Every NBA team's big question mark heading into 2020

The worst part about Stephen Curry going down to a broken hand so early into the campaign is that we still don’t know if the duo of Curry and D'Angelo Russell works when the Golden State Warriors are facing top-tier opposition. Neither Curry nor Klay Thompson should sniff playing time until next fall, which leads one to believe the Warriors should sell any expendable pieces not nailed down before the trade deadline and embrace the tank. We’re sure  Alec Burks is a fine gentleman, but he’s also on an expiring contract. That makes the guard who is averaging over 15 PPG a worthwhile piece on the market. 

“He’s our leader now,” is what New York Knicks forward Julius Randle said of interim head coach Mike Miller after New York tallied a shocking double-digit win over the Brooklyn Nets on Dec. 26, per  Marc Berman of the New York Post. To quote a famous college football analyst: "Not so fast, my friend." For starters, Randle shouldn’t assume he’s done anything to earn a long-term future  with the franchise, and New York’s front office can’t forget the team is going big-game hunting in the summer of 2021. The thought of playing for David Fizdale didn’t lure the likes of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to Madison Square Garden. Miller could be a turnoff, and the Knicks don't need to place another hurdle in front of them reclaiming respectability. 

Apparently, the New Orleans Pelicans are attempting to “tweak small matters in how (Zion Williamson) walks and runs, working on the kinetic chain of his body,” per ESPN’s Andrew Lopez . At the risk of sounding alarmist, that seems less than ideal. Williamson doesn’t turn 20 years old until July. He still possesses the most upside of any rookie since LeBron James entered the Association.  Rushing him into action for a losing team is a decision that falls somewhere between unwise and a fireable offense. 

Twenty-two-year-old Atlanta Hawks forward John Collins was averaging 17.0 PPG and nearly nine rebounds a night when a 25-game suspension  cost him needed playing time alongside Trae Young. Collins returned on Dec. 23 right before Young suffered a sprained ankle that sidelined him for at least the last week of 2019, and there’s bound to be some rust on the promising young forward who found himself featuring for the worst team in the league. Atlanta is an afterthought until further notice, minus Young highlights, and Collins isn’t a franchise savior. The hope is Collins can make the Hawks at least watchable until April 15 mercifully ends the team’s season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are the Duke Brothers at the end of “Trading Places :” Sell, sell, sell! Kevin Love may find a lifeboat out of Northeast Ohio before you read this sentence. The Toronto Raptors would be doing Cleveland a favor by gifting Tristan Thompson a homecoming. For the right price, even rookie Darius Garland shouldn’t be considered untouchable by the rebuilding Cavaliers. The Cavs should be starting a G League roster by the end of January. Who would know the difference anyway? 

Contrary to what some may lead you to believe, Bradley Beal signing a two-year  extension with the Washington Wizards in October doesn’t  doom him to a meaningless basketball existence with the club through 2023. The Wizards need assets and must restructure even when John Wall is no longer shelved due to injury, and Beal’s extension makes him a high-value target for a club that believes it’s close to following the Toronto Raptors’ blueprint from a season ago. Every day Beal features for the sub-.500 Wizards is a waste for everybody involved. 

Andre Iguodala doesn’t want to play for the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Grizzlies can’t unload Iguodala quickly enough. Who can blame either party here? The  35-year-old is no longer a starter for a Finals lineup, but the three-time champion is already coveted by legitimate contenders in need of depth. In mid-December, The Ringer’s Paolo Uggetti linked a handful of teams with Iggy. Memphis should cash in, in a big way, in a transaction involving the two-way force who can still irritate opponents with his defensive abilities.

Portland’s 121-115 loss to the Utah Jazz on  Dec. 26  perfectly summed up the Trail Blazers’ current state. While Portland has the firepower to score 39 points and embark upon a noteworthy fourth-quarter comeback, the team’s lack of depth and its defensive woes continue to haunt this disappointing squad. No franchise wants to go the nuclear route, but we’re half a year away from the Trail Blazers having to honestly ask just how far the duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum can take the club beyond the opening round of the postseason. As of Jan. 1, Portland isn’t close to winning a conference finals. 

Are you wondering why the Chicago Bulls still employ coach Jim Boylen? You’re  not alone. Along with being listed  among the worst coaches in the Association this winter, Boylen can directly be blamed for Lauri Markkanen’s clear regression. Then again, with  GarPax  leading the charge, the Bulls are as hopeless as Charlie Brown attempting to accurately kick a football or hit a fastball regardless of who is coaching the squad. 

Adrian  has three words for San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich at the start of the 2020s: "You can’t win." Nobody wants to tell a living legend that it’s over, but it’s over. Even if the Spurs manage to back into the No. 8 seed, they’ll be lucky to cover the spread in a single game against the Los Angeles Lakers in the spring. Both DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge have  trade value, and Popovich’s final act before riding off into the sunset should be to blow things up for his successor. It’s the end of an era in San Antonio. 

