Top 8 NBA Storylines with 8 Weeks Left In the Regular Season
The NBA season gets to break for a quick rest before charging full steam ahead to April 14. For those lucky enough, basketball won't stop there, either.
With the In-Season Tournament, trade deadline and now All-Star weekend all in the books, what exactly should we be looking forward to over the remainder of the regular season?
Whether your favorite team is still in the playoff hunt or not, these are the eight most compelling storylines to keep tabs on over the last eight weeks of the 2023-24 season.
8. Joel Embiid's Return Date (and How the 76ers Fare Without Him)
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Joel Embiid was having the best season of anyone in basketball, leading the NBA with 35.2 points per game and keeping the Philadelphia 76ers in the No. 3 seed in the East.
Now sidelined while recovering from meniscus surgery, however, the return of Embiid and how far Philly slides while it waits for its All-Star center is going to be a huge storyline to monitor.
The 76ers have gone just 3-5 overall with a minus-7.1 net rating since Embiid was shut down, now sitting at fifth in the East.
While Philadelphia announced that Embiid would be reevaluated in four weeks (the first week in March), his actual return to live games could be twice as long.
The Athletic's Shams Charania noted that it could actually be 6-to-8 weeks before we see Embiid again.
Six weeks would put Embiid back around March 19, about a month before the regular season ends. Eight weeks means the 29-year-old would return around April 2, giving him just seven games to ramp back up before the playoffs begin.
The Sixers made the trade for Buddy Hield and signed Kyle Lowry, so there's some extra firepower now to help carry them for the next several weeks. At the end of the day, however, this team only sniffs the 2024 championship if Embiid is fully recovered and back on the court.
7. Watching for the Next Unhappy Star Player
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Are you an agent of chaos? Do you enjoy burning large piles of money for no reason? Does your favorite NBA team own a lot of draft picks over the next several years that it can cash in for a star this summer?
If you've answered yes to any of the above, feel free to join every NBA front office in the hunt for the next disgruntled superstar.
With Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and others off the board, who will be the next true difference-maker to ask for a trade, or at least become available for one?
Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks would be a good choice, especially since his team sits at just 24-31 overall and could miss the play-in tournament altogether.
Do the Boston Celtics consider splitting up Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown if they come up short of a title again, especially with the latter signing a $286 million extension last summer? What happens to Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving if the Dallas Mavericks miss the playoffs again? Will Zion Williamson's name come up in trade talks again this offseason?
Every Donovan Mitchell move and quote with the Cleveland Cavaliers will be analyzed until he signs an extension. LeBron James and Paul George both carry big player options this summer as well.
With a 2024 draft that lacks superstar power up front, many front offices could be turning to the trade market for help instead.
6. Victor Wembanyama Finally Getting Unleashed
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Victor Wembanyama has been one of the very best parts of the 2023-24 NBA season, and the No. 1 overall pick may only just be getting started.
His averages of 20.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists and a league-leading 3.2 blocks per game are even more impressive when you consider that Wembanyama is only playing 28.4 minutes a night thus far. The Spurs have been extremely careful to manage his workload, which has helped keep Wembanyama active for 49 of his team's first 55 games.
Joel Embiid is the only other player in NBA history to put up at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in less than 30 minutes of play (2019-20 season). When factoring in his 3.0-plus blocks, no one has ever done as much in as little time as Wembaynama right now.
According to head coach Gregg Popovich, however, we could be seeing even more Wemby to end the year.
"I think he's still at 27 or 28 (minutes) or something like that. It's amazing the numbers he's getting for that few minutes. But we've decided that that's the best way to bring him along right now. But I think toward the end of the season we'll raise it a little bit," Popovich told reporters.
To put that in context, stretching Wembanyama's current averages to 36 minutes of play would have him at 26.0 points, 12.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists and an astounding 4.0 blocks.
No offense to Chet Holmgren, Brandon Miller and others, but Wembanyama is having a historically great rookie season, one that we're going to get to see him star in even more soon.
5. LeBron James' Battle Against Opponents and the Front Office
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All the king's emojis and all the king's New York Knicks towels couldn't convince Rob Pelinka to pull off any trade deadline deals.
Rarely do we see this kind of resilience from a LeBron James team, especially one that could see the star forward hit free agency in the summer.
Post trade deadline James is always a must watch, although usually because it means his effort level greatly increases as his team tries out its new toys in a final march to the playoffs.
This season, there may even be more to look forward to.
At 30-26 and in ninth in the West, we need to see some continued strong play from James for the Lakers just to have a chance of climbing out of the play-in tournament. Spencer Dinwiddie has been signed and Gabe Vincent should return at some point after missing nearly the entire season with knee issues.
Will James drop his passive aggressiveness with the deadline past, or dial it all the way up before making a decision on his player option this summer? He's almost certainly not happy the Lakers chose to hold on to their 2029 first-round pick and collection of young players instead of pursuing some more win-now help as he enters the final playoff run of his 30s.
