It’s official. The Lakers will not be in the play-in tournament this year after losing against the Suns. For Phoenix this game would not have changed anything even if they lost because they have already secured the number one seed in the West.
For Los Angeles the remaining three regular season games will also be meaningless. A seven-game losing streak, which be extended further, ended the Lakers hopes of going into postseason.
“Extremely disappointed,” Lakers head coach Frank Vogel said after the game. “Disappointed for our fanbase, disappointed for the Buss family who gave us all this opportunity. We want to play our part in bringing success to Laker basketball. We fell short.
“We’re eliminated tonight. I can say it’s not been due to lack of effort. We have all put in the work, our guys stayed fighting right until the end, I know we have games left but in terms of being eliminated, brought integrity into the process. We just fell short through a disjointed season. We’re all disappointed.”
It is rumored that the Lakers will part ways with Vogel after the regular season ends. Doc Rivers and Quin Snyder are thought to be early favorites to replace him.
