Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Will a Difficult Schedule Doom the Lakers Down the Stretch?

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

In the Western Conference, every little item can make a difference in where teams will land on the playoff seeding ladder. That includes strength of schedule. Per Tankathon, the Lakers have the eighth toughest remaining among NBA squads. The toughies include 2 vs. OKC (both in APR), Denver twice, Houston twice, Phoenix twice, Minnesota, Clips, Knicks, Cleveland, Detroit and Boston (where Tatum will inevitably return). Easy ones include Kings, Pels, Pacers (twice), Bulls, Nets, Wiz, Mavs, Jazz. (And the Warriors, if you're so inclined. Maybe they're in between?)No cakewalk, but fortunately for LA, the top 3 include Denver (55%), Houston (54%), and Minnesota (52%). The Lakers are also, from #8, MUCH closer to #16 than #1. After the top 4-5 teams, it levels off pretty notably.  And timing will make a difference. The Lakers play the Nuggets twice in March. Denver might, but might not, have Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon back in the lineup at that point. That makes a huge difference. So these little things could be the difference in a tight conference between a 3 and a 7.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Turbo TaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Take taxes off your plate and get back to your life. Visit https://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away. Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to https://Quo.com/lockedonnba.Quo — no missed calls, no missed customers. 5-Hour ENERGYHave your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at 5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon.IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcastGametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelUse your Profit Boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA Finals.Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started.  FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Lakers face tremendous challenges over the final 28 games of the season. Will a challenging schedule be there undoing? That's next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers. First listen to every day, Monday through Friday,

no matter how you get your podcast, this one's never going to be locked up behind some paywall, whether you're an Apple guy, a Spotify guy, however you do it. Maybe one of the 37,000 plus subscribers to the Lockdown Liquors' YouTube page. You are part of making the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network

in the universe. Brian Komeneski with Andy Komeneski covering this team for almost 20 years for outlets like ESPN, the Athletic, and the LA Times. And it is getting that post-all-Star Break Stretch Run, Andy.

I'm in a tightly competitive conference makes a four seed become a seven seed, a six seed become a three seed and all these other things. Little stuff can make a difference, and that includes just how difficult to schedule teams have down the stretch. Yeah, the Lakers have, according to the great site tankathon, their metrics, the Lakers have the eighth most difficult remaining schedule this season. Some of the easier games include Sacramento, New Orleans, Indiana, the Bulls, Niana again. So two matches against the Pacers. That is good. Brooklyn, the Wizards, Dallas, Utah. Some of the more difficult include the Clippers Friday. That's how they open the season after the All-Star break. Two dates against Denver, two dates against Phoenix. They get the Knicks. They get the wolves. Two dates

against the rockets. They get the Cavaliers. They get the pistons. And two matches against the thunder. So obviously, the ones that are tough are very difficult. They also have two games against the warriors, which I think are middle ground. I don't consider them good enough to be considered really tough. I also don't consider them bad enough, particularly if Steph is healthy to be bad. And out of respect to Steph, I will put them in some type of middle ground. But even with Steph there, I do not think it's an impressive roster. They're, they need Steph to go Steph.

When Steph plays, you know, you, There is a threat with them because Steph is that good. You get a throwback game from Draymond. And it's the, you know, it's a full moon. So like Pajemski goes nuts or something like that. There's like one guy who does, you know. So you got to, you got to pay attention. Plus, I think the Warriors are one of those weird teams.

Like because of how they play with the motion offense and all that kind of stuff, they can be a little tricky, but I agree with you. They are not that good. pretty mid team. I mean, see, it's funny. Like I was looking on, you know, over the weekend at the second half power rankings for the athletic. And the Lakers are ninth right now. And I don't care about the number itself.

But what was interesting to me is once you get past like Oklahoma City and San Antonio, which are the two top teams from the Western. conference. After that, it's the good teams in the east, and then Denver, Houston, the Lakers, Minnesota, you throw in Toronto, and then Phoenix. So five teams in the West that are kind of clumped together really closely. And that seems pretty fair to me. And so when you start breaking down things, strength of schedule can become really, you know, a huge difference. Like it could be the type of thing that keeps you know, for, you know, that

you're fifth instead of seventh. You're in the play in versus not. And, you know, to your point, like, the Lakers, it's not just like which teams you play. It's which team you happen to catch while somebody isn't available. Like you joked in the, when we're talking about, you know, maybe covering this topic for a,

for a segment. Like, Boston doesn't have Tatum. but when the Lakers play him, surely he'll be back on the floor. Yes. That one may or may not come true, but that type of thing, this guy was missing for this matchup. He's available when he plays your team or your opponent can be the difference between the Lakers are a four and the Lakers are a seven.

