Biggest Factors Determining LA Lakers’ Playoff Chances During 2013-14 Season

You know we're living in strange times when a discussion of the Los Angeles Lakers' playoff chances is neither ironic nor facetious.

While those chances ultimately rest upon a myriad of eventualities no one can really predict (injuries, cold spells, hot streaks, whether Mike D'Antoni gets fired), we can still isolate a few variables that impact those chances in important ways.

The first and foremost is Kobe Bryant. Since Shaquille O'Neal's departure from Los Angeles in 2004, Bryant's importance to ma...

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