NBA Tanking in Full Swing

There’s a reason a number of sharp sports bettors stay away from meaningless games. Today’s NBA schedule is a good example why, although that doesn’t mean there might not be a decent wager.

The Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers have been battling each other in a massive Tankathon lately. The Lakers have now moved in front of the Suns for the third-worst record in the NBA. The Suns have the second-worst record. The Brooklyn Nets have wrapped-up the worst record in the league. But the Celtics get the Nets’ first-round pick.

Things get interesting after that, as the 76ers will get the Lakers’ pick if they fall out of the top three and each increasing win has hurt their lottery chances a bit. If the Lakers stay third, they actually have a less than 50 percent chance of finishing with a top three choice. The conspiracy theorists will be out in force if the Lakers manage to move into the top three, especially if they’re able to take Lorenzo Ball.

Sunday night you have Dallas at Phoenix in a game the Suns would probably love to lose. But the Mavericks are doing their best to stink it up and have gone 2-8 in their last 10. They are ninth-worst right now, but could be caught by Minnesota. The Timberwolves play the Lakers later on in the evening. A Dallas win would move them into a tie for the 10th-worst record, however, and they’d probably rather finish worse than that.

The last game on the schedule tonight is Minnesota at the Lakers. The Lakers will know what the Suns have done. If the Suns happen to win, expect to see the Lakers stink it up as much as possible. If Phoenix losses, the Lakers will probably play a decent game. The Timberwolves are favored by 5 right now. That will likely change depending on what is happening in the Phoenix game.