The tank is on in Los Angeles Laker land, and despite the fact that it will be very difficult for Los Angeles to get much better odds than a ten percent shot at the top pick of the 2019 NBA Draft, they could move as high as a 29 percent chance at a top-four pick.
The evidence of the pivot to, uh, resting and load management (wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more) began when LeBron James agreed to be put on a minutes restriction with no back-to-backs, and was expanded after wing Brandon Ingram was declared out for the season with a shoulder injury of a decidedly vague nature.