On a night when Buddy Hield scored a career-high 30 points for the Sacramento Kings, the New Orleans Pelicans lost their fifth straight game on the schedule, a 108-96 failure to the hapless Los Angeles Lakers.
Admittedly, a win was never a sure thing.
For a team looking to punt a lot of the season to try to keep their top-3 protected 2017 first round draft pick, the Lakers have now won five straight games. Although they are set to finish with the third worst record in the NBA, the odds are better than 50/50 that at least one team jumps ahead of them in the upcoming lottery.