1 Question for Every NBA Team Down the Stretch

With about six weeks to go in the regular season, the NBA's teams are beginning to separate themselves out into groups: contenders, playoff also-rans, play-in hopefuls and the bottom-feeders.

But every team in the league, from the NBA-best Phoenix Suns to the league-worst Detroit Pistons, has at least one question it will need to answer by the summer. Here's a look at what's worth paying attention to with all 30 teams heading into the stretch run.

Arguably no team this season has been a bigger letdown than the Hawks, who made the Eastern Conference Finals last year and are now barely hanging on in ninth place in the play-in tournament.

The biggest culprit: their defense, which has been bad enough (currently 26th in the league) to offset Atlanta having the NBA's second-best offense. It doesn't help that John Collins, one of the few plus defenders on the roster, has missed the last five games with a foot injury. He should theoretically be back soon, but that alone won't be enough to fix a defense that has been atrocious all year. 

The Hawks aren't going to repeat their trip to the conference finals, but if they want to even have a chance of getting out of the play-in, the defense has to be better.

The Celtics have had the opposite problem of the Hawks, as their defense has been elite all season (currently No. 2 in the NBA) while their offense has been up and down. In the past month, they've turned things around enough to where they're comfortably in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, outside of the play-in group and only two-and-a-half out of third.

After a rough start to the year, Jayson Tatum's scoring has come around, and trade-deadline pickup Derrick White has made an already strong defense even better on the perimeter. Their turnaround has been impressive, and now Boston has to be included when discussing the teams with a real chance to make a run in the East playoffs. But will it be sustainable?

There's still no word on when Ben Simmons is expected to make his Brooklyn debut after coming over in the blockbuster trade with Philadelphia at last month's deadline. He hasn't played competitive basketball since the infamous Game 7 of the Sixers-Hawks second-round playoff series last June.

Theoretically, Simmons should be a terrific on-court fit next to Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, elevating their defense and giving them another dynamic playmaker and transition threat, and they have enough shooters that that weakness in his game shouldn't be debilitating. But even putting aside the questions about the other stars' availability—Durant is still recovering from a knee injury, and Irving as of now is still only eligible to play in road games because of his vaccination status—we don't know what kind of shape Simmons is in or how long it will take for the trio to mesh. 

The best-case version of this team is deadly, but will we ever see it?

Charlotte is in a virtual tie with Atlanta for the No. 9 and 10 seeds in the play-in. Last year, the Hornets made the play-in tournament and were blown out by Indiana. LaMelo Ball struggled in that game, shooting 4-of-14 from the field.

A year later, Ball is an All-Star for the first time, and the Hornets are about where they were last year in the standings. For all the talk and hype around the other possible playoff teams in the East, not much has been made of the fun and excitement that would come from seeing Ball on the playoff (not play-in) stage for the first time if Charlotte is able to get past the play-in games. 

They'll get there one of these years, but seeing Ball in that environment would make what would usually be a forgettable first-round series worth tuning in to.

The Bulls have been hit as hard by injuries to key players as any team. Starting point guard Lonzo Ball is currently out recovering from knee surgery, while Alex Caruso—an integral part of their defense all season—is sidelined with a broken wrist. Second-year forward Patrick Williams has missed most of the year with a wrist injury as well. Zach LaVine's knee was giving him enough problems that he saw a specialist before the All-Star break, but he hasn't had to miss significant time.

Williams, Ball and Caruso are all expected to return before the end of the season. Somehow, the Bulls have kept winning despite so many of their best players missing time. They're still second in the East, just two games behind Miami for first.

If they can get everyone healthy by mid-April, they have a chance to be dangerous in the playoffs.

The Cavs have been the season's most out-of-nowhere-good team, becoming a legitimate playoff threat in the Eastern Conference far earlier than anyone expected. But their backcourt has also been decimated by injuries. 

