NBA Western Conference

Western Conference 

Pacific Division 

Golden State Warriors—

The Warriors Finished Their Tumultuous Season Just Escaping The Houston Rockets Late Push To Secure A Play-In Spot, Only to Find Themselves Eliminated. During The Season, The Golden State Warriors, A Team Once Light years Ahead Of The League, Found Themselves Behind The Curb, Getting Run Over By a Team Like The T-Wolves, Thunder, The Nuggets, and Even The Suns. The Warrior's Depleted And Often Inconsistent Supporting Cast Fell Flat, and GM Mike Dunleavy Knew Heights Had To Address The Matter In The Offseason. However, they Have Gotten Off To An Inauspicious Start, Missing Out On Paul George, Releasing Their Trade Chip In Chris Paul, And Parting Ways With Klay Thompson, Which Doesn't Count As A "Loss" But is Of Note In The Offseason. The Warriors Fans Still Have Reason To Hope If Their Youth Continue To Bloom. The Warriors Past Up On A Lot Of Moves—Trades For Lavine And Deangelo Russell—While Watching Pieces Of The Roster Fly Out.

Los Angeles Lakers— 

As Long As The Lakers Have LeBron Under Contract—Which They Technically Don't As Of This Writing—Every Move Made Must Have Some Grain Of Championship Contention In Mind. So Far, The Lakers Have Struck Out On Their Prime Target Like Klay Thompson, But LA Could Have A Trick Or Two In Store To Bring Lebron And The Lakers Back Into The Title. The Lakers Drafted Bronny, Which At Least Guarantees LeBron doesn't Retire For At Least Another Season. The Lakers also finished last place in three-point field goals attempted, and They'll need to add some firepower in that spot after missing out on Klay. 

Los Angeles Clippers—

The Combination Of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook Couldn't give The Clippers a title or much less out of the first round. With George Now Signing In Philly, the Clippers Avoid Massive Cap Ramifications And Now Have Just Two Injury-Prone Superstars To Lead Their Team. The Paul George Kahwi Leonard Combination Did Manage To Sell Dreams Long Enough to Split Apart. 

Phoenix Suns—

The NBA's CBA is kicking the idea of keeping Phoenix's overpriced roster together into next season. Kevin Durant Stands As The Likely Candidate To Move Because He's He'says On The Move, and He's He'sMost desirable Star Who Can Plug Into Nearly Offensive Design And Team Structure. Durant Has More Than $100 Million Remaining Over The Last Two Years Of The Extension Heights Signed In Brooklyn, But The Sun's Roster Has Way Too Holes Beneath The Starting Five Of The Roster.  

Sacramento Kings— 

Under Head Coach Mike Brown, The Kings Have Produced Two Winning Season in Back Years But Took A Step Back, Losing In The Play-In Tournament And Thus Failing To Make Consecutive Playoff Appearances. The Kings have one of the best one-two punches, with De'AaDe'Aaron and Domantas Sabonis, along with Malik Monk coming off the bench to provide firepower. You Can't forget Keegan Murray, But I Can't Believe That Sac Needs Another Offensive play guard.  The Kings Finished 9 In points per Game But Floundered On Offense Against The Pels In The Play-In Tournament. However, The Kings Just Squeezed Under The Cap This off-season, So they'll Forward With The Team Assembled. 

Northwest Division

 Denver Nuggets—

For The past three years, The Nuggets And MVP Nikola Jokic Have Looked Unsolvable Before The Timberwolves Drop Them In Game 7 Of The Western Conference Semifinals. With KCP'sKCP'srture From Free Agency, the Nuggets will want to add another ball-handling guard rather than Strand Jamal Murray as the primary ball handler and scoring threat. The Nuggets Use Nikola As An Offensive Access Point, But Every "Gimm" ck" Has" Limits, And Eventually, Opponents Figure Out Holes IN the System. The Nuggets Offense Also Runs In a Way Thats Counter-Revolutionary; the "Post" Up" Gam" Did See A Revival, But Better Three Shooting Teams Can Easily Exploit A Team That Made Under 12 Three Pointers A Game. The Nuggets Can Get Stagnant At Times; as We Watched In Game 7, Mike MalonMalone'sers All Train Their Focus On Jokic Or Murray To Create Offense. 

