The Western Conference is About to Be INSANE

The Western Conference is About to Be INSANE

Yo, what’s going on y’all? It’s Con and the Western Conference next season is going to be insane. There are so many storylines to follow going into the Western Conference next year. I mean, it was already insane last season with every team separated by just a few games from two all the way down till eight. Uh you had really crazy playoff series. You have now huge splashes being made by like the Rockets and the Nuggets. Uh there’s what’s going on with the Lakers. What’s happening with LeBron James and the Wolves are kind of running it back and the Clippers are getting up there in age. happens with them and the Grizzies and the Warriors. Now a full season of Jimmy and Steph. What is going on with the Dallas Mavericks? There is a lot to talk about. So I real quick, like I did with my Eastern Conference video a few days ago, want to just give you a preview of where I’m at right now in the Western Conference and why it can be kind of insane in 2026. And it starts off at the top with my Oklahoma City Thunder. Of course, the reigning NBA champions. I’m going to say that as much as I can. Uh and they’re kind of just running it back, which makes a lot of sense. It was a 68 win team. They did go to a couple of game sevens, one against Denver and one against Indiana throughout the playoff run, but it was kind of the experience getting year while also being the championship year for this Thunder team. And I think there was still so much room for inhouse improvement by all the young guys on this roster. I mean, it was the second youngest championship team ever, still being led by an MVP player in Shel Alexander, who just put on one of the best seasons any player has ever had. Jaylen Williams was the second option for this team’s championship run with a torn ligament in his wrist. If you want to ask why his efficiency dropped at times, it’s probably good to consider that that injury normally requires surgery. He had to get it after the run, but was still able to get through that anyways. One of the best defensive players in the league. It still feels like he has so much more upside after this AllNBA third team season. Chad Holgrren was really not anywhere near his best offensively throughout the playoff run. And I think a big part of that is missing a majority of the year with a broken hip prehip injury at the beginning of the season. It was a small sample size, but he was shooting over 50% from the field, 40% from three, and blocking like three shots a night. He felt like he was on an allNBA trajectory. And of course, all the depth in the world, uh the still all-time level defense, coach and Mark Dagnel, who has won a coach of the year and now a championship. They’ve got experience now. They’ve been there, done that. They should and will be the favorites again in this Western Conference and probably to win the NBA Finals outright. And it feels like they have a chance to really stamp themselves as potentially a dynasty if everything goes their way. But it’s not like it’s solely us in the Western Conference. There are a lot of really good teams and two of them are making a case to be named the second favorite out in the West and those are the Houston Rockets and the Denver Nuggets. Houston last year, you know, didn’t go as far as the Nuggets. They lost round one to the Golden State Warriors, but they pushed them to seven games. A really good Warriors team despite the fact that the half court offense for the Rockets last year was throw the ball at the rim, get the offensive rebound, and put it back up and in. And sometimes it worked. That defense was ridiculous. But now they’ve got a little bit of playoff experience. You know, you’re going to I’m sure see jumps from the young guys like an Albrin Shenon for example. And I think Almond Thompson can be unbelievable next season. He to me feels like he’s got real superstar upside, all NBA upside. Maybe not next season, although I think all-star is very, very attainable. And of course, another alldefensive team also makes a lot of sense. But I mean, within the next few years, I think he could be on an allNBA team. And then alongside those types of young guys, Jabari Smith Jr., I think there’s a lot of room for him to improve. And Tari E under a great coaching, Idoka, you had Kevin Durant, who immediately fixes your biggest issue of not having a go-to score in the half court, giving you one of the greatest scores in the history of the game. and you only had to give up Jaylen Green who was super inconsistent and now moving off of him allows Almond Thompson to slot in that back court next to a Fred Van Fleet who you also keep on a pretty cheap contract. Uh you also add Doran Finny Smith to this team, another defender, a 40% three-point shooter to space the floor. And I think those two guys, Katie and Doran Finny Smith, are going to open up the game a lot for a Shenon for the Shenon Steven M’s double big lineup, which I’m sure we’re going to see a lot more. or they also had a Clinkapella. So, hey, maybe they’ll get real crazy and put a three big lineup out there. I don’t know. But when you add one of the best offensive players ever, still one of the best offensive players in the sport, and don’t give up that much while already being this elite defense, and you got some experience, and there’s room for young guys to