Rui Hachimura scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds in the Los Angeles Lakers' 128-117 win over the Utah Jazz in their final regular-season game on Sunday.
With the Golden State Warriors pounding the Portland Trail Blazers 157-101 to clinch the sixth seed and the final guaranteed Western Conference playoff spot, the Lakers will have to negotiate the play-in tournament after finishing seventh with a 43-39 record.
The Lakers will face the Minnesota Timberwolves Tuesday, with the winner advancing to the first round of the playoffs against the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies.
The loser of the Lakers-Timberwolves game will have a second chance at securing a playoff berth, with that team facing the winner of the game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder for a shot at the eighth seed and a first-round matchup with the top-ranked Denver Nuggets.
"Obviously, you would like to secure your position but things don't always fall your way," Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said. "But it's not about the action, it's about the reaction and the way we reacted when we found ourselves facing adversity. We've been able to climb out of it and here we are."
"It's a hell of an opportunity before us, facing us and we're up for it wholeheartedly."
Hachimura was part of a midseason trade in which he was moved from the Washington Wizards to the Lakers. He played 33 of his 63 games this season in Los Angeles.
He finished the season averaging a career-low 11.2 points to go along with 4.5 rebounds per game. He saw his minutes drop slightly after moving to a Lakers team with a strong frontcourt rotation that includes four-time MVP LeBron James and All-Star Anthony Davis.