Opening night in the NBA is officially less than a week away.
Next Tuesday, October 18th, will feature the Philadelphia 76ers against the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers against the Golden State Warriors.
SIX (!!!) days left until the NBA’s opening night. 👀 pic.twitter.com/imcVE9QIrS
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 12, 2022
All four of those teams have significant expectations for the upcoming season.
Anything short of a serious playoff run would be seen as a failure.
But there are plenty of teams on the opposite end of the expectation spectrum.
Not every team rosters All-NBA caliber players capable of carrying them to greatness.
Other franchises have young players that they hope will develop into superstars one day.
But for now, they are left in the cellar of the NBA standings.
These three teams could see their name at the top of next year’s draft board.
3. Indiana Pacers
There are a handful of teams that will be in a race for the bottom to acquire the services of Victor Wembanyama.
The Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Detroit Pistons, and Orlando Magic have been mainstays of the draft lottery for years.
But those teams seem poised to take a step forward this year.
Houston seemingly has a pair of cornerstones in Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr along with some other promising young guys.
Detroit feels confident in their future star Cade Cunningham and acquired some players to influence winning now, not in the future.
Orlando has multiple exciting pieces and may have its headliner in Paolo Banchero.
Meanwhile, the Thunder may not have Chet Holmgren for the season but have a budding big three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, and Josh Giddey.
None of those four teams is talented enough to push for a playoff spot.
But they also feel too good to finish in the bottom three.
That leaves us to start with the Indiana Pacers.
Indiana officially embraced the rebuild starting last year.
They traded away Domantas Sabonis for a package headlined by Tyrese Haliburton.
Now, Haliburton is officially the future in Indiana.
Pacers and Buddy Hield Open to Trade – Hoops Wire https://t.co/mOpTsq2xDv
— Sam Amico (@AmicoHoops) October 5, 2022
And with it all but certain Buddy Hield and Myles Turner will be dealt at some point this season, there is little win-now talent on the roster.
Bennedict Mathurin, Chris Duarte, and Jalen Smith are three promising young players.
But they still feel a year or two away from contributing to a winning team.
Indiana will be a bad team to start the season.
That should only get worse once Hield and Turner are moved.
2. San Antonio Spurs
Next up is a team that had one of the longest dynastic runs in NBA history, the San Antonio Spurs.
Under the leadership of Gregg Popovich and on the backs of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli, and Tony Parker, the Spurs won five rings in a 16-year stretch.
Popovich is still around, but the Hall of Fame caliber talent is gone.
San Antonio has some intriguing young talent but nothing that jumps off the page as a future star.
Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell, Joshua Primo, Keldon Johnson, Malaki Branham, and Blake Wesley have the potential to be quality role players one day.
However, none seem poised to jump into the top tier of NBA talent.
Trae Young got his wish with Dejounte Murray arriving to the Hawks in a trade with the Spurs. pic.twitter.com/AdwVnbSNtY
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 29, 2022
The one player who was approaching the upper echelon, Dejounte Murray, was traded to the Atlanta Hawks this offseason for three first-round picks and Danilo Gallinari.
Gallinari was immediately waived.
And the Spurs will almost assuredly trade away their three remaining veterans who hold value.
Doug McDermott, Josh Richardson, and Jakob Poeltl would all contribute to a contender.
Once those three are traded away, San Antonio will have one of the youngest and most talent-devoid rosters in the NBA
1. Utah Jazz
Finally, we have the Utah Jazz.
A team who, like the Pacers, have embraced the rebuild.
Utah just did it to a more extreme degree.
The Jazz traded away not one but two superstars this offseason to clean house.
Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell were sent to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Cleveland Cavaliers, respectively.
The Utah Jazz received seven 1st round picks (4 for Gobert, 3 for Mitchell) and three pick swaps (1 for Gobert, 2 for Mitchell) in trades this offseason.#NBA pic.twitter.com/wSNYYhXCri
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) September 1, 2022
The haul for both players was substantial, bringing back a combined eight-player, seven first-round picks, and three first-round pick swaps.
While those trades were blockbuster deals, Utah made some other minor moves.
Royce O’Neale and Bojan Bogdanovic, both a part of the Gobert-Mitchell era, were traded.
As was Patrick Beverley, a player acquired in the Gobert deal.
And Utah probably is not done trading yet.
Jordan Clarkson, Mike Conley, Malik Beasley, Kelly Olynyk, and Rudy Gay could all get either traded or waived at some point this season.
The Jazz decided Gobert and Mitchell simply were not good enough to bring them to the promised land.
Instead of waiting around in limbo for years to come, they decided to act swiftly.
Utah looks primed to be a top contender in the Wembanyama sweepstakes.
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