Minnesota Timberwolves—

The Timberwolves Became A Playoff Media Darlings After Charging Past Last Year's And Making Their First Western Conference Finals In Two Decades Before Crashing Down Before The Mavs. The League Witness Anthony  Edwards At His Peak, No Longer The Georgia Kid With Upside But A Full Blown Superstar. Exemplified Best By A Harrowing Game 7 Comeback. Ant Edward Talked And Back His Talk, And The Wolves Looked Ready To Make Good On Their Talent Maybe Two Years In Advance.

However, even with a superstar leading the way, the WolveWolves are stuck off the road too many times for them to overtake the West indeed. The Wolves Recognized They Needed to Add Firepower on The Outside With Mike Conley Entering His 18th Year In The NBA and not much more than Nickel Alexander-Walker, A Defensive Swiss Army Knife, as a Backup. In The Draft, the Wolves Added Rob Dillingham, a Sharp Shooting Guard Out Of Kentucky. 

Utah Jazz—

Checking In On The Jazz And Their rebuilding Schedule, And Things Have Started To Look Far More Promising. Their Status As A Non-Contender Makes Them The Perfect OutPost For Log-jammed, Pricey Veteran Contracts. Those lower expectations mean That Jazz can quite easily experiment with lottery picks with high upside, like Taylor Wright and former lottery picks that Didn't mold. The Jazz Roster also features Star Forward Lauri Markennen, a coveted trade chip for contenders and others because of MarkeMarkennen's skill set. 

Portland Trailblazers—

The Portland Trail Blazers Possess More Of The Defined Talent  Needed To March Back To a State League Relevance But are Still On Equal Footing With Other Rebuilding. Young Pieces Like Anfernee Simons, Who Lead The Team In Points, De'AnDe'Andren, Who Lead The Team In Rebounding, Or Shaedon Sharpe, One Of The Leagues Brightest Prospects, Offer Some Semblance of Hope For A Propitious Future. Scoot Henderson Finished The Season With A -5.23 Real Plus Minus Despite Establishing Himself As The Team'Team'sing ball distributor, Leading The Blazers In Assists. Chauncey Billups Guards Like Overall Playmaking As The Team Finished 30th In Overall Assist Per Game. 

Oklahoma City Thunder--Teams in The Northern Division Look To OKC Has The Model Of Rebuilding Transformation. The Thunder Traded Away The Who'sWho's Of Their Roster, Accumulated Picks, Drafted Well, And Seemingly Night Took Over The Western Conference. The Thunder Couldn't Convert Their "Lightning" "Bottle Style Of Play In The Playoffs When The Game Slowed Down, And Teams Could Focus on Slowing Down The Option Around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Shai still averaged better than 30 points per game against the Mavs. The Mavericks Slowed The Thunder's Other offensive options. The Thunder Moved On From None Offensive Options Like Josh Giddey As The Thunder Struggled To Hold Their Own From The Three Point Line. The Thunder Will Need To Find More Offensive Options if They Hope To Contend with the team content To Let Shai ascend while just Strapping Down The Rest Of The Team. 

