The Los Angeles Lakers are once again a bad team, which means their eyes are set on another trip to the NBA Draft lottery. Through the majority of the season they held onto the second-best odds they could achieve, a huge factor in their future. The Lakers' 2017 first round draft pick is owned by the Philadelphia 76ers, but is top-three protected.The Lakers stunning win over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night was a costly one. This all but seals the Lakers' position as having the third-best lottery ends, which is effectively a nine percent swing against their favor. Their win was a costly fluke. The worst team in the NBA has a 64.3 percent chance of retaining a top-three pick. The second-worst has a 55.8 percent chance, while third has 46.9 percent. The Suns, on a 13 game losing streak have leaped over the purple and gold. There was still a chance the Lakers could lose out the rest of the season and jump back into second, but a win they should've never sniffed has left them in a tough spot. The worst part is the Lakers did just about all they could to lose this game.D'Angelo Russell was a late scratch, resting his knee after the Lakers had two days off. Brandon Ingram was benched at halftime, the Lakers calling it a "precautionary" measure after the rookie missed time with knee issues recently. Jordan Clarkson banged his knee and sat out most of the second half.Even Larry Nance, Jr. was pulled from the game, but the Lakers kept on beating the Spurs. On the road, at that. The Lakers ran a lineup featuring Tyler Ennis, David Nwaba, Corey Brewer, Thomas Robinson and Tarik Black, yet they continued to beat the Spurs. The fact that you might only know one or two of those names as a non-Lakers fans says about all you need to know about how that lineup should have performed. On Wednesday night, it seemed as though the Lakers were fated to win.A win like this was once a feel-good event, but fans were in full meltdown after the Lakers seemingly destroyed their lottery tanking chances:

On the other hand, the Suns were simultaneously playing and getting romped by the Golden State Warriors. The combination of the Lakers winning and the Suns losing has seemingly cemented the top-three odds heading into lottery night. 

A tough win, so to speak, and now all the Lakers can do is hope that the nine percent swing doesn't come back around and bite them in the tail.