Will just list the Western Conference teams for this part. OKC......................57-25 Denver.................57-25 Minnesota............56-26 Clippers................51-31 Dallas...................50-32 Phoenix................49-33 New Orleans........49-33 Lakers...................47-35 Golden State........46-36 Sacramento..........46-36 Houston................41-41 Utah......................31-51 Memphis...............27-55 San Antonio..........22-60 Portland................21-61 I won't say that there was science involved for these determinations........but will use this for now. i have Portland, San Antonio and Utah comfortable with being Lottery level teams for the 2024-25 Season. Sorting out the rest and breaking it out into tiers OKC, Denver and Minnesota should again be among the better teams next season. That leaves Clippers................51-31 Dallas...................50-32 Phoenix................49-33 New Orleans........49-33 Lakers...................47-35 Golden State........46-36 Sacramento..........46-36 Houston................41-41 Memphis...............27-55 fighting for 7 slots/spots (5 Playoffs + 2 Playin) The Clippers, Phoenix, New Orleans, Lakers and Golden State all have key players that are old and/or prone to missing games due to injuries. None of them are currently in the Upper Tier with Minnesota, OKC and Denver, so more teams than just Phoenix will be looking for ways to improve. The Not So Good Teams in the league such as Detroit Washington Portland Charlotte San Antonio Toronto Utah Brooklyn Atlanta Chicago have mostly traded away their useful veterans and are going to be reluctant to ship out their promising youth because doing so will prolong their rebuilds. Some of the players listed below will need a new contract, but included them anyway to illustrate that most of the veterans remaining on those rosters are more journeymen rather than anything special. I know how to do the CBA stuff for salary In - Out, but will work on that if the conversation progresses that far. Portland Veterans Ayton (25) Jerami Grant (30) Simons (24) Robert Williams (26) Thybulle (27) The Suns have already had the Ayton Experience and I don't have any of Grant, Simons, Robert Williams and Thybulle lifting the Suns by a significant amount. San Antonio Veterans Keldon Johnson (24) Devonte Graham (29) Tre Jones (24) Zach Collins (26) Vassell (23) I don't see how any of those players lift Phoenix by a significant amount. Utah Veterans John Collins (26) Clarkson (31) Sexton (25) Markkanen (26) Since Phoenix is poor on First Round Picks, I don't have them as a strong candidate to trade for Markkanen. I don't have any of Clarkson, Sexton and Collins lifting the Suns much. Detroit Veterans Fournier (31) -Team Option Wiseman (23) - Needs Contract Flynn (25) - Needs Contract Simon Fontecchio (28) - Needs Contract Wiseman is more Bench level than Starter level and Fournier is likely a Vet Minimum player. I don't have Fontecchio lifting Phoenix much and Flynn is Bench level (at best). So don't see much help for Phoenix here. Washington Veterans Poole (24) Kuzma (28) Ty Jones (27) Bagley (25) Richaun Holmes (30) Shamet (27) A group of nothing special players. So don't see any help for Phoenix here. Charlotte Veterans Bertans (31) Grant Williams (25) Lamelo Ball (22) Miles Bridges (26) Mcic (30) Cody Martin (28) Nick Richards (26) Seth Curry (33) Tre Mann (23) Other than Ball, I don't see much in the way of quality veteran help for Charlotte. Since Ball struggles to stay healthy, I have it as a bad idea for Phoenix to try and trade for him. Toronto Veterans RJ Barrett (23) Bruce Brown (27) Poeltl )28) Trent (25) Olynyk (33) Boucher (31) Quickley (24) Garrett Temple (37) I don't see much in the way of special players to help Phoenix Brooklyn Veterans Ben Simmons (27) Cameron Johnson (28) Mikal Bridges (27) Dorian Finney-Smith (30) Schroder (30) Nic Claxton (25) Keta Bates - Diop (28) Bridges, Claxton and maybe Cam Johnson are the only names that standout. Claxton needs a contract and the Nets will probably want more compensation for Bridges than Phoenix will be able to muster. Atlanta Veterans Trae Young (25) Capela (29) De'Andre Hunter (26) Bogdan Bogdanovic (31) D Murray (27) Okongwu (23) Saddiq Bey (25) Garrison Mathews (27) They will be asking for more compensation for Trae Young and D Murray than Phoenix will be able to muster. I don't have Trae as a fit/need for Phoenix. Chicago Veterans LaVine (29) Demar DeRozan (34) Lonzo Ball (26) Nikola Vucevic (33) Coby White (24) Patrick Willams (22) Caruso (30) Dosunmu (24) Jevon Carter (28) Drummond (30) Torrey Craig (33) They will probably be glad to trade players such as LaVine and Vucevic, but they probably aren't what Phoenix is looking for. DeRozan, Patrick Willams and Drummond will need new contracts. The veterans on the bad - poor -tanking teams that would be useful for Phoenix such as Markkanen Mikal Bridges D Murray are probably not going to be available for the compensation that Phoenix will have available to send out. I don't have players such as Jerami Grant, LaVine, Vucevic, Bruce Brown, Capela etc helping Phoenix by a significant amount. ****************************** Summary I don't think it will be easy for veteran teams currently stuck in the middle such as Phoenix, Lakers, Golden State to significantly improve their rosters this offseason. There isn't much quality talent left to liberate from the poor - Tanking teams. The teams trying to get into the the Playoffs will be quite reluctant to possibly take a step backwards by trading a quality player to Phoenix.
They are also shaky, IMO, and benefit from playing an undermanned team with a poorly constructed roster. However, the Nuggets also looked a little shaky in the first round last year but had a very happy ending.
I'm legitimately looking forward to the Twolves playing in a closeout game where they aren't the one's being closed out. Not many times in all of Twolves history you could say that.
