Alex Speers

What a treat that will be for everyone.

The other team the Bucs could pass to get into the play-in would be the Charlotte Hornets, who have won three in a row, back on track after losing three of their previous four.

Similar to the Hawks, it was some dumb fun this week against a trio of tanking teams, with Charlotte winning the three games by a combined 73 points.

The highlight of the week came in their Thursday night game against the Pacers.

Rookie Khan Kanipal hit eight threes in the game, which gave him 209 threes for the season, breaking the rookie record previously set by Keegan Murray just a few years ago.

The next big game for Khan and the Hornets will be next Wednesday when they travel to Boston, the first meeting between these two teams this season, and who knows, a potential preview of a first-round playoff matchup?

Now moving over to the West...

It was not a great week for the Lakers.

Rough week for the Lakers.

They lost three in a row.

First, they could only manage 89 points against the Celtics in L.A., lost that 111-89.

They followed that up with another home loss, this one a one-point loss to the Magic after a late bucket from Wendell Carter Jr.

Then, to end the week, the Lakers went to Phoenix and lost to a Suns team who was missing Devin Booker and Dylan Brooks, their top two scorers.

The Lakers were down by 12 with under six minutes left.

They tie it up with 108 on an Austin Reeves three with just a minute left.

But in the end, it was Royce O'Neal who hit a go-ahead three-pointer with only 1.7 seconds left, giving the shorthanded Suns the much-needed win after losing seven of their previous 10.

Now, to add insult to injury, Dave McMenamin of ESPN wrote a long-form article this week about DeAndre Ayton exploring the ups and downs of the Dominayton experience in L.A.,

The article featured several great anecdotes, including a story from this year about Aiton pulling off a Willy Wonka-style pratfall into a somersault before a game against the Hawks just to do it, just having some fun.

We also found out about the Lakers' training staff wrapping Aiton's water bottle in tape on which they write, "'DA's Crunk Juice.

Drink this to unleash the beast.'"