22 questions for 22 teams on eve of NBA trade deadline
There hasn't been an NBA game played in a week, but the last 48 hours of manic deadline activity have provided as much entertainment and chaos as any 48 minutes of regular-season basketball can.
With that deadline now less than a day away, here are some final questions facing 22 of the league's 30 teams, listed in order of where they sit in the overall standings.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Will LeBron James get the secondary playmaker he so desperately covets? Will the champs take a chance on Larry Sanders? And will either answer really close the gap on Golden State?
Houston Rockets: Lou Williams gives Houston yet another 3-point shooting, foul-drawing machine, and another target for James Harden to find in the corners, but do the Rockets have enough to make the type of move that truly vaults them over the top?
Boston Celtics: The Celtics remain the most fascinating team to watch every deadline day and draft night, until they cash in their dizzying array of assets. The question is whether Danny Ainge is feeling any more pressure to go all in right now than he was before Serge Ibaka and DeMarcus Cousins were moved.
Los Angeles Clippers: Is Chris Paul's return enough to inspire the Clippers that a finally healthy roster has enough to win in what might be this core's last stand?
Washington Wizards: Bojan Bogdanovic was a start (after losing out on Williams), but can Washington find another quality reserve to bolster the worst bench of the 16 currently on track for the playoffs?
Utah Jazz: Are rumors of a potential Deron Williams reunion true? If they are, the Jazz will have gone from a lottery team relying on Shelvin Mack and Raul Neto at point guard a year ago, to a legitimate playoff threat rolling out George Hill and D-Will every night.
Bonus Jazz question: What's Derrick Favors' trade value, and is it worth more than his depreciated - yet underrated - on-court value so far this season?
Toronto Raptors: Will the acquisition of Ibaka, the return of Patrick Patterson, and a week off to stabilize be enough to make Toronto the East's clear-cut second-best team again, and would that even be enough to satisfy Masai Ujiri?
Atlanta Hawks: Are the Hawks truly confident enough in their current core and the prospects of re-signing Paul Millsap to stand pat and risk losing the All-Star big man for nothing come July?
Oklahoma City Thunder: Would a wing upgrade like Wilson Chandler, who also happens to be locked into a team-friendly, long-term contract, separate OKC from West rivals like the Jazz and Grizzlies?
Indiana Pacers: Can Larry Bird build a title contender around Paul George within the year-and-a-half leading up to his free agency, or is there a Godfather offer out there that can pry George out of the Hoosier state before Larry Legend even extends him a supermax contract this summer?
Chicago Bulls: Is it worth trading a superstar with two-plus years left on a bargain contract for a package of assets and players you can only hope turn out half as good as Jimmy Butler is right now?
Detroit Pistons: Three seasons into the Stan Van Gundy era - and only a year after it looked like the Pistons had found something sustainable - would SVG really consider blowing it up and starting from ground up again?
Denver Nuggets: Can the Nuggets recoup value from trading one of (if not both) Danilo Gallinari or Wilson Chandler and still hold off the Pelicans for the West's eighth and final playoff spot? Could they go in an entirely different direction and be a sleeper candidate to land a star?
Miami Heat: Should the Heat ride this inexplicable wave, compete for a playoff spot, then leverage that run - plus Hassan Whiteside and Goran Dragic - to lure another star to South Beach this summer, or does Pat Riley see the last month as fool's gold? The answer could determine whether Dragic still calls Miami home come Thursday afternoon.
Sacramento Kings: The best deadline advice heading into All-Star Weekend, like every year, was to ignore the hype and expect a mostly quiet, underwhelming week. Then Vivek Ranadive (and Vlade Divac) got involved, made the zaniest decision yet in his front office's long list of moronic calls, and it's almost like the rest of the league looked around said, "Alright, I guess we're doing this."
While dealing their own franchise a crippling blow, did Ranadive and Divac set the wheels in motion for the craziest trade deadline in history?
New Orleans Pelicans: Can Dell Demps and Co. stop laughing in time to swing another deal before the deadline?
New York Knicks: How much did James Dolan pay Ranadive to remind the basketball world that it actually does get worse than Dolan's Knicks, and is there any chance a mutually beneficial trade for Carmelo Anthony and New York materializes before 3 p.m. ET?
Dallas Mavericks: Has Mark Cuban finally accepted the Mavericks' first losing season in 17 years - and the first during his reign as majority owner? If so, the Mavs should find new homes for Deron and Andrew Bogut.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Is Tom Thibodeau's reported interest in Derrick Rose the latest sign that we may have bought into Thibodeau's Minnesota tenure far too soon?
Los Angeles Lakers: Nabbing a late first-round pick for Lou was one thing, but what kind of value can Magic Johnson's Lakers possibly extract from Nick Young?
Phoenix Suns: For the second-worst team in the league, the Suns provide us with plenty of deadline-related questions.
Would Phoenix dare sabotage its lottery odds by cashing in some of its future assets to make a win-now deal for a star? If not, can the Suns convince anyone to take on one of Brandon Knight or Tyson Chandler, and is this finally the year deadline rumors around P.J. Tucker amount to something?
Brooklyn Nets: The road to respectability will be long and treacherous for the miserable Nets, but if they can turn Brook Lopez and Trevor Booker into picks and young players worth taking a flier on - as Brooklyn did with Bogdanovic on Wednesday - Sean Marks' team will have done well.
(Photos courtesy: Action Images)