Southwest Division goes through Mavs after West champs add Klay Thompson
DALLAS (AP) — Klay Thompson has joined Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in Dallas after the Mavericks made their first run to the NBA Finals since winning the championship 13 years ago.
It’s Year 2 for Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio after the French wunderkind helped lead his country to the gold medal game at the Paris Games. A late U.S. rally gave the Americans the Olympic title.
Ja Morant should be there from the start for the Memphis Grizzlies, who have had dealt with turmoil and injuries with their star guard since before the second of consecutive Southwest Division titles in 2023.
Zion Williamson has a mostly healthy season under his belt with the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Houston Rockets are trying to build on coach Ime Udoka’s promising debut in the wake of three consecutive last-place seasons.
The Southwest conversation starts with the Mavs, who edged the Pelicans for the division title last year before rolling to the Western Conference championship as the fifth seed.
“The expectation is to win a championship,” said coach Jason Kidd, who has led Dallas to at least the West finals in two of his three seasons. “Hopefully, we’re lucky enough to be put in that situation. The league is as good as it’s ever been.”
A look at the Southwest in the predicted order of finish:
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavs moved quickly to improve after the five-game loss to Boston on the NBA Finals. That wasn’t the case two years earlier after also losing in five games in the West finals to Golden State.
Thompson was on the other side of that 2022 series on the way to his fourth championship with Splash Brother Stephen Curry and star forward Draymond Green. There figures to be an adjustment period for Thompson after spending his first 13 seasons with the Warriors. He’s also coming off a sub-par season by his standards.
The presence of Thompson will help lift some of the scoring load from Doncic and Irving. The center tandem of Dereck Lively II and Daniel Gafford should provide offensive punch and rim protection.
Memphis Grizzlies
Morant’s shoulder injury, which sidelined him not long after he opened the season with a 25-game suspension over off-court issues, wasn’t the only injury problem last season, when a three-year playoff run ended.
Second-leading scorer Desmond Bane missed half the season with a sprained left ankle as the Grizzlies went 27-55 and finished 13th in the West, a far cry from being the conference’s No. 2 seed the previous two seasons.
And those were just the major injuries with trade acquisition Marcus Smart limited to 20 games himself.
By season’s end, all the injuries led to 33 players donning a Grizzlies uniform — an NBA record.
Memphis started camp relatively healthy led by Morant, but promising second-year player GG Jackson II will be out at least three months following surgery for a broken foot.
The Grizzlies also have a key addition in big man Zach Edey out of Purdue, the AP’s men’s college basketball player of the year the last two seasons. At 7-foot-4 and a slimmed down 290 pounds, Memphis hopes the ninth pick overall in the June draft, serves a big role as a rebounder, screen-setter and shot blocker.
New Orleans Pelicans
While Williamson is hoping to be healthier and more dynamic than he’s been in his first five NBA seasons, the future of high-scoring wing Brandon Ingram is unclear. Ingram is in the final year of his contract and has been the subject of trade speculation since the Pelicans declined to give him the type of extension he was seeking during the offseason.
The addition of Dejounte Murray gives the Pelicans a ball-dominant point guard and allows fellow guard CJ McCollum to go back to his more natural position of shooting guard.
But the Pelicans are missing an experienced true center to protect the rim. They drafted 7-footer Yves Missi, but he’s too raw to be relied upon to play important minutes. They’ll try to play small ball with 6-foot-7 forward Herb Jones and 6-8 journeyman Daniel Theis at center.
Houston Rockets
After making a 19-game improvement in the first season under Udoka, the Rockets have adopted a playoffs-or-bust mantra this season. They have reason to believe that could happen with a team that is virtually unchanged from last season.
The additions of Dillon Brooks and Fred Van Vleet before last season added much-needed veteran experience and leadership to help Houston’s young players develop. Now recent high draft picks Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr. and Amen Thompson must all take a step forward for the Rockets to reach the postseason for the first time since James Harden led the team in 2020.
San Antonio Spurs
Chris Paul’s arrival has Spurs fans dreaming of a newly incorporated Lob City, with the veteran point guard feeding Wembanyama for one sensational dunk after another. Paul doesn’t want anyone to jump to conclusions, including his teammates.
“Everyone is always going to be focused on him and how can they stop him,” Paul said. “Hopefully we use that to our advantage at times. Vic is such an unselfish guy that I know that he understands that already.”
Paul is settling expectations, just as the Spurs hoped when they signed the 20-year veteran.
“Being on the court with him certainly feels like he has got things in control, so reassuring a little bit,” Wembanyama said. “Yeah, it’s one more teammate I can rely on in tough moments or in doubt moments. It is only positive.”
Wembanyama, Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson led the youngest roster in the NBA last season to a 22-60 record last season. San Antonio believes they can snap a five-season postseason drought now with the additions of Paul, fellow veteran Harrison Barnes and No. 4 pick Stephon Castle out of Connecticut.