improve, it’s no wonder that the Rockets are in that conversation for the second team in the Western Conference right now. I think they’ve got a real legitimate shot to be a contender next season, assuming, you know, we still see health because KD has had some issues with that missing games here and there in his recent career, but I guess as long as you have them for the playoffs, it doesn’t really matter. Like they win 52 games last year with no real half court offense. That is extremely impressive. And then we talk about the Denver Nuggets who pushed the Thunder to seven games with Aaron Gordon dealing with, of course, his injury and Michael Porter Jr. shoulder bothering him. And now they go ahead and swap Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson. And Cam isn’t like a leagues better than Michael Porter Jr., but I think he is a more consistent player. He’s someone who I trust a little bit more in that Nugget system as a playmaker. He’s a better defender, which the Nuggets definitely needed. And I can imagine him having some really great chemistry with Nicole Joic and Jamal Murray. I mean, he was doing really well. He was really efficient last year as the number one option in Brooklyn. Imagine what he can do now in a skilled back role. Playing off of one of the best offensive players, best playmakers in the history of the sport, Nicole Joic. I think he’s going to be ridiculous. They added a volume three-point shooter in Tim Hardway Jr. who I think is also going to thrive playing off of Nicole Joic. They send a double. He’s got him in the corner. It could be a ridiculous weapon. You still got Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon. And I mean, they added Jonas Falunis. We’ll see if he is actually going to stay. The report is that he might go over to Greece, but they want to still keep him. I honestly don’t even love the Valenunis pickup. I think it would be scarier if the Nuggets added this really athletic rim protecting type of big as opposed to a slowooted big in Yonis Valenunis who, you know, could theoretically replicate a little bit of what Joic can do in those minutes off the court and he’s a better option than what they’ve had at almost any other point in the Jokic era. But honestly, I’d be more excited if I’m a Nuggets fan about Don Holmes coming in next year. Uh, injured in summer league, missed the entirety of the season. he comes in now and maybe gives you that athletic type of big is again coming off a season ending injury as a rookie. So, we’ll see where he’s at. And of course, Bruce Brown is back in a Denver Nuggets uniform after a couple years away from the team post championship when got his bag and now he returns here where he had the most successful year of his career by far. And I’m really excited to see what he can do being back in Denver. Hasn’t been the best past couple of seasons. He’s dealt with injury specifically. If he can stay on the court though, he is another weapon added to this team and just gives them more depth. But all in all, I mean, just this Nuggets team, when you have Nicole Joic and that talent that they have and you make improvements and David Adam really impressed me in the few games that he coached because he’s now got more playoff wins than regular season wins. They also like the Rockets feel like the top two threats to the Oklahoma City Thundering the Western Conference. But there are a lot of other very interesting good teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves backto-back conference finals. Another year for them to gel. They really jelled in the back half of the season. If they can bring that for a full year, they could compete for a top three seed in this conference. And Anthony Edwards went from last season being at the beginning of the year like, “Oh, he’s a good three-point shooter to someone who had one of the best three-point shooting seasons ever as this hyper ridiculous athlete. He got better as a playmaker. He really rounded out his game and there’s still so much room to improve. He and Julius Randall, so much chemistry to still build. You’ve got young guys like a Rob Dillingham and a Terrence Shannon Jr. who I think could be bigger pieces. I think this Waltz team is again going to be pretty insane. Similarly, the Golden State Warriors only got a part season with Jimmy Butler, but when Jimmy and Steph are in the lineup together, they’re basically unbeatable at times. Uh they really open up the game for Steph Curry made life so much easier. We saw a rejuvenated, revived version of Steph at the home stretch of the season. Jimmy is of course always an X factor, a high level playoff performer, a defender, a rebounder, a playmaker, which is something they desperately needed. Draymond Green feels like he’s just never going to regress defensively. He was in the conversation heavily for defensive player of the year this season in like his 30th year. Uh you’ve got young guys who can step up like a Brandon Pajamky for example and I thought Quinton Post was really good for them last season. We’ll see what happens with Jonathan Kaminga. is he going to be back or if they get something back from him in a signing trade then I think that’s a massive win because I don’t love Kuminga’s fit on this team and if you could bring in someone who is an impact player that would be huge the report is that they might even end up signing Al Horford who I