Collin Sexton is out for the year, and Ricky Rubio suffered a torn ACL before being traded for Caris LeVert last month. They added some veteran help in a trade for Rajon Rondo, but Rondo is expected to miss the next couple of weeks with a toe injury.

Most significantly of all, first-time All-Star Darius Garland is out indefinitely to recover from back soreness. As great as their young bigs Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley have been, they need Garland healthy to do anything in the playoffs—and having Rondo back wouldn't hurt either. 

Cleveland has about six weeks to right the ship from a health standpoint before this young group's first postseason run.

In one of the most surprising moves of the trade deadline, the Mavs put an end to the Luka Doncic-Kristaps Porzingis pairing they had invested so much in. They shipped Porzingis to Washington for Davis Bertans and Spencer Dinwiddie, essentially trading one bad contract for two.

It was already mostly Luka's show in Dallas before, but now it really is. In his first two playoff appearances, Doncic nearly willed the Mavs to first-round upsets against the Clippers and proved himself to be a big-time shotmaker on the postseason stage. This year, there isn't much more talent around him than there has been the past two seasons, so he'll have to do it all himself once again.

It's been a little less than a year since Murray suffered the season-ending ACL tear that cut short Denver's title hopes last season. Porter underwent back surgery in December that was initially expected to keep him out the rest of this season. The Denver Post recently reported that both Murray and Porter are expected to be medically cleared to return before the end of the regular season.

The Nuggets have hung in without their second- and third-best players, sitting comfortably at sixth in the West. As they are, they're probably a first-round out. But this team with a fully healthy Murray and Porter alongside reigning MVP Nikola Jokic (who's been arguably even better this year) would immediately become one of the most intriguing dark horses in the Western Conference playoff picture, capable of upsetting a top seed like Golden State or Phoenix in a series. 

No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham started the year on the sidelines with an ankle injury and struggled with his shot upon making his season debut. But he's gotten better as his rookie year has progressed, looking more comfortable in all aspects of the game and gaining a little more consistency shooting.

The runaway favorite to win Rookie of the Year is Cleveland's Evan Mobley, who looks like a generational talent at center. But Cunningham has come on in recent weeks and, depending on how the stretch run goes, may do enough to steal some votes.

At the very least, he has more of a chance now to come in second than he did given his rough start to the year. That should make Pistons fans feel good about the future despite likely finishing with the worst record in the league.

The Warriors opened the season as the best team in the NBA, but they have fallen behind Phoenix in large part because Draymond Green has been out with a back injury since the second week of January. The latest update came from Green himself during the All-Star telecast when he said he's hoping to return in the next three to four weeks.

Since the start of their dynasty in the 2014-15 season, Green's defense and playmaking have been key to Golden State's success. At the start of the year, he played well enough to fight off claims that he was on the decline after two underwhelming seasons. 

If the Warriors have a healthy Green for the playoffs, they have as good a chance as anyone to win the West, especially with the Suns' injury issues. But back injuries can be tricky, so it will be worth watching how Green's eventual return plays out.

Just looking at the numbers, Schroder has been forgettable in the early going of his time in Houston, shooting 34.5 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from three-point range. But the Rockets like the way he's looked next to No. 2 overall pick Jalen Green, whose shooting has improved recently after an awful start to the season. And Marc Stein reported over the weekend that Schroder and the Rockets haven't ruled out keeping the partnership going this offseason.

The Rockets are, obviously, on pace to be one of the worst teams in the NBA. But if Schroder's presence continues to help Green, in whom they have a lot invested, it could make sense to keep him around long term. 

Houston has another six weeks to figure out whether that's something it wants to do.

It wasn't a surprise that the Pacers moved center Domantas Sabonis at the trade deadline; it was a bit of a shock that they were able to land a prospect as highly touted as second-year guard Tyrese Haliburton from Sacramento for him.

