The Lakers before and after the trades made by Rob Pelinka & Jeanie Buss

The Los Angeles Lakers had a challenging task this season, to do better than last year, and at the beginning of the campaign, it looked like it wasn't going to happen, as the offseason left more doubts with the roster.

Things didn't help as the team had a 2-10 record, and with the Russell Westbrook soap opera every week, some rumors were at the door, and the team had a losing record for most of the season and an 11th spot in the Western Conference.

Players like Damian Jones, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Kendrick Nunn, and Patrick Beverley were disappointed, and the only decent player was Thomas Bryant, but he ended up requesting his trade. Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss traded all of them and Russell Westbrook, and everything changed.

The team went on to have a losing record and in the 11th position to have a good record of 15-8, and only in the last eight games did they have a 7-1 record thanks to players like D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, Rui Hachimura and in less degree Devon Reed and Mo Bamba.

The team is now playing for a playoff spot

The Lakers have been able to jump from the 15th position when having the 2-10 record up to the 7th seed, they were yesterday in the 6th for a half-hour until the Warriors defeated the OKC, but after tonight, if things work out and beat the Clippers for the first time in the last 11 games, they could make it into the 6th seed again.