Phoenix Suns fans need to root for the Lakers the rest of the way

The Phoenix Suns may have just knocked off their greatest rival in dramatic fashion, but Suns fans should be rooting for the Los Angeles Lakers from here on out.

It is in the DNA of Phoenix Suns fans to root against the Los Angeles Lakers at all times – and that passion to wish failure upon their most despised rivals has only become stronger and more ingrained now that LeBron James has entered the picture.

But after knocking off the Lakers in the final game of the season series preventing a Lakers sweep, and with Phoenix’s season all but over, Suns fans need to start pulling for LeBron and the Lakers hard.

(It was great seeing LeBron choke at the end of the game, wasn’t it? Plus shutting up all of those Lakers fans in the Arena.)

Why?

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There are two simple answers: First, if you honestly hate LeBron (or really just can’t stand him since he chose to take his talents to Orange County) and you are excited for the day when he can no longer carry a team, specifically the Lakers, then Los Angeles making a strong push into the playoffs over their final 19 games, will further add wear and tear to a body that is apparently already beginning to break down.

It is very likely that Magic Johnson would like nothing more than to shut LeBron down for the rest of the season now and save him for next year potentially keeping a little bit more tread on his wearing down tires.

LeBron’s groin injury might have been a fluke, but for a player of his age and mileage, is very possibly a sign of more injuries to come.

Additionally, should the Lakers make the playoffs, odds are they will land no higher than the 8 seed, in all likelihood, pitting them against the Golden State Warriors in the first round.

As great as it would be to see the Lakers lose out in the regular season and see LeBron miss the playoffs all together, imagine more him using all of his athletic might to drag his teammates into that final playoff spot, only to be swept in four games by the vastly superior Golden State club.

Even if LeBron managed to make that series a series and unexpectedly stretch the matchup to six games, once again, that wear-and-tear aspect comes into play.

Not to ignore the fact that NBA fans in general would be treated to a usually mundane but now exciting and must see 1vs8 seed first round series.

Lest we forget too, even if LeBron managed to pull off enough heroics to take that series to six or seven, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Lakers are any closer to being a legitimate championship contender in the Pacific Division, and there is no guarantee that the players that Magic Johnson covets in the offseason (beginning with Anthony Davis and Kawhi Leonard) will be changing the colors of their threads to purple and gold.

ALL of that said, none of those are the real reasons why Phoenix Suns fans should be rooting for the Los Angeles Lakers to make the playoffs…

Phoenix Suns

The primary reason is this: the Los Angeles Lakers missing the playoffs give Commissioner Adam Silver an excuse and opportunities to move the Lakers at up in the draft by giving him the means via a lottery pick.

While many of us Suns fans have been worrying about the New York Knicks surpassing Phoenix in the draft lottery to snag Zion Williamson number one overall, imagine the Lakers winning the lottery – a team who at the moment has a 1.0% chance of leaping up to the top, but 1.0% more of a chance than the would have if they just made the playoffs.

If the Knicks, Cleveland, or even Chicago, managed to jump ahead of the Suns to the number one spot in the draft lottery (I say that knowing that the top-three teams all have equal odds to winning so of that list technically only Chicago can “leap frog” Phoenix), fans would be upset, but chalk it up to an anti-Suns/anti-Sarver NBA, and move on with our lives fully understanding that it could never be the Suns’ luck to finally win the lottery in a year where the number one pick is all but assured to be a legitimate superstar.

But the Los Angeles Lakers winning the lottery jumping from 13th to first, anchored by an aging LeBron James and managed by one of the most beloved athletes in North American sports history, would almost certainly want to make every Suns fan both physically and violently ill.

The worst of it too is that even if the Lakers had the opportunity at selecting Zion, they probably wouldn’t. Los Angeles’ window of opportunity to compete and win a title with LeBron is both small and closing. Waiting for Zion to develop into a player who is capable of carrying a franchise like the Lakers alongside LeBron is a luxury they just do not have.

Anthony Davis, on the other hand, is the kind of player they need – and the first overall pick with the name Zion Williamson attached to it suddenly becomes far more valuable and far more of a commodity that the New Orleans Pelicans would covet, almost assuring that the trade that couldn’t be consummated in February, will be consummated in May.

Do you want to see LeBron James add more wear-and-tear to his body?

Root for the Lakers.

Do you want to see LeBron James be swept in the first round by the Golden States Warriors?

Root for the Lakers.

Do you want to see Los Angeles select in the mid-teens in this upcoming draft and not have the opportunity to draft number one overall or transfer the right to pick Zion Williamson to another franchise other than Phoenix?

Root for the Lakers.

I know that for all of us in the Valley of the Suns the prospect of ever rooting for the Los Angeles Lakers is one that is incredibly difficult to fathom.

Yet sometimes the results are more important than the actions, and in this case, if you want to see the Lakers remain a mediocre team for as long as possible, root for them to win now, make the playoffs, and delay the chances of that franchise being championship contenders again anytime soon.