By 
With the trade deadline and NBA all-star weekend passing by these past couple of weeks, we are coming into the home stretch of the regular season leading up to the postseason. The trade deadline wasn’t exciting but impactful for some so here are 5 things to look out for during the rest of the season before the playoffs start.
The Knicks are becoming a legitimate threat.
One of the winners at the trade deadline was the New York Knicks who added some steady veteran play to the team with Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks from the Detroit Pistons, who have been great especially with injuries to Julius Randle and OG Anunoby right now makes their transition quicker to the system. Currently fourth in the east, the Knicks can very easily finish the regular season second over the Bucks and Cavs who have their share of issues to figure out that the Knicks should leapfrog them unless injuries hinder them.
The End of the Road for the Warriors.
Regardless of if the Golden State Warriors make the play-in or completely bottom out, this offseason the Warriors are going to face certain decisions they have put off that will need to be addressed if they want to be competitive in the limited prime years Stephen Curry has left. So, do you trade Draymond Green? Let Klay Thompson walk? A lot of uncertainty with the Warriors but clearly changes are needed if they wish to remain contenders in the always cutthroat western conference, who knows maybe a certain someone in southern California could make his way up to the bay area you never know.
SGA Locks down the MVP
With reigning MVP Joel Embiid out with a knee injury taking him out of the MVP race leaving it up for grabs between four people who are Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Again, assuming he will not be injured, SGA can easily make a runaway case to win MVP this year with his stats especially in the clutch along with the continued success of the Thunder can make this a reality for Gilgeous-Alexander to solidify his place in the top tier of the best players in basketball right now.
NO SIZE, NO PROBLEM!
Staying in Oklahoma City, the thunder at the deadline were expected to make a move to get another big man to put alongside Chet Holmgren especially for the postseason. Anyone from Andre Drummond to Jarett Allen would be great to add this promising team but they got Gordon Hayward from Charlotte which doesn’t solve the size issue but gives them some maturity to this young group along with some late game Josh Giddey insurance. Even signing Bismack Biyombo does help upfront but this is the Thunder doubling down on their small ball like approach that has been successful all season and will hopefully continue success in the playoffs.
LeBron & The Lakers’ season ends Badly.
The last thing to look out for is how the season ends for the Lakers, with the Lakers making no moves despite the subliminal pressure coming from LeBron James can be telling about what the Lakers may do this summer. Even with amazing seasons from LeBron James and Anthony Davis the Lakers are ninth in the west at 30-26 where they will probably hover around meaning they will have to be in the play-in scenario again in order to make the playoffs.
Last year’s eastern conference champions were the Miami Heat who came out of the play-in certainly makes it possible for the Lakers to do the same this year out west, but there is a good possibility that the LeBron and Lakers miss the playoffs which will lead to a chaotic and probably insufferable coverage this summer when it comes to the purple and gold. Does LeBron stay or go? Can another star come to LA? Could it be Trae Young, Donovan Mitchell or someone else? Safe bet for us to prepare for that level of chaos especially if the Lakers do not make the playoffs which is possible if anything goes slightly wrong going forward.