2024-2025 NBA season preview part 5

The Pacific division includes a variety of teams all of which are looking to make the playoffs this year. The teams included are Los Angeles Clipper, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, and Sacramento Kings. While the Clippers, Suns, and Lakers made the playoffs last year, neither of the teams won their opening round series. The Warriors and Kings all missed the playoffs, but still made the play-in. It’s evident from the offseason moves these teams have made that they’re all looking at making the playoffs this year. 

Los Angeles Clippers

PG James Harden | Kris Dunn | Bones Hyland 

SG Terrance Mann | Amir Coffey | Cam Christie 

SF Kawhi Leonard | Normal Powell | Kevin Porter Jr. 

PF Derrick Jones Jr. | Nicolas Batum | Kobe Brown 

C Ivica Zubac | Mo Bamba | Kai Jones | Jordan Miller 

The Clippers offseason started out the worst way possible. They lost Paul George for nothing after trading essentially their entire future for him. Now while that also got Kawhi Leonard on board to sign in free agency this offseason marked the end of the duo’s time together. While the Clippers finally got to their first ever conference finals appearance, they didn’t see much success outside of their 2021 playoff run. Their time together could be highlighted by the infamous bubble collapse in 2020. Now where do the Clippers go now? They re-signed James Harden to a 2 year 70 million dollar deal bringing him back and re-sign Kawhi Leonard earlier in the year to a 3 year 152 million dollar extension, a deal they were not willing to give Paul George. Let Russell Westbrook go in a trade with the Jazz. They also re-signed Ivica Zubac and brought in Derrick Jones Jr. While the roster is made up of rather an interesting group of players there's still a lot of talent on the team. It’ll be critical that Kawhi Leonard is healthy for the start of next season if the Clipper wants to see any type of success. Leonard dealt with knee inflammation throughout the playoffs and also saw him drop out of Team USA’s roster. His team has said that they have a plan to deal with it throughout the season that’ll be more effective than in years past. James Harden has said that he is in the best shape of his life in 5-7 years. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but the Clippers need a fully engaged Harden. The Clippers also need to make sure they’re competitive because the Thunder own their draft capital for the foreseeable future. An uninterested Harden and a Kawhi injury could see the team have a terrible record with no first pick in the 2025 NBA draft. I don’t think the Clippers will make the playoffs if I’m being honest. I think relying on an older Harden and Leonard duo is unwise and I don't think there’s enough talent on the roster to overcome potential challenges, but Ty Lue is one of the best coaches in the NBA. He’ll need to be at his best if they want to get in the playoffs in the brutal Western Conference. 

Los Angeles Lakers

PG D’Angelo Russell | Gabe Vincent | Bronny James 

SG Austin Reaves |Max Christie | Jalen Hood-Schifino 

SF LeBron James | Dalton Knecht | Cam Reddish 

PF Rui Hachimura | Jarred Vanderbilt | Maxwell Lewis 

C Anthony Davis | Jaxson Hayes | Christian Wood | Christian Koloko  

The Los Angeles Lakers were able to make it out of the play-in beating the New Orleans Pelicans in the 7-8 game. They saw them matchup with the defending champions in the Denver Nuggets before losing 4-1 in the series. Jamal Murray made two game winning shots to send the Lakers home for the second straight year. So with an aging LeBron James what is the plan for LA this year? It started with hiring head coach JJ Redick. Redick is a brilliant basketball mind and it is evident through not only TV analysis with ESPN, but his podcast as well. While it is crazy to say he went from ESPN studios to being the head coach of one of the most iconic franchises in the world, that is where the Lakers currently are. While fans may have concerns on how he will coach I think they shouldn’t have anything to fear. Redick has an experienced staff around him plus the most experienced player in the NBA on his team in LeBron James. The rest of the roster is essentially the same as the team last year. Christian Koloko was signed as an insurance policy because of the Christian Wood injury. The injury left the Lakers with minimum depth at the center position. The rest of the roster now needs to show they’ve made improvement on their game in the offseason. Max Christie and Jalen Hood-Schifino should expect a larger role than in years past. Redick has already made clear from day 1 that the lineup of LeBron James, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves will start. That starting went 23-10 last year for the Lakers. I think the Lakers could surprise some teams this year. Now I think that only involves making the second round of the Western Conference, but that’s farther than most think they will. I can see them making it to the second round, but most will depend on how well Redick adjusts to his new position. 

