This NBA season there are no teams that are safe. That may be an exaggeration because you know teams like the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, and just a couple others are basically guaranteed to the make the playoffs unless some serious injuries occur. With some teams though, especially in the Western Conference, they are not as safe as we once thought right before the season started.
The first team to look at is the Los Angeles Lakers. Everyone thought with Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook healthy, they would make the playoffs with ease and possibly even compete for a championship. That has been far from the case as the Lakers currently have the second-worst record in the conference. It may even be a bold call to say they make the play-in at this point.
The play-in brings us to an interesting point. Teams can go an entire season with a winning record just to get the seventh best record and be forced to play in the play-in games. Lose two in a row as the seventh seed and your season is done. Right now the seventh seed is two games over .500. This makes the NBA even more competitive as teams are scrounging for every win to get out of the play-in or make it as the last play-in team.
Another team who is struggling a ton early in the year in the Warriors. Before the season they were seen as the favorite, or in the top five at least, as championship contenders. Right now they are looking like they could be a play-in team or even miss the playoffs all together which would be insane.
This has made for a more interesting and competitive NBA.
Photo Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LeBron_James_(51958680007).jpg
