The play-in tournament, which has been adopted as an every-season fixture, means that only 10 of 30 NBA teams won’t get a taste of the postseason from year to year.
Last season, the Lakers, Kings, Trail Blazers, Thunder and Rockets were the five Western Conference teams who failed to qualify.
All of those teams, via some combination of the draft, free agency and trades, have made numerous roster moves this summer in an effort to improve their stock.
Let’s take a quick look at each of those clubs’ major moves, focusing on acquisitions beyond re-signing their own free agents:
- Lakers – The reshaping of the roster feels incomplete until we see if/when they’ll deal Russell Westbrook and whether Kyrie Irving winds up there. They have made some interesting free agent moves, despite limited resources, most notably adding former Spurs wing Lonnie Walker and ex-Wizards center Thomas Bryant.
- Kings – On the surface, the Kings have made some significant upgrades. Their lottery pick, Keegan Murray, was named the MVP of the Vegas Summer League. He could jump right into the starting lineup. They improved their 3-point shooting significantly with the additions of Malik Monk (free agency) and Kevin Huerter (trade).
- Trail Blazers – The much-rumored Jerami Grant trade came to fruition this summer, giving the Blazers a much-needed frontcourt boost. They added a backcourt rotation piece in Gary Payton II via free agency. Starters Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic signed new deals and Portland rolled the dice on wing Shaedon Sharpe with its lottery pick. Sharpe didn’t play college ball last year but has star potential.
- Thunder – The stockpile of extra draft picks they have accumulated in recent years, plus some draft-night maneuvers, paid off in the form of three lottery selections this season. They chose Chet Holmgren, one of the most unique players to enter the league, with the No. 2 pick. Wings Ousmane Dieng and Jalen Williams were added with the No. 11 and No. 12 picks, respectively.
- Rockets – Jabari Smith was expected to be the No. 1 pick in the draft but slid to Houston’s choice at No. 3. He could be a franchise player. Christian Wood was dealt to the Mavericks and the Rockets received a number of veteran reserves in return along with a late-first round pick. Houston used that on guard TyTy Washington. In between, the Rockets held the No. 17 pick and selected LSU’s Tari Eason, who impressed in Summer League action.
That brings us to our question of the day: Which Western Conference team that failed to reach the postseason this spring – Lakers, Kings, Trail Blazers, Thunder or Rockets – has the best chance to qualify for next year’s playoffs?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
Clippers, Bucks and 76ers traded away all future available first round picks
Why not Lakers?
I’ll take Irving, Harris and Seth Curry ahead of Turner and Hield
According to reporters, everything is in the Lakers hand
Why haven’t Lakers traded all their future pics? Because LeBron’s 38.
Top tier
Gsw- Phx-Den-LAC
2nd tier
Mem -Dal -Min -Pelicans
Play In hopefuls-
Lal- Sac- Por
They’ll be better days –
Sas-Okc- HOU-UTAH (DM leaves)
Strong dropoff after the top 8 . Wouldn’t surprise me if Minny or Peli’s entered top tier by years end but I wouldn’t bet on it
I’ve got Memphis in the top tier in place of Minnesota which goes to the second group.
I think you are overrating the Lakers a lot here, but that’s to be expected. I mean look at their roster 1-15, its straight up atrocious for 2023. Maybe it’s nice for 2017? Its not 2017 though.
Utah will still clear the Lakers even if DM leaves, because they will likely get something ready-now back for him. Also they can still make other trades and signs to make them better than a lot of teams, Lakers are way more limited there. Like, what if Kyrie ends up on the Jazz to replace DM? Easy playoff team.
Most likely if the Jazz trade Mitchell they’ll receive a few young, raw players, a boatload of draft picks, and a player with a big salary for salary-matching purposes. The Jazz have committed to bottoming out.
And they’re not overrating the Lakers. They ARE play-in hopefuls.
I think the top 8 is Clippers, Warriors, Suns, Grizzlies, Mavs, Nuggets, Pelicans, T-Wolves safely. The final 2 playin spots are up for grabs with Jazz and Spurs bottoming out and I think 1 will be the Kings (Full season of Sabonis, Monk/Huerter helping Fox, Keegan Murray etc) the last one will really come down to who carries more Lillard, Mitchell, or LeBron unless the thunder take the next step. Should be a lot of parity in the conference I’m excited
I’ll write it in pencil but I like the Kings as well this year for a playoff birth and to be a pretty feisty team all around
Agreed, Kings roster is so superior to the Lakers it’s not even funny.