Southwest 

Dallas Mavericks

 The Mavs Became The Talk Of The Southwest by Making A Run To The Finals, Thanks partly to the season TRADE that Acquired PJ Washington And DANIEL Gafford. The Mavericks, Guided By The Steady Hands Of Luka Doncic and An Incendiary Kyrie Irving, Mavericks Climbed From A DubiousFifth Seed To An Eventual Road Kill For the Celtics In the Final. Kyrie Irving Rejuvenated Playoff Play From Theo Western Final Whimper. In Need Of Greater Floor Spacing, The Mavs Secure The Services Of One The Greatest Shooters In Basketball History. The Mavs Also Picked Up Quentin Grimes In The Deal, And I Like Grimes, Who Can Provide The Same Fire Power As Klay, Who is A lot Younger He's A CareerHe's Shooter, and He's Only 24 He'ss Of Age. Despite not Winning League MVP, Losing In The NBA Finals 4-1 To Boston, And Missing Out On The Olympics With His Home Country, Slovenia, Luka Doncic Took Home ESPN's Best NESPN'syer Award, And Never Before Have I Thought someone deserved it. Players Of The Caliber Of LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, And Kobe Bryant Have Won The  Award In The Past. Still, After Nearly Averaging A Triple-Double With 33.9 PPG, 9.8 APG, and 9.2 RPG (Actually Leading The League In Scoring), Luka Has Looked Like The Best Player In Basketball Unquestionably. He will be home at the forefront of the NBA MVP conversation for years if he sustains this level of play. 

Memphis Grizzlies— 

The Grizzlies Got Out Of The Gate Slow After The NBA Dealt Star Guard Ja Morant A Suspension For "Misconduct." "Morants Re" urned. Improved The Grizz's Win-Loss Record And The Grizz' Odds Of Make The Playoffs, But A Shoulder Injury Sideline Morant For The Season After Just Nine Games. The Grizzlies' Entire  Roster Dealt With Injury Issues, Leading To The Grizzlies Utilizing A Myriad Of Lineups Counted In 30s, 33 Total A Record, By The End Of The Season. The Grizz Will Look forward To The Return Of Ja Morant, The Growth Of Young Players Like GG Jackson, Their Surprise Second Round Pick Otherwise, The Grizz Need To Update Their Three Shooting As The Team Ranks Top 10 In Attempts But Bottom Two In In Percentage Of Makes. 

San Antonio Spurs— 

As a guy who joined the Tim Duncan Era of the Spurs, and as I started this price, I thought of the two-decade 50-plus win seasons and the Playoff Success of San Antonio under Greg Popovich. I'm Not Used I'm The Silver And Black Miring In Obscurity For This Long. Last Season, The Spurs Used The Number One Pick who Will Surely Lift The Spurs Back To A National Audience And Maybe A Playoff Picture. With Wemby As A Center Piece, The Spurs Have Cleared The First Hurdle Of A Rebuilding Team, A Franchise Centerpiece, And A Generational Talent No Less. 

Houston Rockets— 

The Rockets Nearly Became The Surprise Team Of The West, Climbing From Out Of The Pit In The West To Nearly Unseating The Warriors For The Tenth Spot In The West Play-In. The Youth Movement In Houston Took A New Form As Talents Like Alpen Segun Emerge, the team's Leading Scorer, And third-year guard Jalen Green Came Into Bloom Under The Guidance Of Head Coach Ime Udoka. The Rockets Need One Of Their Young Talent To Evolve Into  A Superstar To Catapult The Rockets From Out Of The Western Conference Bottom And Into A Space Of Contention. Houston Can Follow The Mold That OKC Set Last Season. 

New Orleans Pelicans— Five Years Into The Zion Williamson Era And Pels Reach The Playoffs. Of Course, They Exited The First Round Without Zion Ever Playing A Minute Of Ball Against The Thunder As The Big Man Dealt With Injuries; The pigs made strides. Zion played close to 70 games and led the Pels in points per game at 22.9. The Pels finished with three 20-plus scorers, leading to the 10th in scoring. However, In Desperate Need Of A Play Making Force On The Outside To Help The Pels Escape the Limited World Ball Handling "Jobbers"  Li" e Jose "Lvarado, The Pels Made The Deal To Pick Up Hawks Guard Dejonte Murray. Murray Split Backcourt Duty with Trae Young, But Murray Can Man The Point Guard And Provide Solid Wing Defense Alongside Guys Like Trey Murphy and Herb Jones III.