This year in the NBA a ton of teams are extremely close together in the standings for this point in the year. Not many teams have separated themselves from the pack in both conferences, but especially in the Western Conference.
At the top of the Western Conference there are four teams that you wouldn’t normally see up there.
In first place is the Denver Nuggets, followed by the Memphis Grizzlies, the New Orleans Pelicans, and then the Sacramento Kings. Out of the top four teams only the Kings have made an NBA Finals appearance in franchise history but that was back in 1951 when they played their home games in Rochester. This has mixed the league up. These top four teams in the West haven’t been this good almost ever.
The Western Conference isn’t separated by a huge margin either. The Lakers are 13th in the West but are only six games behind the third place Pelicans team and just two games behind the Warriors for sixth place. Anything can happen in spots three through 13 it seems at this point in the season.
In the Eastern Conference, there isn’t as close of a race. It appears that spots six through 13 are up for grabs though. Look for a tight battle there to determine the play-in-game positions.
Photo Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ja_Morant_(51664923611).jpg