would love now it is a lot of older players but just in terms of on paper the skill sets I think mesh really well a lot of veteran experience even if they’re not a threat to win the Western Conference I think just in general throughout the season they could be really scary and you probably just in general don’t want to end up in a matchup with that many savvy veterans that are over in Golden State and have the experience that they do. Talking about older teams, the Clippers are again going to be coming back with an older squad, but I mean last season they won 50 games with Kawhai missing the beginning of the year. He only ends up playing 37 games and they won 50 times. James Harden was an all-star and an AllNBA player again. It feels like he’s just always going to be this floor raising highle floor general regardless of how old he gets. Zubots felt like he could have potentially made AllNBA last season and was in defensive player of the year talks or at least he should have been in my opinion. He was phenomenal all last year. Norman Powell took a big step. They bring back like a Nick Batum. They go ahead and they add Brook Lopez as a backup big who is also old but he’s a better option than they’ve had in a long time. Derrick Jones Jr. still this highly athletic great defender. Chris Dunn was unbelievable defensively last season. If Bogdon Bagdanovich can assimilate a little bit more and he looked better at the end of the season than he did when he first got there and Gee gives them another offensive punch piece like this Clippers team again I don’t think they’re going to be a contender but I do think they’re going to be a crazy pest in that Western Conference and it does create the interesting storyline if they don’t feel like a contender if things aren’t going their way when do they consider breaking this thing up at some point soon. Could we see a Kawhi Leonard trade or James Harden trade or Zubots or any pieces like that? I mean, I think they’re just going to run this thing into the ground until, you know, it just fall the wheels fall off. But at some point, could we see some drama happen there? And that’s nowhere near the drama happening across Los Angeles with the Lakers when we talk about LeBron James who opts into his player option, which you know, we knew he was going to be back with LA for next season, but there’s the quote from Rich Paul where he basically says, I, you know, we’ve had this great relationship for eight years, but LeBron wants to win in this and that, and it suddenly seems like, is LeBron angling for a trade or could we see a trade request? And it’s both been I don’t expect him to get traded from some insiders, but then you’ve got like Brian Windhor saying actually maybe it’s the most it’s ever felt like LeBron could be traded from the Lakers. You know, I’m not saying that he is going to, but could it be a possibility? I I mean, I don’t know. I just think about this team and how it feels like everything that they’re trying to do is angling towards Luca Donuch in the next era. I wouldn’t be shocked if LeBron is off the Lakers probably not this off season, but by the time the deadline rolls around. I mean, a couple deadlines ago, the Warriors got super invested and where could he potentially land if he did get traded? Like, San Antonio has all the capital in the world to make a deal happen and does they don’t have to give up a lot of integral pieces to make the salary work. And I mean, San Antonio is super interesting with WMY and Darren Fox now for a full season. And they really feel like they’re just waiting if a bigname player becomes available, they could jump into the fold very quickly. I think if Giannis becomes available, they should be all over that. And I think they would be because they’ve got one of the most interesting packages out of anybody. They’ve got Sfon Castle coming back as the rookie of the year. They got Dylan Harper second overall in this draft. They have an embarrassment of riches alongside Victor Webbyama who was running away with Deep Boy last season and feels like he had a chance to make all NBA first team in his second season. Think about what he could do this year. I mean, there’s a chance if the Spurs are like the jump team in the Western Conference, we could see deep Webby MVP talks as soon as this season. I don’t think that’s crazy at all. And one more note on the Lakers, I don’t know how good they’re going to be next season. Like LeBron, Reeves, Luca is a really good offensive trio, but I think the defense is going to be terrible. Like DeAndre Aton is not super exciting to me if I’m a Lakers fan. Maybe he actually buys in for once. And I guess if he can’t show that he can play here next to Luke and LeBron, it’s kind of just over for him. And maybe he’s like, “Hey, this is my last chance. I just got bought out as a previous number one overall pick seven years ago. It’s not that long ago. So maybe he buys him more and he looks like Suns DeAndre, but I don’t know. The Lakers are so interesting to me. I’m going to make a full video about them here at some point soon. Same thing with the Rockets and the Nuggets and a few of these other teams. Uh the Grizzlies, I mean, they traded Desmond Bane. What does it look like now with John Jiren as these top two guys solo? You’ve got the Dallas Mavericks. I mean, what’s going to happen with them? They’ve got Cooper Flag and PJ Washington and