While every NBA team should be delighted to reach the postseason, there's always at least one opponent that they'd prefer to avoid facing. This year especially, some of the lower seeds could be extremely dangerous in a first-round matchup.
With the buyout market likely to be a dud, 2022 free agency becomes the next significant transactional checkpoint in an NBA calendar increasingly defined by them.
With about six weeks to go in the regular season, the NBA 's teams are beginning to separate themselves out into groups: contenders, playoff also-rans, play-in hopefuls and the bottom-feeders.
The All-Star break is over, and we've officially entered the home stretch of the 2021-22 NBA season. Teams around the league only have 20-25 games left to solidify playoff position, push for the play-in or go all-in on the tank.