Haliburton has been great through six games in Indiana, putting up the best numbers of his career (19.8 points and 10.7 assists per game while shooting 52.5 percent from the field and 47.5 percent from three-point range) and fitting in nicely in the backcourt next to Malcolm Brogdon. Those two guards appear to be pillars of whatever the next iteration of Pacers basketball will look like, so with Indiana well out of the playoff discussion this season, it will be worth watching how they continue to grow together.

Following their franchise-first Western Conference Finals appearance, the Clippers have by necessity gone back to the overachieving group of role players they were in 2019 before Paul George and Kawhi Leonard came on board. Leonard hasn't played at all since suffering a torn ACL during last year's playoffs, while George, who was playing at an MVP level at the beginning of the season, suffered an elbow injury in December.

There's no definitive word as to whether we'll see either of the Clippers' two superstars this season. Head coach Tyronn Lue said last week that George is "making progress" but is still a ways out from returning; Leonard's status is less clear. The Clippers currently sit in the eighth spot in the Western Conference, putting them in play-in range. Getting either one of George or Leonard back, let alone both, would suddenly make them a much more interesting team in the playoffs. Without them, they'll be a tough first-round out but an out nonetheless.

If you like palace intrigue and dysfunction, this Lakers team is for you.

If you were hoping they'd actually be good, not so much.

Russell Westbrook's fit has been disastrous. Anthony Davis is hurt—again. And the noise about LeBron James not seeing eye-to-eye with management on the direction of the franchise is louder than it's ever been.

Despite James continuing to play at an All-NBA level in his 19th season, the Lakers are more or less locked in to a play-in spot. Because James is who he is, there will be a contingent of observers reluctant to totally count them out in a playoff series despite the unreliability of everyone else on the roster. But the idea of this team as a real contender is a fantasy at best, and they will likely be headed for an early exit followed by a tense and eventful offseason.

Memphis has weathered all sorts of injuries this season and managed to keep winning. They've been without guard Dillon Brooks since early January as he recovers from an ankle injury, and head coach Taylor Jenkins said recently that he's on track to return sometime in early March. 

Because of the Grizzlies' stellar record, Brooks' absence hasn't been talked about much. But he's going to be as important as anyone not named Ja Morant when it comes to their ability to make a deep playoff run in May and June. He had some huge performances in last year's first-round series against the Jazz, putting up 27 points in two different games while anchoring the team's perimeter defense.

Hopefully, once he's back healthy he stays that way and doesn't re-aggravate the injury. Health questions in the rest of the conference give Memphis a unique window to make a real run, and they need to take advantage of it.

The Heat have flown somewhat under the radar all season, in the shadow of all the drama surrounding other Eastern Conference playoff teams including Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Chicago. Miami also dealt with significant injuries to its two best players, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, earlier in the season.

But here we are, six weeks before the start of the playoffs, and Miami has put together a pretty impressive season. Kyle Lowry has had exactly the impact they hoped he would when they signed him in the offseason, and Tyler Herro has rebounded from a down year in 2020-21.

They have the league's seventh-best offense and sixth-best defense and currently hold the best record in the Eastern Conference. As strange as it is to call the No. 1 seed a sleeper, that's sort of what the Heat are when compared with teams that get much more national attention than they do. But they might be the last ones standing in June.

The defending champions have been without starting center Brook Lopez since opening night when he suffered a back injury that eventually required him to undergo surgery. The organization appears hopeful that he'll be cleared to return at some point before the end of the season. Whether or not he is may be the single biggest event that swings the Eastern Conference playoff race.

With Lopez out for most of the year, the Bucks have cycled through a few veteran bigs, first signing Greg Monroe and DeMarcus Cousins to 10-day deals and then trading for Serge Ibaka at the deadline. None of them have been able to replace Lopez, who is arguably Milwaukee's second-most important player behind Giannis Antetokounmpo. If he's back for the playoffs, the Bucks become instant favorites to win the East. If he's not, they have very little chance of getting out of a crowded field of contenders.

