The New Year doesn’t quite mark the midpoint of the NBA season. The All-Star Break doesn’t either though, which means there really isn’t an official time set aside for the half-way mark. That would seem to make now as good a time as any to check in on the state of the NBA as we embark on the 2019 portion of what has been another thrilling season in professional basketball.
Here’s where things stand regarding some key factors.
The Warriors’ Dominance
For a few years now, the entire NBA season has felt like little more than a vehicle to get toward a dominant Warriors playoff run. Golden State is an historically great team and remains the most talented group in the NBA. However, its dominance is taking a hit. As stated here recently, Draymond Green is costing himself millions with poor play. Klay Thompson has been going through an unprecedented shooting slump. Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry have been terrific, but with the rest of the roster underperforming the Warriors merely look great – not all-time great. As of early January, this has the league looking about as wide open as it’s been in years.
The Lakers’ Progress
The Lakers may not necessarily be a title factor just yet, but any team with LeBron James on it has at least a shot at a postseason run. And following a slow start, the Lakers already look like one of the better teams in the Western Conference. If that can happen in a couple of months, it’s worth imagining where James might have this team come late spring, particularly if there’s a trade made for another star player (as many expect there may be). Right now, LA isn’t a true contender. But it’s not that far from being one.
The Biggest Surprises
It’s actually been quite a surprising season so far, even beyond the Warriors’ slight decline and the Lakers’ rapid rise. We’ve seen the Mavericks become a playoff contender on the back of an incredible rookie campaign from Luka Doncic; we’ve seen the Kings become a legitimate threat on any given night out West; the Celtics have struggled mightily to incorporate all of their talent; the Bucks have dramatically improved under new head coach Mike Budenholzer, despite a relatively unchanged roster. Basically, across the league, a lot of teams are newly relevant for one reason or another.
The Title Favorites
Title favorites are always in flux to some extent, and you’d do best to track the actual betting odds if you’re interested in the exact favorites. A whole category of sites in the casino and betting sectors operating internationally presents numerous options of bookmakers with a focus on the NBA, and most of the big ones are fairly reliable. In a looser sense though, the NBA in early January appears to have two legitimate favorites: the Warriors (still), and the Toronto Raptors, who have simply been terrific, and who crushed Golden State without Kawhi Leonard not too long ago. One assumes the Celtics will round into form, the Rockets are currently doing so, and the Thunder, 76ers, and Lakers are lurking as potential challengers also. But right now naming any additional teams would be too much.
The MVP Conversation
Here too you’d be wise to keep up with the betting odds at online casinos if you’re curious about the exact favorites. However, this far into the season we can safely identify a group of potential MVP winners, even if there is not a particularly clear frontrunner at this point. Most would probably point first to Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, who is having a sensational year and has catapulted himself into the NBA’s top tier. The 76ers’ Joel Embiid is also a candidate, and James Harden’s recent surge to push the Rockets back into contention won’t go unnoticed by MVP voters, if he keeps it up. LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant are all playing at their typical MVP levels, and perhaps a slight tier beneath them, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Anthony Davis are having amazing seasons as well. It’s a very, very good bet that one of these nine players will win the award.
The Tank Race
Unfortunately, tanking has also become a major part of every NBA season, and while the league has evened out the lottery odds a little bit (dropping the worst team’s chances at the top pick from 25 to 14 percent, for instance), teams will absolutely start losing on purpose in no time, in a bid to earn top picks in the June draft. Right now, it looks like the teams in the running for this prize will be the Knicks, Cavaliers, Bulls, Suns, and Hawks.
