Los Angeles Lakers' playoff chances after loss to Sacramento Kings

The Los Angeles Lakers are clearly going through a difficult campaign. Things have gone from bad to worse as they lost to the Sacramento Kings in their most recent fixture with a score of 120-107 at the Golden 1 Center.

The result left the side in ninth place in the Western Conference with 36 wins and 31 defeats. On the other hand, Kings, after the win are on the sixth position on the table with 38 wins and 27 defeats.

The Lakers are looking rather comfortable when it comes to securing a place in the playoffs as with less than 20 matches for each team, it is looking rather unlikely that they will be dropped out of the playoffs spots.

Below them is the Golden State Warriors with 34 wins whereas the team chasing them the closest is the Houston Rockets with 30 defeats and 35 wins.

However, the Lakers will be hoping to see their team put in a much better run to ensure having a better standing come the end of the first round.

The Lakers will have four home games coming up which should give them a chance to get much-needed wins. But following, they will have a tough schedule coming up with a trip to the East.

In that trip, they will face the Milwaukee Bucks, Indiana Pacers, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets. The god news for the Lakers is that four out of those six teams are out of playoffs spot.

D'Angelo Russell has been a real star for the franchise in the past couple of matches, especially in the absence of LeBron James. The team management as well as the fans will be hoping to see similar kind of performances from the 28-year-old at the business end of the season.