2024 Western Conference Playoffs: Each team’s biggest question heading into the playoffs

This article is part of atwo-part series preview for the upcoming 2023-2024 NBAPlayoffs.

With the 2023-2024 NBA Playoffsstarting, all eyes will be on all teams competing for thechampionship as fans and players look on for a taste of postseasonaction. As eight playoff teams in each conference gear up for whatpromises to be an intense battle for the title, each team faces itsown set of unique challenges. In this article, we take a closerlook at the biggest question facing each Western Conference teamheading into the playoffs, from injuries and roster changes to keymatchups and strategic decisions.

Oklahoma City Thunder - How far can their youth andinexperience take them in the playoffs?

The Thunder got away through theregular season with historic from MVP frontrunner Shai GilgeousAlexander, an impressive rookie season by Chet Holmgren, a starsophomore leap by Jalen Williams, and a coaching masterclass in agenius coach Mark Daigneault.

However, the playoffs as we knowit is a different beast – will Mark Daigneault be able to sustainthe good coaching he has done with his team throughout this regularseason?

How much of this youth andinexperience be a factor for them to advance deeper in theplayoffs; will they be able to use it to their advantage? Or willit be a hindrance against other experienced teams when they faceeach other in these tight situations? Most of the time, thesesituations require patience and discipline – teams with playoffexperience have shown over time and have done it time and timeagain on their way to a deep playoff run.

Denver Nuggets - Can they go back toback?

There’s really no other questionfor a team like the Nuggets at the peak of their powers: Can theywin back-to-back titles? There has not been a back-to-back championin the NBA for the past 5 years, with the last one coming in 2017and 2018 when the Warriors won it all.

Like Boston, it is a title orbust status with Denver as of now. They have been fairly healthythroughout the regular season, have a mostly intact roster that wonit all last year, and have the best player in the world in NikolaJokic in his absolute prime. Denver this year has again all thenecessary pieces to win – the right amount of shooters, defensiveguys, scoring in the paint – which are all the makings of achampionship team.

A couple of questionable factorsthough would be how much of an impact the loss of Bruce Brown wouldhave in these playoffs. Brown was arguably the 5th, or 4th bestplayer in their championship run last year – maybe even the 3rd insome games. He was essential on offense and defense, guarding theopponent’s best perimeter threats while providing off-ball scoringand cuts that fit perfectly with Jokic.

Second, they’ll be facingchampionship-caliber teams with hunger and drive to defeat them,and all have been competitive with the Nuggets this season. TheLakers, although the Nuggets swept them last year in the WesternConference Finals, still have LeBron James and Anthony Davis, andthey won’t take that lightly – likely coming back with avengeance.

The Suns have won the seasonseries with the Nuggets 2-1 and they pose a threat to the Nuggetswith their formula of having three elite shotmakers that canexplode anytime – which the Nuggets may not cover all at the sametime. The Wolves, who perhaps have the best lineup suited todefeat them, are lurking in the same bracket waiting to pounce onthem at sight.

These are all challenges adefending champion must go through to achieve a rare feat becausethe playoffs are supposed to be hard.

Minnesota Timberwolves - Will they finally breakthrough after years of heartbreak?

This has already been a win of aseason for the Timberwolves, achieving their second most wins infranchise history (56) since 2004 when they won 58 wins and reachedthe conference finals.

However, this has not stoppedthem from wanting more, and the wolfpack is not satisfied norcontented with just this achievement – they want more.

Minnesota wanting to go win thatfirst playoff series like a hungry pack of wolves has been evidentsince trading for 3-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.Although they fell short last season due to untimely injuries tokey players, the Wolves ran it back and have proven their littleexperiment with two bigs in star Karl Anthony Towns and Gobertwould work.

Led by their resurgent youngsuperstar Anthony Edwards equipped with the best defense in theleague, Minnesota certainly hopes this team would be the one – theone to end the longest playoff series win droughts in the leaguefor quite some time now.

Los Angeles Clippers - Will they be able to meet theexpectations this time around?

The Clippers trading for JamesHarden signaled one thing for the franchise: They are going all inwith Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and surrounding them with allthe help they can get. They are far from a perfect team, but theClippers want to have the best possible results this season beforetransferring to their new arena next year.

The Clippers have only appearedin the conference finals once in the Leonard-George era after beingplagued by several injuries during their different playoff runs.Due to that, people haven’t been able to see what the team iscapable of when their two stars are fully healthy in a playoffrun.

However, this year might just betheir year. Their core of Harden, George, and Leonard have beenmostly healthy all season long. The front office has alsosurrounded them with complementary pieces to help them win. LA nowhas usable bigs in Zubac, Plumlee, and Theis; they have TerranceMann as their designated stopper; Norman Powell being the sixth manoff the bench microwave scorer; a 3-and-D wing in Amir Coffe; andRussell Westbrook as the spark plug that gives them the boost andthe energy off the bench.

After being just the ‘secondteam in LA’ and ‘that other team in LA’ for years, the Clippers aimto prove the doubters wrong and change the perception thatsurrounds the team as they pivot into a new era of Clippersbasketball.

