There’s no time for optimism in the NBA quite like mid-August, a beautiful stretch when every team is undefeated, most teams are healthy, each rookie is poised to be a steal, and every free agent signing is still conceivably a masterstroke.
Some teams have more reason to be hopeful than others. There’s already a group of teams that seem poised to fall behind their rivals next season. On the flip side, there are also three teams in each conference who seem like a good bet to make a big leap up the standings when the 2024-2025 season officially opens.
Some of these teams had star players miss a
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