory over the top-seeded Thunder locking Houston in at its spot. 

Now, it’s just a matter of where the Lakers and Nuggets will finish in the standings so the 3-6 and 4-5 playoff West matchups can be set. 

The Nuggets (53-28) are in control of third seed, but the Lakers (52-29) still have a shot at finishing at No. 3 for the second consecutive season entering the final day of the regular season.

Lakers finish as the third seed if…

The Lakers need the Nuggets to drop their regular-season finale to the Spurs on Sunday to have a shot at taking a jump in the standings.

If the Nuggets lose to the Spurs, the Lakers would need to beat the Jazz on Sunday to claim the third seed. 

The Jazz have lost 11 of their last 12 and four of 21 games since the All-Star break.

If the Lakers finished the season as the third seed, they would match up against the Timberwolves in the 3-6 series for the second consecutive season, while the Nuggets would play the Nuggets in the 4-5 series. 

The Timberwolves knocked the Lakers out of the playoffs in the first round in five games last spring. 

The Lakers own the tiebreaker over the Nuggets for playoffs seeding purposes after winning the regular-season series, 2-1. 

Also, in this scenario, the Lakers would also finish with their best record in an 82-game regular season since they won 57 games in 2010-11.

Lakers finish as the fourth seed if…

The Nuggets beat the Spurs on Sunday.

Or, if the Lakers lose to the Jazz.

If either – or both – happens, the Lakers would play the Rockets in the 4-5 series, while the Nuggets would play the Timberwolves in the 3-6 series. 

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