The NBA season will soon resume in Orlando and with that comes many possibilities. The main contenders in the Western Conference appear to involve both the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers along with the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, and Utah Jazz as dark-horse options.
The one intriguing thing about the West, is that as much as it is typically viewed as the NBA’s better conference, there are way less legitimate contenders. It is truly difficult to see anyone in the West outside of Los Angeles making it.
Both the Lakers, and the Clippers still look like they have a slight notch above the other contenders, but playing on a neutral floor, after three months off, has the potential to bring a whirlwind of surprises.
The other difficult thing was finding five contenders. In my opinion, there are four teams who should be viewed by most, as the main contenders in the West: Lakers, Clippers, Nuggets, and the Rockets. Narrowing it down to five was difficult.
The Jazz were within that top tier coming into the break, but the season-ending injury to Bojan Bogdanovic hurts them immensely. He was the second best scorer on their team, and a versatile piece who can be slotted at either forward spot.
Now let’s dive into how each team can take home the West crown, and the Larry O’Brien trophy after the NBA season resumes.
