Who might the Lakers play if the NBA has a 70-game regular season?

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers would have to play 7 games. Who might they play?

It’s becoming more clear what the NBA’s return to play will look like, including a collection of regular-season games for everybody to play before they get to the playoffs in their respective sites, which could be more than just Walt Disney World.

According to Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry, the Western Conference will likely play their games in Las Vegas while the East would play at Walt Disney World. Meanwhile, Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie said that teams will have to play their “last five games” at the “bubble,” suggesting that they will finish the regular season in some way. A 70-game season is the most likely scenario. This, of course, to help teams uphold their end of local television contracts with regional sports networks, as Brian Windhorst reported months ago.

The Lakers are 49-14, having played 63 games, meaning that they must play seven more games to get to 70. The Lakers schedule previously had 19 games remaining, but 13 of those games were scheduled against Western Conference opponents, several of them (Utah, Sacramento, Minnesota) coming up twice on the schedule. In the case of Minnesota and Utah, they are both nondivision opponents, so getting them to three or four games is less of a concern than preserving the division series. Divisions don’t carry the same weight as they used to, but for this, they give us an easy guideline for when and where to cut games.

If Lasry’s hypothesis holds, the Lakers would then just have to cut three games against their remaining Western Conference opponents, presumably playing the games in Las Vegas and eliminating Eastern Conference opponents altogether.

They’ve also played a couple of the teams that aren’t in their division three times already, which may be a useful way of determining the schedule. Here’s how it could look, just using the original schedule as a guideline. The real schedule for the final seven games may look different, this is purely based on the remaining schedule and preserving the of 4-game series for division opponents.

Game 1 – vs. Houston Rockets

The Rockets were the next game on the schedule for the Lakers, March 12, the day after the NBA was postponed. The Lakers have only played the Rockets twice before this season and another team on the schedule, Oklahoma City, has already played the Lakers three times. The Rockets also threw down on the Lakers in their last meeting, so this one should be fun to watch, rust and all.

Game 2 – vs. Utah Jazz

The Lakers have Utah twice on the schedule in the last few games, but they’ve already played them twice. We also skipped over a 4th Denver meeting that was ahead of the Jazz on the schedule begin with, to see if we can go without it.

Game 3 – vs. L.A. Clippers

The Lakers and Clippers need to finish their 4-game season series.

Game 4 and 5 – vs. Sacramento Kings

The Kings are the first division opponent that the Lakers could face after quarantine. The Kings are also, in theory, still alive for the playoffs in the 70-game format, trailing Memphis by 3.5 games with six games left on their schedule.

Game 6 – vs. Phoenix Suns

The Suns have been a scrappy team this year but faded later on in the season. They are, however, a division opponent.

Game 7 – vs. Golden State Warriors

The last division opponent that hasn’t gotten a full a four-game series. Also, a little Steph vs. LeBron exhibition never hurt anybody.

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