by Paul Coro, USA TODAY Sports

It takes very little prompting for Phoenix Suns fans to root against the Los Angeles Lakers.

A glimpse of purple and gold uniforms or Kobe Bryant can suffice as reason to pull for whoever the Lakers are facing. This season, the Suns’ motivation for the Lakers’ frustration would be an unexpected draft lottery pick.

When Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby accommodated Steve Nash’s wish to be a Laker with a sign-and-trade deal, part of his stipulation with the Lakers was that the Lakers first-round pick owed to the Suns after this season be unprotected. When predictions of a Lakers 70-win season and dynasty were unfolding in July with the additions of Nash and Dwight Howard, the notion that the Lakers would miss the playoffs this season seemed as far-fetched as an “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” plot.

Twenty-five games into the season, the Lakers (11-14) have a two-game winning streak and are still in 12th place in the Western Conference and barely holding off the Suns by 1 ¹/2 games.

It remains dreamy for the Suns to think they will get a lottery pick from the Lakers. More likely, the Lakers will get back on track once Nash and Pau Gasol return from injuries and their talents combine with Bryant and Howard to take over. In that scenario, the trade plays out with a grimmer result: The Suns likely would wind up with Miami’s first-round pick (sure to be toward the end of the first round) because of another outstanding Lakers deal.

When the Lakers acquired Ramon Sessions from Cleveland in March, the Cavaliers negotiated the right to swap picks this season with the Lakers but only if the Lakers pick was not in the lottery. Cleveland is owed picks by Miami (top-10 protection in the LeBron James deal) and Sacramento (top-13 protection in an Omri Casspi deal). With Cleveland and Sacramento both in second to last place in their respective conferences, Cleveland surely would wind up passing along the Miami pick to the Lakers, who then would owe it to the Suns.

In the Suns’ Nash sign-and-trade deal in July, Nash received a three-year, … [For more on Los Angeles Lakers struggles could help Phoenix Suns, click here.]