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As teams begin to play their first games since the recent disastrous All-Star break, which featured more Kevin Hart than actual basketball (perhaps fitting as neither Hart nor All-Star weekend has been relevant since 2016), we begin to get a feel for how the final standings in the East and West will shape up. So below are my predictions for the standings as well as my best guesses on teams’ overall records.

Some slight spoilers and warnings before you read:

I think Phoenix just completely falls away from a play-in spot. After watching them play against San Antonio on Thursday night, I can safely say this team is going nowhere. I honestly think they’re a mess. This team is the Death Star and Matt Ishbia is Luke Skywalker. And the only way Ishbia can restore peace in the galaxy (Arizona) is to blow this thing up! I don’t want to focus on the Suns too much right now so perhaps in the offseason I’ll begrudgingly revisit this team and their potential future. The other negative is the Philadelphia 76ers. Now what they should do is shut the season down. They can chalk it up to a bad/unlucky year allowing them to rest Paul George, giving them time for Joel Embiid to get his knee surgery and prepare for next season, and see if they can get a little lucky and and have their draft pick land within the top 6 – because if not it’s going straight to Oklahoma City. Having said this, the Sixers can’t do anything right. I mean the way they handled the Embiid knee injury, last summer’s Olympics, the no back-to-backs, the “being fit in time for the playoffs” quote, and the whole Paul George experience has been woeful. And as history often repeats itself, so will the Sixers as they’ll continue to do the wrong things. For the remainder of the season they will try and play their stars, they’ll make the play-in, then lose in the play-in, then consequentially lose their pick to OKC, and therefore not have said stars ready for next season. Thus the cycle will continue.

On the bright side, I really believe in Dallas to make the playoffs by virtue of a top 6 seed. Obviously, I don’t agree with the Luka trade (we’ll save that spiel for another day). However, that doesn’t mean that this Dallas team isn’t good. I really like them. Kyrie has been heating up lately in the absence of the newly acquired Anthony Davis, and when AD returns… look out! He looked phenomenal in the 31 minutes he’s played for Dallas so far and if this team stays healthy (and granted it’s a big if – not a huge one and definitely not unrealistic) then I truly believe they can make a deep playoff run. My other bright spot is the Detroit Pistons. You’ll see below I have them as the sixth seed winning 44 games. Yet I fear I’m still being a little conservative with this. I could honestly see them winning 48 games and finishing above the Bucks and dare I say the Pacers too. I really enjoy this Pistons team!

Western Conference

1. Oklahoma City Thunder (66-16)
2. Denver Nuggets (55-27)
3. Memphis Grizzlies (54-28)
4. Los Angeles Lakers (51-31)
5. Houston Rockets (50-32)
6. Dallas Mavericks (47-35)
7. Los Angeles Clippers (47-35)
8. Minnesota Timberwolves (45-37)
9. Golden State Warriors (44-38)
10. Sacramento Kings (41-41)
11. Phoenix Suns (38-44)
12. Portland Trail Blazers (32-50)
13. San Antonio Spurs (30-52)
14. New Orleans Pelicans (19-63)
15. Utah Jazz (18-64)

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland Cavaliers (64-18)
2. Boston Celtics (60-22)
3. New York Knicks (55-27)
4. Indiana Pacers (49-33)
5. Milwaukee Bucks (46-36)
6. Detroit Pistons (44-38)
7. Orlando Magic (40-42)
8. Miami Heat (39-43)
9. Atlanta Hawks (37-45)
10. Philadelphia 76ers (33-49)
11. Chicago Bulls (30-52)
12. Brooklyn Nets (28-54)
13. Toronto Raptors (26-56)
14. Charlotte Hornets (20-62)
15. Washington Wizards (14-68)

Let me know down below some of your predictions. Is there a team that will unexpectedly catch fire like Orlando or Minnesota? Or perhaps a team that will completely fall away from the competition like Indiana or Memphis?