These Teams Will Almost Certainly Be Worse
The Lakers have been utterly unable to defeat the Nuggets these days. Starting midway through the 2022-23 campaign, they lost 11 games in a row to Nikola Jokić and crew and 12 out of 13 overall.
But the Nuggets, who won the NBA championship 14 months ago, got exposed in the second round of the 2024 playoffs by Minnesota. They lost starting two-guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this offseason, and it is something that will make their already thin bench even thinner.
In an attempt to address that lack of depth, they signed Russell Westbrook. Just ask Lakers fans how things went during that dismal season and a half when Westbrook played for the Purple and Gold.
Remember when the Clippers nabbed both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard within hours of each other a few years ago? Remember how the national media predicted that the Clippers would not only win the world championship but also become the greatest defensive team in modern NBA history? Remember how they were also picked to win it all in the 2022-23 season and, to an extent, this past season?
Those predictions were about as accurate as those about the “Y2K crisis” back in the day.
With Paul George moving on to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Clippers now have an aging and brittle Kawhi Leonard and James Harden to go to war with. Don’t be surprised if they’re only good enough to reach the play-in tournament this coming season.
With Thompson leaving the Warriors, they should have an uphill climb to simply reach the play-in tourney again. Adding Buddy Hield could help make up for his loss, but Hield is no Thompson.