The first-half of the NBA season has come and gone and so far, it is still hard to say what to expect the rest of the season! Plenty of teams have solidified their championship caliber status, while all but maybe 2 teams still have real playoff hopes this year. While they are still technically in the playoff hunt this year, the Detroit Pistons and the Minnesota Timberwolves appear to be the only two teams with virtually no shot at making the playoffs. 

In the Eastern Conference, things have been quite exciting as the Brooklyn Nets finally acquired James Harden, Joel Embiid has emerged as the MVP front-runner and the New York Knicks look like a legit playoff team this year! It has been a while New York, but the Knicks are officially back and they are one of the best defensive teams in the league. 

Plenty of “new” teams like the Knicks, Hornets, Hawks and Bulls have all played well to this point in the season and have the potential to be playoff teams this year, but the Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors are two championship contending organizations that have been disappointing this season. Both teams are still very much in the playoff picture, but will really need to step things up during the second-half of the year to be real contenders. 

As for the Western Conference, the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers are still two of the top teams in the conference, but they are both currently looking up to the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns. The Jazz, led by superstar guard Donovan Mitchell currently have the best league in the NBA and are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league. 

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The Phoenix Suns on the other hand may be the most “complete” basketball team and best all-around team in the league. This team really doesn’t have any weaknesses to it and with Chris Paul, the best leader in the NBA according to Charles Barkley, they could be a real threat to potentially win the Western Conference, sending them to the playoffs for the first time since 2010. 

The 2020-21 NBA season has been very exciting to this point, but there is still plenty of basketball yet to be played and plenty of stories to be told! With that said, let’s take a look at five teams that are best positioned to have the strongest finish to the season.