It’s October, so Halloween season is upon us, but it’s also time for the NBA to return. All the talk and some drama will be shoved aside as teams return to the court, hoping to do what the Golden State Warriors did last season in raising the Larry O’Brien NBA Finals trophy.
The Western Conference is loaded again, and we could see quite a bit of turnover and teams climbing up the standings from where they were in 2021.
Zion Williamson. It’s really that simple for New Orleans in terms of potential success this season. The Pelicans brought in another veteran piece in C.J. McCollum last year, and Brandon Ingram is still one of the more underrated snipers in the league. Their bench isn’t shabby either, with Devonte’ Graham, Larry Nance Jr., Jose Alvarado, and Jaxson Hayes (once he returns from injury) all looking to log valuable minutes for New Orleans this season.
If Zion plays at least 65 games, the Pelicans will land in the top six of the Western Conference and avoid the Play-in Tournament. New Orleans made the postseason via the play-in last season without Williamson touching the court once. The Pels even pushed the defending Western Conference champion Phoenix Suns six games in the first round.
So far in the preseason, Williamson looks like he spent his time off rehabbing and has gotten his body in the best shape of his NBA career. With him healthy and available for 75 percent of the season or more, the Pelicans should be a 50-win team.
This seems like an easy one, but you just never know with the Clippers. Kawhi Leonard is back with Paul George, and they’ve added a former All-Star guard to the roster in John Wall. But this Clippers team is about their two stars and depth. Los Angeles is one of the deeper teams, making it easy for head coach Tyronn Lue to go 10 deep into his lineup.
Bench minutes will be hard to come by on this Clippers team, which isn’t a bad problem. Last season the Clippers were riddled with injuries as Leonard missed the entire year recovering from ACL surgery, and George missed about three months in the middle of the season with an injury, not to mention different role players who were in and out of the lineup. Kept primarily healthy, the Clippers should be back in the top four of the Western Conference without a doubt.
I’m not a big believer in the Denver Nuggets as a real contender to make and win the NBA Finals. The Nuggets feel like another Utah Jazz-style No. 1 seed candidate from a couple of years ago that’ll tear through the regular season before falling short in the playoffs.
Ultimately the NBA comes down to who has the best stars and how many. Of course, the Nuggets feature the back-to-back defending league MVP, Nikola Jokić. But in a conference with teams like the Clippers, Warriors, and Lakers that have multiple stars, if not superstars, the Nuggets won’t be able to stack up with certain teams in the postseason.
Fortunately for Denver and its fans, the return of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. is huge for this organization. They simply didn’t have enough firepower to compete last season, with Murray missing all year and Porter playing just nine games. Look for the Nuggets to run through the Northwest Division this year and lock up a top-three seed, and don’t be shocked if they land the No. 1 seed in the West.
LeBron James’ career is slowly winding down while chasing that ever-elusive fifth ring. The only way James even gets close at this point is for Anthony Davis to stay healthy and be available late in the season.
This L.A. franchise missed out on all postseason activity last year, finishing 11th in the Western Conference primarily due to a lack of cohesion and injury. Most people blamed it on Russell Westbrook not working out and figured he’d be gone over the summer. Welp, Westbrook is still in SoCal, and under new head coach, Darvin Ham, is still the likely starting point guard for the Lakers.
James is still great, but his days of carrying anybody to the NBA Finals are over. He needs more help than ever before if he plans to compete and be a factor in the West. Picking up Patrick Beverley and Dennis Schroder will help in the backcourt alongside Westbrook and a healthy Kendrick Nunn. But this team will go as far as Davis goes based on his health. Should he return to the AD we saw during The Bubble championship year of 2020, the Lakers should make the playoffs. But again, it depends on Davis and what he brings in his bag this year.
Phoenix’s two-year run of being one of the top teams in the West came to an end during that embarrassing second-round playoff series against Dallas. Forget about the series, Game 7 alone was enough to make you barf. When you lose Game 7 at home by 33 points, it’s safe to say somebody mailed it in.
Chris Paul’s ability seemingly walked off a cliff in the middle of the series, and Deandre Ayton looked less interested from game-to-game in that series. Ayton was playing for an extension, which he got in the summer, but it felt like the damage was already done at that point. Indiana signed him to an offer sheet in the summer, which Phoenix matched, much to the surprise of many. That should’ve been done a year ago, but they let Ayton walk into the season with hurt feelings over not getting the extension he felt he’d earned.
The Suns bring back most of the same players from the last two years, minus one of their key role players ultimately in Jae Crowder. It’s rumored that Crowder wants out of Phoenix, and he and the team have agreed on him staying away until something is worked out.
We also can’t forget about owner Robert Sarver and the allegations of racism and misogyny in the workplace. That behavior should never be accepted anywhere, especially in a work environment. But this is something else along with Phoenix’s on-court issues the franchise faces heading into the season. The Suns could fall out of the top six in the Western Conference, especially if Paul continues to decline, as we witnessed in the Mavs series.
Memphis shocked everyone a year ago with its hot start and working its way up to the No. 2 seed in the West. The Grizzlies were eliminated by the eventual champion Warriors, but Ja Morant and crew proved they had something special within that young nucleus. But because of that, all these young guys will soon be due for big contract extensions, making things difficult for the organization.
But here’s the thing about the Grizzlies. This Memphis core is young, with Morant, Dillon Brooks, Desmond Bane, and Jaren Jackson Jr., who will miss time to start the season with a foot injury. Still, according to reports, Jackson should be back sometime between November and January. The Grizzlies played above their heads last year and caught teams off guard early on. No one will be surprised by Memphis this year, and with other teams getting their stars healthy, the Grizzlies will probably suffer a bit of a letdown.
I’m not saying they’ll fall out of the postseason altogether, but finishing second in the West is highly unlikely. Let’s not forget the Grizzlies share a division with the Mavs led by Luka Dončić and the Pelicans with a healthy Zion Williamson. This year the Southwest Division will be much more formidable, with three viable teams that could make the postseason.
Utah’s fall from grace continues this season after trading Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell in the offseason. Two seasons ago, the Jazz were the No. 1 seed in the West and had the best overall record in the league. Last year, Utah dropped to fifth in the conference and then got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Dallas. Dončić even missed multiple games in the series, and Dallas still took out the Jazz in six games.
Plain and simple, the Jazz will be in next year’s draft lottery. They have some good players, but no stars, and you can’t do much winning without stars in the NBA. They’ll play hard and push teams but don’t expect much from Utah. They’ll be lucky to sneak into a play-in spot.