Coming up, we can get into a little bit more of these wrinkles, some of what's happening around the league in terms of the schedules they have. have to play and how that might affect the Lakers and just the general, the general things that they're going to be looking to conquer during this 28 game stretch, which based on their schedule is not going to be doing the massive favors. But we'll get into that, but first let people know that Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Indeed. Hiring's not just about someone willing to take a job. It's about finding the right person with the right background who can actually help your business move forward. And if you want candidates who match what you're looking for, indeed,

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Fanduil, play your game. So obviously, it's not just about the, you know, your own team's strength of schedule. It does make a difference what the rest of the conference looks like. And, you know, to that in, Andy, you've looked up those numbers as well. Well, Tankathon really did the work for me, but I did visit the site. One through three are the Denver Nuggets with the, they're considered the most difficult remaining strength of schedule. Their opponents have a combined 55% winning percentage.

The Rockets at 54%. I think it's worth noting, too. The rockets have been scuffling a bit around the break, maybe they can get their stuff together with some time and a little bit of powwows and whatnot, but they were not playing particularly well. And then the wolves at 52% for the opponent winning percentage, they've been an erratic team, albeit a very dangerous team when they're on. The Lakers also, too, at number eight, and I believe their strength of schedule was 50.8, they're closer to 16 than to number one. And it really does after like the top three or four remaining strength of schedules,

the drop off is pretty noticeable. And that to me matters in this particular case for the Lakers because those top three teams, Denver, Houston, and Minnesota for strength of schedule, they're all teams that the Lakers are jockeying with for playoff positioning, but also that the Lakers are going to be playing at least one time, and in the case of the Rockets and Nuggets twice, depending on when you catch those teams, what their stretch of schedule has been like,

and how tough those particular slate, you know, the period that they're in, how particularly difficult it's been, that might be something that benefits the Lakers because by those tankathon metrics, the Lakers are in slightly, better shape than them. I'm looking at Denver and obviously when you play the nuggets right now makes a big difference. The Lakers face them on March 5th. It is

possible that both Peyton Watson and Aaron Gordon will be back in the lineup for that game, play them again on the 14th. It is also possible that neither of those guys will be in the lineup for that game, for those games, I should say. It's possible. They get one for one, one for the other, or maybe like, so, you know, a team like the Nuggets is going to likely look very different at the beginning of April than they are going to look at the end of February because, you know, again, Watson and Gordon are on long-term injuries. And, you know, everyone will get a little bit of an update as the week closes. Everybody gets the benefit, Lakers included, of having their best players get a week without having to play. You know, obviously

Luke and the hamstring. But I don't think there's any expectation that those two guys, Watson and Gordon, for example, will be ready to play right at the end of the break. Like they're going to need another week or two, at least. So, you know, the timing of that kind of stuff is going to make a big difference. You know, the Lakers can't potentially catch a break there. And then in the meantime, too, the fact that the last several games include Brooklyn on March 27. the Wizards on March 30th, Dallas on April 5th, Utah to close the season.

Like some of those teams may be putting the finishing touches on their attempts to keep their protected picks or in case of Dallas try to get the last remaining first round pick for the next several years as high of odds as possible. Like the Lakers can catch some breaks there. The flip side is they've also got two dates with. Oklahoma City at the beginning of April. They've got Phoenix on April 10th. They've got Cleveland on March 31st.

There's a lot of good team, bad team, good team, bad team, two good teams, two bad teams. They've got Houston back to back in March. Like, the schedule is an interesting mix of some difficulty and a little bit of relief, as we've talked about throughout this season. The Lakers need to make damn sure that they are beating the teams. That's the part that really sticks out. To their credit, to their credit, to their credit, they've been doing a good job of that. But it is also worth reminding as we close, they are also 11 and 13 this season against teams above 500.

Some of that is the context of who they've been missing. But I'm willing to bet some of those above 500 teams were missing players as well. The bottom line is the Lakers have not done well as well against the elite competition as they've needed to. to really be a convincing playoff team. All kinds of little things play into it. We talked on Tuesday's

full episode about what the Lakers can do to hit their ceiling. Part of the ceiling, like you said, in terms of just record, is whether you're playing your best basketball or not, you can't lose to the Wizards.

You can't lose to the Jazz. You can't. Someone is, going to drop games against these lousy teams and cost themselves seating. That's going to be one of the things that makes a big difference when you look at the final arrangement of really, I think, three through seven in the West, which is still kind of up in the air. That's going to be, like, teams are going to look back at those two random games they've lost

against lottery teams that aren't even trying to win. and that will be the determining factor. So plenty more to come on this kind of stuff as we get you ready for the second half of the season as the week progresses. Lakers don't play until Friday, so lots of stuff to cover until then. Locked on Lakers on YouTube.

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