The Los Angeles Lakers' 2021-22 failure became complete on Tuesday night thanks to their loss to the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs' impressive win over the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers were eliminated from play-in tournament contention with the loss, a fact that has the New Orleans Pelicans and their fans jumping for joy.

Pelicans fans hold a bit of a grudge over how the Anthony Davis situation played out, but they did get a nice trade haul in that deal. Part of that trade package for New Orleans is the Lakers' 2022 first-round pick, which is protected 11-30. With the Lakers now sitting at a disastrous 31-48 on the season, that pick is slated to convey to the Pelicans at No. 8.

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It's almost a 100% certainty that New Orleans will be getting that pick from Los Angeles this season. There's still a long-shot scenario in which it doesn't convey and instead goes to the Memphis Grizzlies, but it would require multiple teams jumping up over the Pelicans in the lottery.

The bigger question now is whether New Orleans can get lucky and wind up getting a top-four pick or even the No. 1 pick. As it stands, the Pelicans have a 26.3% chance of moving into the top four and a 6.0% chance of getting the top pick.

It would be the cherry on top of this season for Pelicans fans if they get a top pick from the Lakers after making the play-in tournament themselves despite starting 1-12 and not having Zion Williamson all season. Nobody could have dreamed of things playing out this way back at the start of the season when things were looking so bleak for New Orleans. This has been quite the turnaround, and Pelicans fans are going to enjoy reveling in the Lakers' massive failure.