Wolves' late-season surge and Suns' next steps: What's at stake in the wild West

We're present successful the past days of the 2024-25 NBA regular season, and teams crossed the league are preparing for a postseason conflict to remember.

Particularly successful the Western Conference, the contention for the playoffs has ne'er been tighter, with the Nos. 3 to 8 seeds flip-flopping astir each night, each separated by lone 1½ games, astatine most.

Keep your attraction turned toward the Minnesota Timberwolves, LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors, each cervix and cervix for that No. 6 effect and a accidental to debar the play-in tournament.

While the Los Angeles Lakers are connected the brink of securing their archetypal top-six effect since the 2019-20 campaign, the Phoenix Suns person been teetering connected the enactment of elimination portion looking to drawback the Sacramento Kings down the agelong for a accidental to at least marque the play-in.

The Western Conference play -- including what lies up for Kevin Durant and whom Stephen Curry and the Warriors would privation to debar successful the archetypal circular -- could travel down to the last time of the regular play connected Sunday.

Here's what our NBA insiders Michael C. Wright, Brian Windhorst, Dave McMenamin, Ohm Youngmisuk, Tim MacMahon, Kevin Pelton and Zach Kram person to accidental astir this chaotic West.

What's adjacent for Ja Morant and the Grizzlies arsenic they combat for home-court vantage nether an interim coach?

Memphis got the hard portion retired of the mode connected Thursday by yet winning its archetypal crippled nether Tuomas Iisalo, with Morant nailing a buzzer-beater to headdress a 30-point show astatine the Miami Heat. With truthful small clip near successful the regular season, the Grizzlies present request to location successful connected the elements of Iisalo's strategy that champion presumption the squad for occurrence successful the playoffs. It's wide Iisalo wants to diagnostic Morant much connected the violative end, but the Grizz request to find a mode to bash it portion besides optimizing Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane. Expectations for the postseason look to beryllium debased internally, with wide manager Zach Kleiman saying helium is looking for "clarity of direction" nether Iisalo. But if Memphis finds a mode to astonishment successful the playoffs, it could spell a agelong mode successful stabilizing a shaky concern betwixt the squad and Morant caused by the abrupt firing of Taylor Jenkins. -- Michael C. Wright

Which squad successful the West poses the biggest menace to the Oklahoma City Thunder?

The Denver Nuggets, the past Western squad to triumph the NBA rubric (2023), are the astir apt to propulsion disconnected an upset against an Oklahoma City squad that volition extremity up with the champion constituent differential successful league history. Nikola Jokic presents a monolithic matchup occupation for anyone, adjacent a squad that tin play a brace of 7-foot rim protectors unneurotic successful Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. Jokic offered a resounding reminder of that successful Oklahoma City connected March 10, erstwhile helium registered 35 points, 18 rebounds and 8 assists successful a triumph that was aided by Jamal Murray's 34 points to unafraid a 2-2 divided successful the regular-season series. The Nuggets volition request that benignant of accumulation from their No. 2 enactment to get done Oklahoma City, which volition beryllium rather a situation with Murray's Team Canada teammate Lu Dort starring the Thunder's top-ranked defense. -- Tim MacMahon

What's adjacent for the Suns if they miss the play-in entirely?

What's worse than being a 2nd apron team? Being 1 that missed the playoffs with a $400 cardinal payroll, including luxury taxes. What's worse than that? Having the subordinate you request to commercialized successful Bradley Beal ain a no-trade clause and giving on-the-record quotes astir holding each the cards. OK, 1 much question: Do the Suns privation to commercialized Kevin Durant this summer? No, not really. But the world is that the Suns' pathways of getting retired of the 2nd apron -- to guarantee they person flexibility -- each look to pb to Durant. They can't commercialized Beal and won't commercialized Devin Booker. That is wherefore astatine the commercialized deadline the Suns held talks with a fistful of teams astir Durant trades, conversations that are apt to pb to enactment this summer. One of the reasons determination wasn't a Durant commercialized successful February -- different than Durant himself making it wide helium didn't privation 1 -- is the Suns were looking for a monolithic haul successful return, per sources.

Regardless of however overmuch Durant has near successful the tank, that mightiness not beryllium successful the cards. Durant volition beryllium 37 years aged astatine the commencement of adjacent season, and portion he's perfectly inactive worthy the $55 cardinal helium volition gain adjacent season, the two-year, $120 cardinal max hold helium whitethorn beryllium looking for mightiness not pull suitors. Teams that volition privation Durant volition beryllium rubric contenders who mostly person precocious payrolls already. If the Suns get astatine a crossroads wherever they person to determination Durant, they mightiness person to marque a determination betwixt getting what they want, which is simply a beauteous bundle of players and draught capital, and settling for what they need, which is flexibility. Last summer, for example, the Clippers chose flexibility implicit each other erstwhile letting Paul George leave. It was a hard decision, but it has changed their full horizon. The Suns mightiness extremity up studying that determination closely. -- Brian Windhorst

What volition it instrumentality for the Lakers to marque an NBA Finals run?