Will there be shots taken at the front office? Will there be some extra and unnecessary compliments tossed out towards teams that may be interested in his services this summer? Will the Cleveland Cavaliers continue to play red hot until James tweets out a Wizard of Oz "there's no place like home" gif??
We'll be watching James for all of the basketball stuff, but also for how he acts towards the Lakers, his front office and to judge his overall happiness with his current situation as well.
4. Can Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks Stop the Bleeding?
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Fans of the Milwaukee Bucks may be questioning the decision to pay Doc Rivers $40 million to step in from the broadcast booth and take over a 30-13 team.
Fans of the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Indiana Pacers and others are absolutely loving the switch so far.
The Bucks are just 3-7 in their Rivers era, ending the first half of their season with an ugly loss to an unrecognizable Memphis Grizzlies team missing the majority of its rotation. Rivers wasn't shy about criticizing his new players, and both he and superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo have been honest about their brief time together.
Milwaukee and Boston looked like they would have a fight to the No. 1 seed throughout the season, although the Bucks have now fallen a whopping 8.5 games behind their East rivals. Even the Cavs have opened up a 2.5-game lead for the No. 2 seed.
A week off to give Rivers some extra study time will help. Patrick Beverley is still getting settled. Veteran sniper Danilo Gallinari has agreed to join the team as well following his release from the Detroit Pistons, bringing some extra depth and floor-stretching.
There's still plenty of time to turn this thing around, but, wow have the Bucks looked bad thus far under Doc.
Already paying three head coaches, Milwaukee isn't going to dump Rivers and get someone else. These two are married—for better or worse—through the end of this season...and beyond.
3. The Potential Fall of the Warriors Dynasty
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Perhaps no team needed to do more than the Golden State Warriors at the trade deadline, a franchise that's stuck between eras and whose ceiling looks like a first-round playoff exit.
In the end, the Warriors decided to keep both young and old, mushing them together and throwing them collectively against the wall to see if something would stick this time around. While Golden State has at least climbed back into the play-in tournament in the West, a 27-26 record overall has been a major disappointment.
Klay Thompson has now officially been benched for the first time in nearly 12 years, Draymond Green is two weeks away from his 34th birthday and Stephen Curry will turn 36 just 10 days after that.
We really could be nearing the end, folks.
Thompson's benching could play into his free-agency decision, especially since Golden State is already projected to go over the luxury-tax line even with $73 million worth of contracts from Thompson and Chris Paul coming off the books. If Green has another outburst, how long will Curry and Steve Kerr's patience last?
This could very well be the trio's final run together. If that's the case, it's been an amazing ride.
2. A Mostly Open MVP Competition
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Joel Embiid's knee surgery has taken him out of the MVP running, an award he looked almost certain to win.
On the bright side, this means the award should still be considered fairly wide open for at least five other candidates moving forward.
Nikola Jokić is the current favorite according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps in his latest straw poll of league insiders, as the two-time winner is once again putting up strong numbers for a Denver Nuggets team that's within three games of first place in the West. He could also get some "get right" votes from people who put Joel Embiid over Jokić last season, only for the latter to go on to win Finals MVP and look like the best player in the world.
Don't count out Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, however. It was Embiid who was second in the straw poll at this time last year before his strong finish eventually won him the award. Gilgeous-Alexander has the Thunder two spots ahead of the Nuggets in the standings, with the All-Star guard averaging 31.1 points per game, five more than Jokić.
This shouldn't be considered a two-horse race, however.
Donovan Mitchell is averaging 28.4 points (fifth in the NBA), has the Cleveland Cavaliers at No. 2 in the East and had to switch positions while Darius Garland recovered from jaw surgery. Kawhi Leonard has been mostly healthy and could get the Los Angeles Clippers to No. 1 in the West. Jayston Tatum's Boston Celtics have been the best team in basketball all season and Luka Dončić is averaging 34.2 points for a Dallas Mavericks team that's won six in a row.
We haven't even mentioned Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry or a number of other players who can make cases as well.
This should be an extremely interesting MVP race, one that could go until the final day of the regular season.
1. Race for the No. 1 Seed in the West
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It's still crazy to think how much better of a conference the West is, even with Damian Lillard, Donovan Mitchell and Jalen Brunson all switching sides the last year-and-a-half.
The top of the West is going to remain really, really close. The Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets are all within three games of each other, and we've already had some brief three-way ties.
All have their reasons to want to finish at No. 1 as well.
Denver knows the importance of it after riding their No. 1 overall seed to a title last season. No city has a greater elevational challenge for opponents, either.
OKC's youth and playoff inexperience should make them hungry for it, while the Clippers' veterans should yearn for the comfort of their own beds. The Wolves have lost over twice as many games on the road this season (11) as they have at home (five).
This could also turn into a five-team race if the Phoenix Suns (14-4 over their past 18 games) continue to mesh as well.
The entire Western Conference will be a fascinating battle, both for the No. 1 seed and to see which two of the Suns, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors miss the playoffs altogether.
The East features its share of playoff positioning battles, but the West will be the far more entertaining watch down the stretch.
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