Recently, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers completed a six-game Eastern Conference road trip that saw the team go 5-1, an impressive mark for any team even considering the relatively weak competition that Los Angeles faced on the slate. Although they’re still the ninth seed in the vaunted Western Conference playoff picture, the Lakers have played some impressive basketball in recent weeks, and James has continued to perform at an All-NBA level despite turning 39 years of old recently in the campaign.

One person who will always have the Lakers’ back is none other than sports media personality Nick Wright of FS1, and needless to say, Wright was ecstatic about the Lakers’ postseason chances following their recent road trip success.

“To me, what they have proven is not on the road trip, it’s the last two months,” said Wright, per First Things First on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “Over the last two months, they have been… one of the best teams in the sport. Now, are they going to get the reward of that of not having to play in the double Play-In being the nine seed? I don’t know. It’s a very tough path and you’re running out of time. There’s one win separating the five seed from the nine seed, but it’s three losses separating the five seed from the nine seed, and two losses separating the Lakers from the seven and the eight seed. So they might be stuck there, I don’t know. But I think that they are, in a series, as dangerous as any team in the Western Conference other than Denver, and I think they keep proving it to you the later we get in the season with LeBron and AD still healthy, with the offense clicking like this.”

An odd season in LA

Consistency has been hard to come by for the Lakers this year. At times, as Wright mentioned, the team is capable of looking like a true juggernaut, such as during their run to the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament championship in December. In other instances, such as every single time they play the Sacramento Kings, the Lakers look like a very pedestrian ball club.

Of course, teams with LeBron James usually fare quite well come playoff time, even as the lower seed. We saw that last year when the Lakers took on the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies and sent them packing in an uncompetitive six games. It’s likely that if Los Angeles were to be matched up with a team like the Oklahoma City Thunder in round one this year, the Lakers would be the Vegas favorites.

However, first things first: getting to the postseason, which might require the Lakers to win not one but two “win or go home” games in the dreaded play-in tournament, including a potential matchup with Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. In any case, the Lakers will next take the floor on Sunday back at home vs the Cleveland Cavaliers.