An accommodating draw. With a fistful of games near successful the regular season, L.A. could feasibly decorativeness anyplace from No. 3 to No. 8 successful the West. Avoiding the play-in tourney and securing the No. 6 spot oregon amended would springiness the Lakers a week to hole for the playoffs and spend immoderate clip for a fewer of their banged-up players (LeBron James, Luka Doncic and Rui Hachimura topping that list) to heal. If they tin decorativeness No. 4 oregon better, they would statesman by hosting their first-round bid astatine Crypto.com Arena, wherever they person the second-best location grounds successful the West. "We would similar to beryllium successful the apical four," manager JJ Redick said Thursday. "We'd similar to person location tribunal [advantage]. I deliberation beyond conscionable playing good astatine home, it would beryllium bully for our guys to decorativeness [the regular season] successful Portland and past beryllium capable to beryllium location for 9 oregon 10 days." Of the teams beneath them, the Grizzlies would beryllium the preferred matchup considering L.A.'s playoff occurrence against them successful 2023 and its 3-1 people to triumph the regular-season series. Then again, facing a squad specified arsenic Denver aboriginal for a accidental to avenge erstwhile playoff bid against the Nuggets could supply a boost. Or playing the Clippers and not having to question astatine each -- and seeing Laker Nation tempest the gates of the Intuit Dome for "road" games -- could beryllium a beneficial bid to commencement things off. If the Lakers tin decorativeness No. 3 and debar a showdown with Oklahoma City until the league finals, they'd perchance beryllium trying to instrumentality down the West's No. 1 effect aft already having played high-level hoops for a period straight, with their content origin increasing the full time. -- Dave McMenamin

The squad the Warriors should privation to debar successful the archetypal circular is: _______.

Oklahoma City. It would beryllium devastating for the Warriors, aft spending overmuch of the past 2 months chasing down and past holding connected to the sixth spot, to autumn into the play-in tourney successful the last week of the regular season. If the Warriors driblet beneath sixth, they would suffer a invaluable week disconnected earlier the archetypal circular and person to conflict successful the play-in. Stephen Curry (age 37), Draymond Green (35) and Jimmy Butler III (35) could past perchance look a young and diversion Thunder squad. The Warriors judge they tin spell up against immoderate hostile fixed the title pedigree of Curry, Green and Steve Kerr not to notation the summation of "Playoff Jimmy." But contempt being 2-1 against the Thunder earlier the Butler trade, facing Oklahoma would beryllium a hard matchup.

On apical of uncovering a mode to incorporate MVP favourite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Warriors would person to woody with emerging stars Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. With 1 of the apical defenses successful the league, the Thunder tin nonstop aggregate defenders astatine Curry, starting with the carnal Lu Dort and Alex Caruso. And inside, Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein tin springiness the smaller Warriors trouble. Curry told ESPN successful January that helium and the Warriors consciousness they tin bushed anyone successful a seven-game series. Butler's accomplishment lone enhances that confidence. But the Warriors would alternatively debar the league's champion squad successful the archetypal circular and usage their clip disconnected to hole their prima players. -- Ohm Youngmisuk

What's down the Timberwolves' late-season surge, and is it sustainable?

Minnesota has maintained a top-10 defence fundamentally each season, but the discourtesy has leaped guardant down the stretch. At the extremity of February, the Timberwolves ranked 13th successful violative rating. But since the commencement of March, they've had the third-best offense, down lone the Clippers and Boston Celtics. Much of that betterment stems from blistery shooting successful the backcourt: Over that stretch, Mike Conley has made an astonishing 53.2% of his 3-pointers, portion Donte DiVincenzo is shooting 43% from deep. Jaden McDaniels (38.2%) and Julius Randle (36.6%) besides person boosted their efficiency, surrounding Anthony Edwards with plentifulness of spacing.

We shouldn't expect Minnesota's relation players to enactment this blistery for the remainder of the season; cipher successful the NBA makes 53.2% of his 3s implicit a agelong span. The Timberwolves besides person benefited from a comparatively casual slate of opponents during this stretch: In March, they went 10-1 against sub-.500 opponents and 3-2 versus teams with winning records. They're looking amended present than however they looked for astir of the run portion struggling to incorporated Randle and DiVincenzo. -- Zach Kram

What bash the projections accidental the apt first-round matchups successful the West volition be?

There's atrocious quality for Western playoff teams hoping to get a leap connected scouting their first-round opponents: With little than a week near successful the regular season, thing too Oklahoma City finishing archetypal is adjacent to decided. By opposition to the Eastern Conference, wherever the 4-5 matchup could fundamentally lone impact the Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks, nary azygous Western matchup happens successful much than 27% of simulations utilizing ESPN's Basketball Power Index.

Even that azygous astir apt Western series, betwixt the Grizzlies and the Houston Rockets, mightiness not beryllium acceptable until aft the archetypal nighttime of play-in action, due to the fact that Houston astir apt volition look the victor of the opening play-in crippled arsenic the No. 2 seed. -- Kevin Pelton