Will the Suns’ new trio power them to the top of the NBA standings out West?
Periodically, NBA.com’s writers will weigh in on key storylines or trending topics around the league.
Make your early predictions on how you see the Western Conference standings at the end of the season.
Steve Aschburner
1. Denver Nuggets
2. Phoenix Suns
3. L.A. Lakers
4. Sacramento Kings
5. Golden State Warriors
6. Oklahoma City Thunder
7. LA Clippers
8. Minnesota Timberwolves
Is it possible for no one to finish first in the West? We’ve got three veteran-laden teams focused heavily on the postseason, content to land a top-four seed before getting serious.
Denver gets No. 1 here as a nod to being reigning champs, while the Suns and Lakers rev up for springtime.
Sacramento has a tough act to follow – itself from last season – while the Thunder to me are the team on the rise because, well, it’s time.
Brian Martin
1. Denver Nuggets
2. Phoenix Suns
3. Los Angeles Lakers
4. Golden State Warriors
5. Sacramento Kings
6. Memphis Grizzlies
7. LA Clippers
8. Oklahoma City Thunder
Despite losing some depth, Denver holds the top spot and homecourt through the West playoffs again. The supercharged Suns have enough firepower to outscore just about anyone on any night. The Lakers added depth to the roster they remade (throughout 2022-23) that fueled their Western Conference Finals run.
Projecting beyond the top three is difficult as the West is both deep and clustered. Health could be a determining factor, considering the injury histories with the Clippers and Pelicans. The Wolves dealt with it last season and the Warriors have an aging roster.
The AT&T Play-In Tournament field in the West looks stacked, with a talented young OKC roster primed for a leap following Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s jump last season. The Luka Doncic-Kyrie Irving combo must improve for Dallas to stay in the mix.
(From left:) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, forward Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey could power OKC to a playoff berth in 2023-24.
Shaun Powell
1. Phoenix Suns
2. Denver Nuggets
3. Memphis Grizzlies
4. LA Clippers
5. Los Angeles Lakers
6. Golden State Warriors
7. Sacramento Kings
8. Oklahoma City Thunder
Whoa, this was a toughie … so many quality teams and so many quality players uplifting those teams. And then there are a few other teams — the Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks — who would be top five in the East but won’t sniff the top eight in the West.
The risky pick here is the Clippers, because it’s all about good health (obviously) with them, but same could be said about the other L.A. team (and really, all 30 teams). Memphis will suffer initially with Ja Morant out 25 games but, overall, it should finish in a flourish.
Suns won’t beat anyone with defense, but when you score 135 or 140 points a night, who cares in the regular season? The Kings won’t take anyone by surprise this season and, thus, will have a bit of a fall. Watch out for OKC: these young boys are ready to step up and will be a tough out in the postseason.
John Schuhmann
1. Phoenix Suns
2. Denver Nuggets
3. Los Angeles Lakers
4. Golden State Warriors
5. LA Clippers
6. Sacramento Kings
7. New Orleans Pelicans
8. Memphis Grizzlies
There are too many good teams in the West. In a vacuum, Dallas, Minnesota and Oklahoma City certainly look like top-eight teams, and it’s amazing that at least one of these 11 teams isn’t going to make the AT&T Play-In Tournament. (The Jazz and Rockets should also be competitive.)
Denver should be the slight favorite to return to the NBA Finals. But, it could be tough for them to finish first in the regular season after a long postseason run with less depth. The Suns also have depth issues, but they have three stars, meaning that they’ll still have two if one of them is out.
There’s no predicting injuries, though health will obviously be a big factor from top to bottom and the Kings can’t possibly be as healthy as they were last season. And with Zion Williamson for something close to a full season, the Pelicans should be improved and able to climb into the top eight.
Michael C. Wright
1. Denver Nuggets
2. Memphis Grizzlies
3. Phoenix Suns
4. Golden State Warriors
5. Sacramento Kings
6. Minnesota Timberwolves
7. Los Angeles Lakers
8. New Orleans Pelicans
The defending champs lost key depth pieces in Bruce Brown and Jeff Green, leaving question marks about the second unit. But the roster contains more than enough talent to fill those voids. Besides, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. should be even healthier this season, another year removed from their injuries.
In Memphis, don’t worry about Ja Morant’s 25-game suspension. Over the last few seasons, Memphis has shown a penchant for winning without its star point guard. The addition of Marcus Smart will help there.
Chris Paul looked impressive in his Warriors debut, but it will likely take some time for the team to figure out all the moving parts. It’ll probably be the same in Phoenix with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. Minnesota might be a little low here, especially considering Karl-Anthony Towns played just 29 games last season, not to mention Anthony Edwards is on the rise.