The Andrew Wiggins Redemption Tour seems to have leveled off at a career-best 24-5-3 line. Hear us out: What if now is the time to sell high because it’s just a matter of time before the 24-year-old reverts to form in Minnesota? That notion is why teams are sniffing around the Timberwolves to see what the once-promising prospect could cost in theoretical trades. Minnesota can’t reclaim the seasons wasted on Wiggins, but the team can cash out now before his stock drops. 

Depending on how he feels about life in Arizona, Deandre Ayton earning a 25-game  suspension during the fall may have been the worst or best thing to happen to his Phoenix Suns career. We’re not saying the second-year pro is a bust, but the Suns didn’t collapse with him out of the lineup, thanks largely to Aron Baynes’ contributions. Let’s say, for the sake of fun, Bill Simmons is right and the Suns should explore trading Ayton in a package that would move, oh, we don’t know, Karl-Anthony Towns out west. Phoenix couldn’t drive Ayton to the airport fast enough if presented with that late Christmas present. 

We admittedly know the answer to this one. Chris Paul’s contract is an  albatross destined to drag any franchise stuck with it into the abyss, and the Oklahoma City Thunder probably can’t escape it or Paul between the start of January through the end of June. OKC must find the right balance of emptying CP3’s tank and keeping him healthy, as the team showcases him to franchises that will be contenders next July. 

The highlight of the (latest) Charlotte Hornets rebuild is guard Devonte' Graham becoming a Most Improved Player candidate while averaging over 19 PPG and 7.7 dishes per contest. Is the second-round pick from the 2018 NBA Draft padding stats for a subpar side, or is he a cornerstone of a future playoff team? Was Paolo Uggetti  right to point out Graham looks better than Kemba Walker did at the age of 24, or is the second-year pro merely in the middle of his 15 minutes of fame? 

Ask us to point to a team that proves the NBA is both the best and the worst, and we’d probably immediately glance toward the Detroit Pistons. Could Detroit sneak into the Eastern Conference Playoffs? Sure. Will the Pistons sign an MVP-caliber free agent in 2021 and pursue a championship? No chance, at least not the way the team is constructed heading into 2020. Blake Griffin’s decline is  going about as expected. Jettisoning  Andre Drummond to the highest bidder (if one exists) would be painful, at first, but it’s also the best way for the Pistons to break free of the  Medium Place and fall where they need to rest in the standings by mid-April.

There are good reasons the NBA community can’t go a week without pondering trade scenarios  involving the Orlando Magic moving on from Aaron Gordon. In Orlando, Gordon is more flash than substance — more “the next Blake Griffin” than somebody mimicking Blake’s production and numbers after six seasons. Orlando dealing Gordon before the trade deadline would likely drop the Magic out of the playoffs, which wouldn’t necessarily be the worst thing. Besides, some head coach and front office out there must believe Gordon’s stagnation would cease were he to find a new home,  right?

The Sacramento Kings were underwhelming throughout the first two months of the campaign, but they’ve also been infected with an injury bug that won’t go away. De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley physically can’t finish games. As Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee wrote, Fox and Bagley missed a combined 39 outings from the start of the season through Dec. 27. The Kings need Buddy Hield to get back to shooting 40 percent from three-point range, but it won’t matter much if he does when others who should be in the lineup can’t survive entire contests without suffering setbacks. 

The Utah Jazz admitted things weren’t working as planned and shook things up by trading for Jordan Clarkson. In his second appearance with his new club, Clarkson tallied 19 points in 25 minutes of action, and, as Ryan Miller of KSL.com  explained, the guard sparked runs that helped propel the Jazz to an impressive win over the Los Angeles Clippers. Utah began December needing depth. Can Clarkson be the answer to the team’s issues? 

Kyrie Irving (shoulder/possible other issues ) hasn’t played since Nov. 14, and yet the Brooklyn Nets begin 2020 a playoff team. Brooklyn should let Irving sit, if that’s what he wants to do, until next fall. This season was always going to be a redshirt year for the Nets with Kevin Durant recovering from a ruptured Achilles. There’s no point in either endangering Irving’s future with the Nets or having him around if his mind and heart are elsewhere. Let Irving and Durant begin anew next October. 

As funny as it may sound to suggest a one-time MVP guard should stop shooting the basketball, it’s what’s best for the Houston Rockets, Russell Westbrook  and James Harden. Westbrook doesn’t have shooting “woes” or a “broken” shot. He’s 31 years old. Unless the Monstars give him a special glowing basketball, he isn’t developing beyond what he is in late December.  Are things with Houston so dire that the Rockets would trade Westbrook before the February deadline? 

According to Mike Singer of The Denver Post, Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic admitted he was struggling roughly two months into the campaign. Despite his concerns, Jokic begins 2020 leading the Nuggets in scoring, and he averaged nearly 21 PPG from Dec. 3 through Dec. 30. Charles Barkley recently made headlines when he said he doesn’t believe Denver is for real. Unless Jokic reaches the MVP level so many believed he’d be at by this point of the season, Chuck may be proved right. 

