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The Pelicans announced Zion Williamson has been upgraded to questionable. Show of hands: How many of you even knew he’s played in 11 games this season? Put your hands down. That was a trick — he’s played in six.
Jim Dedmon / Imagn Images
State of the West
Is the West actually wide open?
Some of you may remember we recently analyzed whether the Mavericks have been built to survive Luka Dončić’s calf injury that’s expected to sideline him for at least a month. We thought the Mavs could handle it! Unfortunately, a bulging disk will also sideline Kyrie Irving for one to two weeks, and now the Mavs might be in trouble.
It made me wonder how much trouble, considering we’ve been calling the Western Conference a traffic jam since before the season began. Let’s take a look at the entire state of the West by dropping everybody into tiers.
Tier 5: Really excited for March Madness
- It’s safe to give up on these seasons, and for the Jazz (9-25) and Blazers (12-23), it’s not a bad thing at all. They expected to be here. They just want to develop young talent and end up with a great draft pick. (Current prospect Big Board.)
- The Pelicans (7-29) have unexpectedly found themselves in this predicament, but maybe it’ll benefit them with some lottery luck in the long run.
Tier 4: Breaking bad or just bad breaks?
- The Wolves (18-17) are so mediocre offensively that they should probably swap out 40 percent of their starting lineup just to keep Anthony Edwards’ sanity intact.
- The Warriors (18-17) have looked like they still have it at times, but at others, like they’re putting Steph Curry through basketball “Squid Game.”
- The Kings (18-19) are playing much better recently under Doug Christie, but you can’t trust it yet.
- The Suns (16-18) are playing with the same energy a sleepwalker has while looking for the second half of that ham sandwich in the fridge at 2 a.m.
Tier 3: A New Hope
- This is the intriguing tier for me, especially as we approach the trade deadline. The Rockets (23-12) have been dominant on defense, and their offense shows up occasionally. They have a lot to move if they want to make a big splash, or they can roll with what they have.
- Memphis (24-13) has a little bit of experience here, but they really just need a healthy Ja Morant.
- The Spurs (18-18) are behind those two teams, but through Wemby, all things are possible.
- As for the Clippers (20-16), it’s always a new hope when Kawhi Leonard starts playing again.
Tier 2: We’ve been there before, but we’re a little lost
- The Nuggets (20-14) are finally getting healthy, and they have the best player in the world. They’re not as vulnerable as they once looked.
- Same with the Lakers (20-15), despite Charles Barkley’s assessment of them. I don’t think they’re close to contender status yet, but they made a great trade for Dorian Finney-Smith. They also have guys who have been there before.
- For the Mavs (20-16), guarantee me Luka and Kyrie will be OK, and I’ll pencil them in for at least the conference finals. This team is better than last season’s.
Tier 1: The Thunder
- This is 30-5 OKC’s conference to lose right now. I get what happened when the young team faced Dallas a year ago. Now they have Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein in the rotation. They’ll be actively trying to bring in a role player at the deadline. And they’re on pace for 70 wins despite Chet Holmgren only playing 10 games so far.
The Last 24
Tonight: Jokić against the Celtics
🥊 Former brawlers. We have a fantastic story from Jason Quick about two Lakers assistant coaches who once got in a fight. Here’s how JJ Redick found out.
🏀 2016 Warriors vibes? This Cavs team has a lot of similarities to those Dubs. Don’t tell them that.
🐶 Ball is life. The Wizards allowed 140 dogs to attend a game. It kind of works!
🏀 Look at these messes! John Hollinger is checking out the Heat, Suns, Wolves, Bucks and more teams that could be in tough spots. Is there hope?
✍️ New newsletter. The Athletic’s Dan Shanoff will explore the business of sports in MoneyCall. Tomorrow’s launch edition includes some bold WNBA takes. Sign up for free.
📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Celtics at Nuggets, 10 p.m. ET on TNT. Boston is struggling a little bit and now has to deal with Nikola Jokić and altitude. Full weekly watch guide here.
Rank ’Em!
Top three, middle three, bottom three
It’s Tuesday! You know what that means: We’re ranking the top three, bottom three and controversial middle three teams in the NBA — team Nos. 14, 15 and 16. (For full Power Rankings, here are today’s by Law Murray.)
Top three: Thunder (30-5), Cavaliers (31-4), Celtics (26-10)
The Thunder, as mentioned, and the Cavs are both on pace for 70-win seasons. That’s how dominant they’ve been! We’re going to get an epic showdown between these teams tomorrow. I don’t like how the Celtics are playing lately, going 5-5 in their last 10 games, so I had the Knicks barely taking the spot — until the latter lost their third straight last night.
Middle three: Spurs (18-18), Pacers (19-18), Warriors (18-17)
The Spurs, currently in line to be a Play-In team, have a legitimate shot at forcing their way into the top six in the West. (See how close they are in those tiers above?) It’s mostly Wemby, but the rest of this rotation is really good and trustworthy, outside of Jeremy Sochan. Indiana’s offense appears to be back, and we’re seeing them play some great ball. I still stubbornly believe in the Warriors, but I’m 90 percent sure that’s just believing in Steph.
Bottom three: Hornets (7-27), Pelicans (7-29), Wizards (6-27)
The Hornets have lost 10 straight games, which is more than enough to push Toronto out of this grouping. As for the Pelicans and the Wizards? I’m going to force myself to say something nice here. New Orleans is 5-5 against teams that are below .500 on the season, so that’s something? The Wizards … uh … are … um … 2-0 in games decided by three points or fewer. They’re clutch?
Beef Court
Making sense of Butler vs. Heat
The NBA universe has been not-so-subtly hinting at a breakup between Jimmy Butler and the Heat. Reports and rumors of Butler wanting a trade out of Heat Culture have been ramping up, denied, reported, denied some more and now finally have come to a head with the six-time All-Star’s suspension and Miami’s announcement that it is looking for a trade partner. It’s exactly the type of chaos you’d expect in a Butler trade scenario.
You’re likely seeing a lot of theories on social media and arguments about which side is in the right. The Heat seem very upset, as you’d expect. And some are saying Miami failed Butler by not bringing him help. It’s enough to merit a good, old-fashioned Beef Court hearing!
The case for Pat Riley and the Heat: A lot of this seems to be centered around the money Miami didn’t give Butler last offseason. Their argument for not extending the 35-year-old for another two years and $113 million was his lack of games played. Since joining Miami in 2019, he has missed 111 regular-season games. Miami doesn’t want to pay him $165 million over the next three seasons.
There were also comments swirling on social media about his perceived lack of effort during games recently, which if true, would certainly fit into the “detrimental to the team” portion of his suspension. The 17-17 Heat expect him to be available and to give full effort.
The case for Butler: He didn’t get the money he felt he earned by being the best player on the Heat when they made the NBA Finals in two of the last five years. He was the biggest reason Miami even became a destination again after LeBron James left, though he never received star help on the roster. The Heat failed to bring in star players like Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell, Giannis Antetokounmpo (a stretch, but a target) and Bradley Beal (probably dodged a bullet there).
Meanwhile, East rivals like the Celtics, Knicks, Cavs, 76ers and Bucks added significant players. The Heat … traded a first-round pick for Terry Rozier? Miami needs Butler to make the team relevant on the court, as we saw in their recent 36-point home loss to Utah. So he expects to be paid, as stars do.
🧑⚖️ The verdict: We’re siding with Jimmy, slightly. Both sides appear to have lost their fastballs, though. Ultimately, the Heat didn’t add enough in the last few years to cut it at the top of the East.
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(Top photo: Jared C. Tilton, Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