The Timberwolves are a virtual lock to finish in the play-in, and if they stay in seventh, they'll have two chances to win one game to advance. They're the most solid-looking bet to make it to a real series.

This means we'll most likely get to see Anthony Edwards in the playoffs for the first time, an exciting possibility for a number of reasons. Edwards has taken a major step forward in his second season and become appointment-viewing while also winning fans with his personality and the way he's energized a previously floundering Timberwolves organization.

Putting that on display on a big stage like the playoffs has the potential to be a lot of fun and set the foundation for sustained success, something the Timberwolves haven't had since Kevin Garnett left town.

The single biggest mystery in the NBA this season is just what is going on with Zion Williamson. How is his foot rehab going? Is he still training away from the Pelicans in Portland, and will he rejoin the team at some point this season? If he does rejoin the team, will he play? Does he need another surgery? Where will his conditioning be?

That's before you get to the endless speculation about whether he wants to be in New Orleans long term and whether he and the Pelicans will agree to a contract extension this offseason. The team hasn't exactly been forthcoming about where any of this stands, and Williamson himself hasn't addressed reporters since the start of training camp. Everything about the situation is a complete unknown as his teammates attempt to claw their way into the play-in tournament to break a three-year postseason drought.

Much like the Hawks, the Knicks have come crashing back down to earth after last year's playoff run. They've struggled all year at both ends of the floor, and right before the All-Star break, they blew leads of over 20 points in two consecutive games to Portland and Oklahoma City. They followed that up by announcing that Derrick Rose, who has been injured much of the year but who they had been hoping would provide a jolt of energy on his return, would undergo another ankle procedure.

Things are looking grim for New York's play-in chances—they're currently 12th. But if it seems like things can't get worse, well, there are still 21 games left in the season.

Fourth-year guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander returned to the lineup last week after missing time with an ankle injury and put up two straight games of 30-plus points. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault recently said that he will start using Gilgeous-Alexander off the ball so that rookie Josh Giddey can continue running the offense.

Given that the Thunder signed Gilgeous-Alexander to a max extension and took Giddey with the No. 6 overall pick last summer, it's important that the two be able to play together. In another lottery-bound season, the chemistry they're able to develop is the main thing worth keeping an eye on.

Two of the Magic's most important building blocks have been out for over a year with torn ACLs. Markelle Fultz made his return this week, scoring 10 points in 16 minutes in Monday's win against Indiana.

That leaves Jonathan Isaac, who missed all of the 2020-21 season after injuring his knee during the bubble in the summer of 2020.

There's been no concrete update on his status since training camp. In what has largely been a lost season for the Magic, they've gotten some promising play from a few of their youngsters, most notably rookie forward Franz Wagner and second-year guard Cole Anthony.

They'll get at least somewhat of a look at Fultz down the stretch. But Isaac, who is in the first season of a four-year, $70 million extension he signed last fall, is a total mystery. At some point, the organization and fans will want to see where he's at.

Since making his Sixers debut last week, James Harden has looked like, well, James Harden. He had 27 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists in his first game against the Timberwolves and followed that up with an even better performance against the Knicks on Sunday, finishing with 29 points, 10 rebounds, 16 assists and five steals.

As we saw last year when he was traded to Brooklyn, Harden always makes his best first impression when he gets to a new team. But he's been plagued by hamstring issues all season, and no matter who Philadelphia faces in the playoffs, especially in the later rounds, he'll face a capable perimeter defense.

Still, if Harden and Joel Embiid are both healthy and locked in at that point of the year, the Sixers have as good a chance as anybody to come out of a crowded Eastern Conference playoff field.

It was revealed over the All-Star break that Chris Paul would be sidelined six to eight weeks after undergoing thumb surgery. That timeline will have him returning to the Suns lineup right at the start of the postseason, or possibly a little before.