Victor Oladipo’s leg betrayed him last January, and the Indiana Pacers may continue to experience life without the 27-year-old guard until February. While he may be back on the court around Valentine’s Day, the Oladipo of old probably isn’t returning on a nightly basis until next fall, and that’s assuming he’ll stay healthy through the playoffs. As Dalton Del Don of Yahoo Sports notes, the Pacers should manage Oladipo’s minutes up through Indiana’s last game of the campaign, whenever that is. 

The Toronto Raptors are the defending NBA champions with nothing to prove, following Kawhi Leonard’s departure. Toronto losing to the Milwaukee Bucks or Philadelphia 76ers in a seven-game series would be no reason to hang heads. The Raptors adding a big such as Tristan Thompson would  fill a need, and bringing the Toronto native home would make for a nice story. Thompson is on an expiring contract, so trading for him is a win-now move for a franchise that, truthfully, probably can’t win now. 

The Boston Celtics need to upgrade their frontcourt rotation. No disrespect meant, but the duo of Daniel Theis and Enes Kanter won’t be  facing the Cleveland Cavaliers in late April. Dewayne Dedmon’ s relationship with Sacramento Kings head coach Luke Walton is fractured beyond repair, and Dedmon’s lackluster numbers while with the Kings shouldn’t make you forget about his two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks. As  Justin Quinn of Celtics Wire  explained, though, the financials could prevent Boston from landing a big of its choosing, and that could ultimately sink the club’s title hopes once the C’s have to face Joel Embiid or Giannis Antetokounmpo in the spring. 

We’re admittedly not touching upon the Ben Simmons topic. Some of you are still on holiday through the first few days of 2020, after all. Before Christmas, Marc Narducci of The Philadelphia Inquirer  pointed out Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid hasn’t been himself in attitude or production for much of the campaign. The 25-year-old who began October a contender to compete for MVP honors isn’t in the conversation for the award, and the Sixers have often performed like a club going through the motions while waiting for the playoffs. For coach Brett Brown, reigniting Embiid’s spark could be his most important task for the first three months of the new year. 

As documented by Bleacher Report’s Adam Wells , the Miami Heat entered the final week of 2019 willing to welcome out-of-favor guard Dion Waiters back to the rotation even though he has spent more time this season suspended than on the court. (He hasn’t featured for the Heat once in 2019-20 as of Dec. 30.) Such a rumor leads any reasonable person to believe the Heat can’t get a fresh net in return for Waiters’ services, that the club isn’t waiving him and eating the money attached to his  contract , that Waiters understandably isn’t interested in a buyout and that club president Pat Riley won’t attach any assets in a trade involving Waiters because he thinks Miami can make a run toward the Finals this spring. Without Waiters, the Heat won 24 of 32 games and rose to second in the Eastern Conference standings. Keeping him as far away from the lineup until the summer could be Riley’s best pretrade deadline decision. 

The Dallas Mavericks are ahead of schedule thanks to Luka Doncic posting MVP numbers his second season and Kristaps Porzingis playing more like his unicorn self following a rocky start to his Dallas tenure. Dallas’ future is bright, but its present is far from gloomy. What if  general manager Donnie Nelson becomes convinced a trade for somebody such as Andre Drummond would put the Mavs four games away from a Finals appearance this coming June? Would such a trade add excess pressure on Doncic, who, despite his historic form, is still developing as a pro and a person before his 21st birthday? 

On Dec. 30, the Los Angeles Clippers sat only 3.5 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers and the top spot in the Western Conference standings. That’s just fine for coach Doc Rivers and Co. With help from the Toronto Raptors, Kawhi Leonard turned load management into an art form , and Rivers must tune all critics out, listen to his club’s medical staff and keep both Leonard and Paul George as fresh as possible for April. It couldn’t matter less if Rivers doing so means the Clippers finish fourth in the West. This team’s  defense is menacing enough to silence any opposing crowd during the playoffs. 

Even though the Philadelphia 76ers made NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo appear downright mortal on  Christmas Day, the Milwaukee Bucks would nevertheless be heavy favorites to skip into the NBA Finals if the postseason tournament began on Jan. 1. Milwaukee’s nightmare scenario as of the start of the decade is the Bucks failing to win it all in June and Antetokounmpo refusing to sign an extension with the organization before the start of the 2020-21 campaign. Jared Schwartz of the New York Post and other observers are already speculating on which big-market clubs could entice the Greek Freak to ditch the Midwest for a financial fortune and an opportunity to win multiple titles. Antetokounmpo isn’t LeBron James, in that the 25-year-old has no emotional attachment to the club that drafted him. He may already be counting down the days until he can select his next employer. 

We’ll give you a glance behind the curtain and let you know we had this portion of the piece ready to go even before Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James faced the Portland Trail Blazers while dealing with a groin contusion. Coach Frank Vogel will deserve the ax if he continues to allow James to play at less than 100 percent and the three-time champion suffers an injury similar to the one that sidelined him for almost all of January 2019.  James turned 35 years old on Dec. 30. He and Anthony Davis have built chemistry. Vogel should persuade James to enjoy a  wine-related January vacation and get his body and mind right for the push toward the playoffs.