As the NBA All-Star break comes and goes, the second half begins and the playoffs approach rapidly. With the playoffs approaching quickly, we have to take a dive into who the contenders are after a wild trade deadline.
The Trade Deadline: Lots of action for teams… in the middle of the pack?
A surprising amount of teams who have been stuck in the middle, or even been near the bottom for years on end, made potentially franchise-altering trades.
The Utah Jazz went out and got coveted big man Jaren Jackson Jr. from the Grizzlies. Although the Jazz had to give up young talent, they got a proven player at the NBA level. Jackson Jr., having won Defensive Player of the Year with the Grizzlies during the 2022-23 season and only being 26 years old, brings his 19.4 points per game to a Utah Jazz team that is loaded with young and upcoming talent.
One of those rising stars is 22-year-old Guard Keyonte George who averages the second most points on the team at 23.8 a game, just behind Lauri Markkanen, who is only 28 himself, averaging 26.7 a night. With the Jazz in line to have a top ten pick in this upcoming draft (unless the draft lottery odds go sideways) they are destined to be a team on the uprise within the next few seasons.
Another team that was the talk of the trade deadline were the Washington Wizards, who made the first big move about a month before the deadline. The Wizards went out and got Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks, and later on Feb. 5 acquired Anthony Davis from the Mavericks, leaving them without the star player they acquired from the forsaken Luka Doncic trade a year ago.
On the bright side, they have a teenage sensation in Cooper Flagg who is running away with Rookie of the Year and is likely to be one of the faces of the league in the near future. To go along with that, they acquired AJ Johnson (21), Marvin Bagley (26), Tyus Jones (29), Khris Middleton (34) , two first round picks, and three second round picks from the Davis trade.
Other teams who were active at the deadline included the Chicago Bulls, who made an emphasis on being active, and active they were. From Feb. 3 to 5, they would get rid of Kevin Huerter and Dario Saric (a player acquired a day before) and acquired Jaden Ivey, a 23 year old who has averaged 15 points a game through his first five seasons. Then, in one of their more shocking moves, they would trade away veteran center Nikola Vucevic and a second round pick to the Celtics in exchange for Anfernee Simons, a 26-year-old with a lot of upside, and a second round pick.
Other moves would include sending Coby White to the Hornets and Ayo Dosunmu to the Timberwolves. What seemed to upset Bulls fans the most was that they didn’t get a single first round pick after seven trades. Instead they ended up with nine second round picks and eight guards, which makes them one of the smallest teams in the league (and why the Vucevic trade was a big deal).
Other teams who have been stuck in the middle like the Heat, Magic, and Hawks didn’t really switch much up, which shows their lack of get up and go to get out of the middle.
Second half preview: Can the Thunder repeat?
With the lone move they made at the deadline, it’s safe to say the Thunder got better, and therefore have even more fire power to repeat.
With the Thunder being so young (they only have one player over 30) and having so much draft capital as well, they may very well be forming a dynasty. At the deadline they improved their roster, which was already the top team in the NBA, by acquiring second-year Guard Jared McCain from the Philadelphia 76ers. McCain, who would’ve had a good shot for Rookie of the Year last season if he didn’t get injured, has been battling injuries this season as well, but he is 21 and one of the most prolific shooters in the game. The Thunder got themselves a good one.
Although the Thunder got even better, there are other teams looming who have potential to take down the Thunder come playoff time, starting with the Spurs and their 7 ‘4 Frenchmen in Victor Wembanyama. The Spurs beat the Thunder four out of the five games they played each other this season. Two of those wins for the Spurs came on Dec. 23 and Dec. 25, back-to-back games. And Wembanyama was in the middle of it all. He is the talk of the league right now. There has never been a seven footer that does what he can do. His movement around the court for a seven footer is unmatched, and when you pair his sheer size with his shooting, he’s deadly.
But the case for the Spurs is more than just Wembanyama, although he is the focal point, he is surrounded by young players, including himself, but also second year guard and last year’s Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle and this year’s second pick in the draft Dylan Harper.
Do you see a pattern? 20-23 year olds are taking over the game of basketball. Every good team has a core of young players who are bound to run the league within the next three to four years.
Another good young team is the Detroit Pistons, who currently hold the best record in the Eastern Conference behind star players Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren.
Sticking with the Eastern Conference, teams just below the Pistons include the Celtics, without their best player in Jayson Tatum who tore his achilles in last year’s playoffs, the Knicks, whose fans are begging for playoff success, and the Cavaliers, who went out and got an all-time scorer in James Harden from the Clippers. All three see themselves as formidable contenders to make the Finals.
Both conferences are gauntlets, with the gap from first to sixth in the Eastern Conference being only ten and a half games and the gap from first to sixth in the Western Conference being only eight games.
The sixth seeds are currently the 76ers in the East, and the Timberwolves in the West, who both have very capable teams to shake up the seeding. The Timberwolves, having made back-to-back Western Conference Finals, as previously mentioned, acquired Dosunmu from the Bulls, a great scorer and defender who can possibly help the Wolves get over the hump along with star player Anthony Edwards, who is third in the league in scoring at 29.3 points per game.
Bottom of the Barrel:
Now on the flipside, you have teams who just aren’t quite there yet and are playing the second half of the season to evaluate talent, and, yes… tank.
The NBA recently fined the Pacers and the Jazz for sitting healthy players in order to lose games to get a higher pick for the draft. Funny enough, both teams won their respective games.
The NBA Draft is a lottery draft system where even if you are the worst team, you don’t automatically get the number one pick, you just get better odds. The top three teams all get a 14% chance for the top pick, while the rest of the teams that missed the playoffs also get a pretty hefty shot of at least selecting picks one through four. After picks one through four are selected, the rest of the order, that being picks five through fourteen, are decided based on record.
During All-Star weekend, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver talked about possible changes to the draft to stop teams from tanking. One solution Silver threw out there was getting rid of the draft altogether, and allowing rookies to come into the league as free agents. Time will only tell if changes will actually take place and how teams who are struggling at the bottom will adapt to those changes.
Second half predictions:
The Charlotte Hornets made a surprise run at the end of the first half by going on a nine game win streak before losing to the Pistons and then winning their last game just before the break.
With the Hornets getting hometown kid Coby White from the Bulls, expect big things from them this second half. Those big things could include maybe sneaking into a guaranteed playoff spot (sixth seed or higher); the Hornets are currently the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Other teams like the Cavaliers (fourth seed) and Raptors (fifth seed) could potentially make some noise in the Eastern Conference and even in the playoffs.
Meanwhile out West, there are contenders everywhere. Can the Lakers elite offense outscore their sloppy defense? Will the Thunder reign supreme in the West? Who knows. The league seems wide open and things are only going to get better come the second half.
NBA Finals Prediction:
Knicks vs. Spurs.
The Knicks finally get over the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals behind stellar play from Jalen Brunson. The Spurs ride their seven foot Frenchmen all the way past the Thunder. This was also the matchup that took place during the NBA in-season tournament, so who is to say it won’t happen in the postseason tournament?
Spurs 4, Knicks 2.
The Spurs start a new dynasty and a new rivalry is formed between the Thunder and the Spurs on who is the top dog in the Western Conference.
