The Los Angeles Lakers would be playing with virtually zero pressure
Entering the playoffs as the 7th or 8th seed via the Play-In Tournament is not necessarily where any team in the league wants to be, especially if they have any hopes of making a deep playoff run. However, the Miami Heat last season kind of changed that whole mentality. This is not to say that 8th seeds are going to be expected to make deep playoff runs after what the Heat did, but it did prove that it can be done.
And that's something the Lakers could rally around. A final advantage that the Lakers would have entering the playoffs as one of the final two playoff seeds in the West is the fact that they'd be playing with virtually zero pressure to win.
Even in a possible first-round series against a more inexperienced team, I still don't believe the Lakers would be favored against the Minnesota Timberwolves or even the Oklahoma City Thunder. With how inconsistent the Lakers have been this season, I can't imagine that'd be the case.
That's where this team excels, as an underdog. We saw it last season in which the Lakers made a somewhat unlikely run to the conference finals as the 7th seed and it wouldn't be surprising if they managed to do something similar this year if the bracket falls favorably for them.