Seeding… probably shapes up like this:
1. Suns 2. GSW 3. Nuggets 4. Grizzlies 5. Mavs 6. Clippers 7. LAL 8. Pelicans 9. Wolves 10. Blazers 11. Kings 12. Jazz 13. Thunder 14. Spurs 15. Rockets
1 or Both PG13/KL will miss time. AD will miss time. DM gets traded. Nuggets stay healthy. Morant misses like 15 games. Zion misses 20 games.
No way Lakers finish above Pels or Wolves, even if Zion is out… LeBron isn’t getting any younger this season and it’d require a miracle to get an efficient season from Westbrook.
If AD+Bron don’t play 70+ games then the Lakers have zero chance of making the playoffs, period. That roster is UGLY.
Lakers future depends on Brick being traded. Jazz, Net, Hornets, Pacers, and Knicks sending them role players for whatever reason (dump salary, facilitate other trade etc..) So they may end up with a deeper team. They still have to reup Melo, Dwight, and fill some more vet min roles.
One thing’s for sure, the West is stacked. Actually, the whole NBA is stacked right now.
Alls I know is that the west will still be woopin on those weak east teams :)
The Blazers seem the liveliest of that group to reach the playoffs. That’s not because I view them as greatly improved; moreso that the Jazz fell off a cliff into rebuild mode.
I think Portland. But I the ink SAC can make playin. Mike Brown is a good coach.
“Mike Brown is a good coach”????? When??? When he was filling in for Steve Kerr with Golden State??? That doesn’t count. Remember what a genius everybody said Luke Walton was as Golden State head coach??? How did that work out??? When has Mike Brown ever been considered a good head coach when not on sidelines of Golden State?
Its GSW, then a MASSIVE gap, then everyone else.
In answer to the specific question though, the Blazers obviously will make the playoffs if Dame plays a full season. Kings will likely make the play-in. Lakers are no shot EVEN IF BRON IS HEALTHY!!!!
I dunno how to feel about the Mavs and Blazers. They’re both essentially one star point guard and one solid power forward carrying the entire team. Simons gives the Blazers another playmaking wing, but I’m concerned about his defensive ability and his ability to hold up in the playoffs when really good defenders are on him and they are not holding back. I did like the Blazers’ addition of Payton but I dunno if it really gets them over the hump. Neither is looking like anything like a championship team right now. Suns, Warriors, Clippers (if they stay healthy) are the prime candidates to make it out of the West, with Denver, Memphis, Minnesota and New Orleans sleeper candidates. The Mavs maaaaaaaaaaaaybe could get out if Dinwiddie steps up big-time in Brunson’s absence. On paper, the Blazers and Lakers look good, at least they both look a lot better than last year, but there are just too many other good teams for them to even make it past the first round. The Kings, if all goes well, could make it to the play-in. The other four don’t seem very likely to be very good.
With 3 committed tankers (veterans OKC and HOU, and new kid SAS), and UTH at least thinking about it, looks like its down to 11 teams that will actually compete for the 10 spots. Good odds. The only locks for the top 6 are GSW, PHX and DEN.
Range 4-8: LAC and NOP have the rosters to compete with anyone. But one has TL as HC, and the other DG as FOC. MEM was 2 seed last year, with a young team, but still, I see a step back. MIN stays in this range because they have to after the RG deal; the lack of depth might be a bigger issue than whether RG and KAT can play well together. DAL is in this range because I can’t predict a big step backward for a team led by Doncic and Kidd, but overall they really aren’t as talented as the other teams here.
Range 9-11: LAL, if they can get more than 50 games with AD and LBJ together, will be in the play-in, and if both are healthy for the play-in, will be favorites to make the playoffs. SAC looks good (but not great) on paper to at least get to the play-in. Not hard, but expectations (even modest ones) can be a trap for teams that don’t defend. POR has some real talented players, but they don’t look like a group that anyone would invite to the same party, let alone assemble as a team. They have Billups (good). We’ll see.