Phoenix Suns 

PG Tyus Jones | Monte Morris | Damion Lee 

SG Bradley Beal | Grayson Allen | Jalen Bridges 

SF Devin Booker | Josh Okogie | Ryan Dunn 

PF Kevin Durant | Royce O’Neale | Bol Bol 

C Jusuf Nurkic | Mason Plumlee | Oso Ighodaro | Mamadi Diakite 

The Suns will look to rebound after a disappointing year last season. They traded away all financial flexibility and assets to land Bradley Beal, who was injured for most of the year. On top of this they did not have a point guard, which made their offense very stagnant and found Kevin Durnat sitting in the corner most of the time. This led to them getting swept in the first round of the postseason and firing Frank Vogel. Bring in Mike Budenholzer to fix the problem and the team is ready to go this year. They added key free agent pieces in Tyus Jones and Monte Morris to help with the point guard position. They also drafted two guys in Ryan Dunn and Iso Ighodaro to help with depth. The key for the Suns this year will be Can they find chemistry amongst the big three of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal. While all of them playing together sounds nice the product on the court hasn’t reflected what’s on paper. This is Budenholzer's first job as the head coach. Overall, the roster is good though. Adding in Mason Plumlee, who is a good passing big next to the other guys on the team helps a lot and bringing back Royce O’Neale and adding Ryan Dunn in the draft brings the perimeter defense needed for them. The Suns can be a very scary team, but before I make any decisions on them Beal, Booker, and Durant have to be healthy. If they can do that I see no reason why the conference finals or finals isn’t attainable for them. 

Sacramento Kings 

PG De’Aaron Fox | Jordan McLaughlin | Mason Jones | Boogie Ellis 

SG Kevin Huerter | Keon Ellis | Colby Jones 

SF DeMar DeRozan | Malik Monk | Isaiah Crawford 

PF Keegan Murray | Trey Lyles | Jalen McDaniels 

C Domantas Sabonis | Alex Len | Skai Labissiere

The Sacramento Kings are in an interesting spot as a franchise. After making the postseason for the first time in 17 years in 2023. They lost in the play-in tournament to the New Orleans Pelicans. The big offseason move for them was adding DeMar DeRozan in a trade that involved Harrison Barnes. Ideally DeRozan would fit right into the starting lineup, but that makes it a little bit complicated with the perimeter defense, with Fox and Hueter. I expect Keon Ellis will move into the lineup solely for defensive purposes. The Kings are an interesting product. Can they get the most out of what is left in DeMar DeRozan? The question will be how will DeRozan fit next to the speed of Fox and Malik Monk coming off the bench. DeRozan has shown that he is able to play fast during his time in Chicago, but will the 35 year old be at the same level and possibly better? I don’t think so. The Kings making a push relies a lot on the ability of DeRozan fitting into the King's identity, but overall it could work. I think it’ll be tough for the Kings to make the playoffs this year. If they do it’ll be through the play-in. 

Golden State Warriors

PG Steph Curry | De’Anthony Melton | Reece Beekman | Pat Spencer 

SG Brandin Podziemski | Gary Payton II | Moses Moody | Blake Hinson 

SF Andrew Wiggins | Buddy Hield | Lindy Waters | Kevin Knox 

PF Jonathan Kuminga | Kyle Anderson | Gui Santos 

C Draymond Green | Tracye Jackson-Davis | Kevon Looney | Quinten Post 

The Warriors have had a long offseason. They lost Klay Thompson ending the splash brother era in the bay. After over 10 seasons together between Steph Curry, Draymond, Green, and Klay Thompson it is officially over. The Warriors however, still had a productive offseason though. Adding Buddy Hield was crucial pickup and added much needed shooting next to Curry. The pivotal point for the Warriors is how to extend the latter years of Curry’s career. The Warriors opted to not include Brandin Podziemski in a deal potentially involving Lauri Markkanen from the Utah Jazz. However, there is a lot of positive outlook for the future. They still have Aaron Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga, who provide excellent perimeter defense for the Warriors. If they are able to sustain some type of chemistry with the new players coming in they can make the postseason. However, I don’t see them getting much farther. However, I will never count out Steph Curry. I think if the Warriors wanted to have a chance at winning deep into the postseason they needed to move Podziemski for Markkanen, but they didn’t and they still feel as though they have a good team, which they are. Getting to the play-in would be a win and I think even sneaking there way into the postseason would an ideal year for Golden State.