For much of the season, the Lakers final week of the season looked set to be a daunting one. Matchups with the Clippers and Suns were always going to be tough, but the Jazz emerged as one of the surprises of the season and were only set to make it more difficult for the Lakers.
Fast forward to current day and Utah looks more like the tanking team many projected them to be, partially due to their own decisions and partially due to injury. The latter of those will serve to be most impactful as the team announced on Monday that standout rookie Walker Kessler had entered concussion protocol.