The second half of the NBA season is here. At least that is what it is commonly referred to but in reality there is less than a third of the season left. Now that the trade deadline and All Star weekend has past though let’s look at some of the teams to watch.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns went from a borderline playoff team to the favorite in the West to make it to the finals. This team gave up some young players and picks to acquire Kevin Durant, who is still a top player in the league. With the Suns being able to retain their core players like Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and DeAndre Ayton, and acquire Durant, they should definitely be kept a close eye on.
Dallas Mavericks
Dallas now has two ball-dominant guards in Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. It has been a small sample size of them both playing together but it didn’t look great to begin with. Keep a close eye on how these two play together. The Mavericks sacrificed some of their defensive prowess by trading for Irving as they gave up Dorian Finney-Smith and Kyrie is not a standout defender himself.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers were already good but traded away their two point guards for what they hope are upgrades. John Wall and Reggie Jackson were traded to acquire Bones Hyland and Russell Westbrook. Both of these players were not good fits with their former teams so we will have to see how it works out for them with the Clippers.
Photo Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luka_Doncic_(51176525298).jpg