Los Angeles Lakers

Even when the Los Angeles Lakers win, they lose

Published Mar. 9, 2016 11:49 a.m. ET

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All of the sudden, the Los Angeles Lakers look like a real NBA team. Stuck near the bottom of the standings for most of this season, L.A. trounced the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night, just 48 hours after blowing out Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors on national television. 

The good news: D'Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle each dropped at least 20 points on Orlando's head. Being that these three are the team's three sturdiest tent poles, the collective performance can be viewed as a definite step in the right direction.

The bad news: The Lakers send their 2016 first-round pick to the Philadelphia 76ers if they fall out of the top three, a devastating consequence from the Steve Nash trade that would cripple their efforts to rebuild in a post-Kobe Bryant era.

From a big-picture perspective, both sides are important (player development is key, and the youngsters are improving every game), but it can't be stated how terrible it'd be to lose a lottery pick this summer—even though they have to fork one over sooner or later.

Right now, the 76ers are the only team with a worse record than the Lakers. 

Los Angeles is 4 games behind the Phoenix Suns for last in the Western Conference, and 4.5 behind the Brooklyn Nets. The Lakers have 17 games left on their schedule, and it'll be interesting to see how drastic/intentional they get with lineups, rotations, minutes and strategy to do everything they can to keep that pick. 

Teams tank all the time; there's nothing wrong with doing so if it dramatically helps the long-term health of your franchise. The best example is the Golden State Warriors, who shamelessly lost games in 2012 so they could keep their first-round pick. They ended up keeping it, took Harrison Barnes, then grabbed Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green in the second round. 

If the Lakers keep winning, lose their pick, then fail to sign an impact free agent (or two), this organization would unnecessarily set itself back for ... what? A few meaningless wins in March and April to boost Russell's confidence?

That's silly. They only have one option, and it's to lose as much as they can.

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Los Angeles Lakers

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