Are the Lakers worse this season or is the Western Conference just better?

The Lakers moved to seven games over .500 after Sunday’s win over the Pacers, but a tougher Western Conference this year means they still find themselves in the play-in spots.

The Lakers had pretty lofty expectatitons coming into this season that they haven’t met. Much of the blame for that has, rightfully so, fallen at their own feet.

At the same time, though, there are other factors at play that have made this season a frustrating one. Most notably, whereas the Lakers were able to make a run to sneak in at the bottom of the Western Conference standings last season, the conference as a whole is significantly tougher this season.

The easiest way to encapsulate that is a look at where the Lakers are standings-wise this season versus last after the win against the Pacers on Sunday. The victory moved them to 39-32 and a season-high seven games over .500.

Last season, the Western Conference was quite top-heavy. At this stage in the year, only six teams were above .500 while the Lakers, Pelicans and Wolves were tied at 37-37 in the play-in race.

Comparatively, after the Lakers game on Sunday, there are 10 teams in the conference this year above .500 with the Rockets sitting at 35-35 and set to play the Blazers — one of the league’s worst teams — on Monday evening.

As they went on the stretch run last year, the Lakers were one of the best teams in the league. They went 17-7 over their final 24 games and 24-15 over the final 39 contests. It all ended with the Lakers finishing four games over .500 in the weak Western Conference.

This season, the perception has been that the team has struggled. And certainly, they have. A lot of unforced errors paired with really bad injury luck has left the taste of the Lakers underachieving expectations. And, again, they have.

At the same time, the Western Conferencne is much, much deeper than last season. The Spurs, Blazers and Grizzlies have absorbed a LOT of losses this year on top of the conference improving overall. Teams like the Pelicans, Wolves and Thunder have taken significant steps forward this year.

It has left the Lakers in an interesting conundrum in which they are both a better team than last season, have left wins on the table and are in a worse spot than last season. And the result is going to be them almost certainly competing in the play-in for a third time in four years.

It isn’t any sort of death sentence as they managed a deep run in the playoffs last year after navigating the play-in, but it goes to show just how difficult life has been in the West this year.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.