Anthony Davis and Dererick Lively and Daniel Gaffford. It is a very crowded front court, but it’s one that feels like it could be insane defensively. You add Naji Marshall to that. Uh they pick up DLO as a point guard. Could Kyrie return next season? If not, then how do they look without him offensively? Because I worry a lot about the creation on this team even though defensively they’re going to bludgeon teams with their size and can AD actually stay on the court because that’s really not a given whatsoever. I’ve seen some people think they could be again around like the 10th seed in the Western Conference and I’ve seen some people say they could be like a three or a four seed out west. It feels like they’ve got one of the biggest ranges because I’ve just got no idea how to feel about this team offensively. Cooper Flag obviously a big swing guy. If he looks like the guy from day one, it improves their ceiling a ton. If he doesn’t, if it takes some time, which wouldn’t be shocking, it it’s hard to adjust to the NBA. Then maybe they’re more so around that play in range. I I don’t know. The Mavericks getting the number one overall pick still feels fake to me. Sacramento, I don’t even know if I want to talk about Sacramento to be honest. I don’t know what’s going on over there, but I mean I think at some point soon Sabonis and Lavine and D Rozan, all these guys could become trade chips. Phoenix is going to be a lot younger. That’s somewhat exciting. The Blazers feel like maybe they could be a playing team. I don’t know. I don’t think that’s insane to say. They’re going that, you know, they grab Drew Holiday. They’re leaning this defensive identity. The Pelicans are an absolute disaster in every way, shape, and form if you ask me. I’ve got no idea what their direction is, what the decision-making is, why they’re trading next year’s unprotected first round pick. You just had 21 wins. Why are you trading an unprotected first round pick? Maybe they think they could be healthy, but it’s like, you know, Zion, I don’t really know about that. And then the Jazz are at the bottom of the conference there again. Could be really, really bad. But, I mean, Ace Bailey should be uh fun to see what he does over there alongside some of those other young guys. And that is the Western Conference. I think I got to everything that I want to talk about for the moment. Uh, I do want to make individual videos on a lot of these teams in the NBA, specifically the West. Again, a lot to talk about there over the course of this offseason. So, let me know what teams you want to see videos on specifically. There will be a Rockets, a Nuggets, a Lakers video coming at some point. Also, I want to make a Thunder video, kind of a a documentary style thing. Not going to be like full documentary, but something along those lines talking about the Thunder going from where they were in 2012 and eventually after the Damesh shot rebuild, the process of that. I want to make a longer video that’s going to be a summer project that I want to work on. Um, but yeah, let me know your thoughts on the Western Conference. I’m assuming a lot of you think the Thunder the favorites. Maybe you don’t. If you don’t think the Thunder should be the favorites, who is your favorite in the West going into next season? Uh, where would you rank like the top? Like, what are your top eight teams? Specifically, actually, maybe better question, who do you think are going to be the top six that avoid the playing tournament entirely? Do you think there is a jump team this year? Like, could it be the San Antonio Spurs? Maybe it’s the Dallas Mavericks bouncing back. I don’t know. I want to hear all your thoughts on the Western Conference, but for the moment, I appreciate you all watching. Leave a like and subscribe if you enjoyed. Hit the notification bell so you don’t miss out on future videos. I appreciate you all watching. I’ll see youall later. Real one say back.

The 2025 offseason is in full swing and the Western Conference is more loaded than ever. The Oklahoma City Thunder are running it back with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, and the same stacked young supporting cast while others like the Houston Rockets who added Kevin Durant and the Denver Nuggets with Nikola Jokic who added Cam Johnson are trying to catch up. The Lakers are in rumors with LeBron James as they head towards the Luka Doncic era, the Minnesota Timberwolves are trying to make a third WCF with Anthony Edwards, the Golden State Warriors now have a full season of Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler, the Clippers still have James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, the Cooper Flagg Dallas Mavericks could be interesting, and the San Antonio Spurs are getting a full year of De’Aaron Fox next to Victor Wembanyama. So, let’s talk about it.

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0:00 – Intro
0:47 – The Thunder are the favorites
2:39 – But the Houston Rockets are now much scarier
4:46 – And the Denver Nuggets are definitely better
7:05 – The Minnesota Timberwolves are being overlooked
7:43 – Can Steph and Jimmy be a title threat?
9:05 – Are the Clippers still a threat?
10:23 – And what is happening with LeBron and the Lakers?
11:22 – The Spurs feel poised for a jump with Wemby
12:57 – The Mavericks are a wild card
13:58 – And then there’s everybody else
15:00 – Outro