With 21 games left in the season and a six-game lead over the second-place Warriors, who are dealing with injury concerns of their own, Phoenix isn't in much danger of giving up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. But that doesn't mean it won't be a struggle to get through this upcoming stretch and keep their momentum before they look to repeat as Western Conference champions and hopefully emerge victorious this time.

All season, the Suns have been a machine, clearly a cut above every other team in the league. But they need Paul to be healthy to get back to that level in the playoffs. Until then, they just need to survive.

The Blazers made their intentions for the rest of the season clear when they traded veterans CJ McCollum, Norman Powell and Robert Covington for picks and young players at the trade deadline; they made them even clearer last week when they responded to a four-game winning streak by shutting down starting center Jusuf Nurkic for the next four weeks with plantar fasciitis. Damian Lillard all but said on Draymond Green's podcast that he won't be playing again this season after undergoing surgery in January to address an abdominal injury.

The Blazers are tanking, as they should be given they owe their pick to Chicago if it falls outside the lottery. But they also have a vested interest in New Orleans missing the playoffs, as they get their pick if it falls between Nos. 5 and 14 in the lottery.

Depending on how it shakes out, Portland could have two high picks to help reshape the roster and maximize the rest of Lillard's prime.

You can debate the long-term merits of the move all you want, but the Kings made the deadline-week trade of Tyrese Haliburton for Domantas Sabonis with one goal in mind: to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Their pathway into the play-in is an uphill climb but not impossible by any means. Portland, currently in 11th, is actively trying to fall out of the running, and New Orleans and San Antonio aren't any more consistent than the Kings are.

But Sacramento certainly won't finish higher than 10th, and in that case they would have to win two games in a row to get out of the play-in and return to the playoffs. Stranger things have happened, but as of now, their odds don't look great.

On the court, the Spurs don't have much of a future this season, topping out at play-in fodder. But for observers around the league, we're coming up fast on Gregg Popovich passing Don Nelson for the NBA's all-time regular-season wins record. Popovich is one away from tying Nelson and two from taking sole possession of the record.

Barring an absolutely historic losing streak to end the season, it's going to happen in the next few weeks. It's just a matter of when and where—will he do it at home in San Antonio or on the road?

Either way, there's going to be a lot of fanfare, which he's going to hate, but it will only further cement his place in the pantheon of all-time great coaches.

All season, the Raptors have been one of the most up-and-down teams in the league. A five-game winning streak in October was followed by losing six of their next seven, and more recently, they've lost four of their last five games right after reeling off eight wins in a row. They have a tough schedule coming up—15 of their remaining 22 games in the regular season are against teams that would currently be in the play-in (where they are) or playoffs.

The Raptors are exactly middle-of-the-pack at both ends of the floor, 15th in the league in both offense and defense, which lines up with their record and current standing. A little bit of consistency would be good to find between now and the end of the regular season.

The Jazz have easily the best offense in the NBA, scoring 116.2 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com, a full 2.2 points better than second-place Atlanta. That part hasn't been an issue. It's the defense that's concerning. Utah is 12th in the league on that end, which sounds good until you remember that they're anchored by reigning Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. How bad is the rest of their personnel that a defense with a player that good on that end isn't in the top 10?

That's the main factor that will determine whether Utah is a true contender or an also-ran overrated by their regular-season record like they were last season. With Golden State and Phoenix dealing with injuries, there's an opening in the Western Conference for another team to make a playoff run. Can the Jazz get it together in time to capitalize on that window?

After a hot start to the year, the Wizards fell off precipitously, and their season is all but lost with Bradley Beal out for the year. It's unclear exactly what the plan is going forward. Will they keep Beal long term and pair him with the newly acquired Kristaps Porzingis? What's the ceiling there? 

As it stands, Washington may be the league's most directionless team, perpetually stuck in the middle without a clear path to get better but not bad enough to really bottom out. At some point, there needs to be clarity as to what they're doing.