Dallas Mavericks - Will Luka finally fulfill thepromise he has been showing so far in his career?

Throughout his young NBA career,Luka Doncic has had one of the best starts since LeBron Jamesstatistically. He has been in constant range of breaking ormatching LeBron’s records in points scored, triple-doubles,assists, and rebounds. However, this has not always translated intowins with Doncic just appearing in just one conference finals inthe first six years of his career. But that might change thisseason.

This year, the Mavericks haveput up arguably the best roster on paper that Luka has had in hiscareer – arguably even better than the 2022 team that made theconference finals.

Alongside Doncic’s MVP act is atrue partner in crime in Kyrie Irving; shot-blocking andrim-rolling vertical threats in Daniel Gafford and Lively; ruggedforwards that can shoot in PJ Washington, Dante Exum, Josh Green,and Derrick Jones; a microwave off-the-bench scorer in Tim HardawayJr; and veteran bigs that have been in Dallas for quite some timenow and you can count on in always with Maxi Kleber and DwightPowell.

Can Luka finally overcome theClippers? This season was one for the books with an MVP caliber andworthy year by averaging close to 34 points a game with 9 reboundsand 9 assists per game. Doncic has taken his game to another levelin the regular season – this time, can he take his playoff game toanother level as well?

All great young players have togo through someone as the stepping stone to reach newer heights –and Luka has lost to this Kawhi Leonard and Paul George-ledClippers team twice already in his career in theplayoffs.

LeBron had to go through theCeltics, Jordan had to go through the Pistons. Could it be Luka’sturn to get through this Clippers team that has tormented him fortwo playoff series?

Phoenix Suns - Will this new formula take them over thetop?

The Suns have experiencedsubstantial playoff success over the past three years by having aFinals appearance and reaching the conference semifinals twice.However, those groups fell short, with the feeling of somethinglacking or something missing that could take them over thetop.

So lo and behold, Phoenixscrapped it and took a different approach this season – ditchingthe point guard spot and getting a rugged and physical big thatcould set screens and not demand the ball much onoffense.

In its place came through as theSuns traded for Bradley Beal – going with a new formula by havingthree shot creators and shotmakers on the floor at the same time –pairing him with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. They also tradedaway former no.1 overall pick DeAndre Ayton for Jusuf Nurkic, awide-bodied center whose job is to set screens, rebound, and gettheir three creators open in the lane or for jump shots.

They added an elite shooter inGrayson Allen to space the floor alongside those three, orsometimes Royce O’Neale comes in for more defense against theopposing perimeter threats.

The Suns’ new approach andformula to the game make it incredibly hard to defend because youhave to have three elite defenders to contain those threeshot-creators, who can explode and get buckets at any point in thegame. Although their defense is still suspect at times, the mainpoint of this lineup is not to outscore – but to out-create teamsand have a variety of options to dissect and defeatdefenses.

If this new strategy works andcould take the Suns to the promised land in these playoffs remainsto be seen.

Los Angeles Lakers - Will they have enough this timearound?

Despite a strong run to theWestern Conference Finals as a 7th seed, the Lakers fell short lastyear vs the Nuggets after being swept 4-0. Throughout the season,the Nuggets’ dominance of the purple and gold continued, and nowthey have lost eight straight games against this Denverteam.

However, there is optimism thatthe Lakers will turn it around and have a different result vs theNuggets. Superstar LeBron James, even at 39 years old, looks toprove that he still has something left in the tank. Although theygot outplayed and outcoached last in that series by the Nuggets,James can make those adjustments being the cerebral and high IQplayer that he is.

James is perhaps one of the bestif not the best tactically sound players of all time, so it wouldmake sense – if they were to defeat Denver, he needs to be able tooutsmart Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets this time around.Superstar tandem Anthony Davis will also be vital to the serieshaving to defend the ‘Joker’ and producing bucketshimself.

The Lakers will also featuresome new bench pieces this year that could be difference makers inthe series Taurean Prince, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Gabe Vincent, allof whom could defend and hit those spot-up threes ifneeded.

Then there’s a hungry D’AngeloRussell who had a bad series vs Denver last year raring to bounceback along with an always-solid Austin Reaves to be thestabilizer.

Pelicans - How will they fare without ZionWilliamson?

The New Orleans Pelicans startand end with their young star Zion Williamson. After going out withwhat is to be believed a left hamstring strain, everything nowhinges on his health.

The Pelicans obviously need himno matter what and whether or not he’s healthy for theirfirst-round series vs the Thunder will likely be the answer if theywin it or not.

We’ve seen what Williamson iscapable of doing, scoring 40 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in hisfirst taste of postseason action in their play-in game vs theLakers. The burly forward bullied the Lakers’ defense and he showedhis once generational type of body and scoring prowess cometogether after finally being healthy for a full season in his fiveyears in the NBA.

New Orleans has fallen short alot of times in the playoffs, either failing to make it or to win aseries, and it is clear that Zion is the difference that separatesthem from winning or losing a playoff series.