5 NBA TEAMS THAT NEED MAJOR CHANGES IF THEY FLAMEOUT THIS POSTSEASON

One of the biggest stories in the NBA in 2024 has been the incredible parity across the league all season long. The margins for each team in the standings have been razor-thin from start to finish, primarily because of the impressive talent distribution around the league.

With that said more teams than ever before are expecting to make a deep playoff run or at least compete with the top teams in the league in their postseason series. This means expectant teams, expectant fanbases, and heavy pressure on the front offices to fix whatever causes an "early exit".

As we know, fans are almost always irrational and impatient, but several front offices must actually look in the mirror if the playoffs don't go well. Here are five teams that need major changes if they fall short in the playoffs.

Los Angeles Lakers

An early playoff exit puts the future of LeBron James in question

The LeBron James era in Los Angeles has been one of the most enigmatic, confusing periods in the NBA in recent memory. They captured a championship in the 2020 bubble after being the league's best team all season, but have been stunningly mediocre outside of that.

In the other five seasons James has spent as a Laker, Los Angeles has changed the core of their team several times, leading to an overly unsuccessful tenure. LA has missed the playoffs entirely twice, made it into the playoffs through the Play-In Tournament twice, and was swept in the Western Conference Finals in 2023.

James is a free agent this summer and will have his pick of suitors even as he approaches 40 years old. The natural belief would be that he would want to stay in Los Angeles and finish his career there, but with the Lakers being unable to build a consistent roster around James, anything is on the table.

However, from the Lakers' perspective, its worth at least considering letting James walk in free agency, despite his continued excellence. Clearly, this core of James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, and other role players simply isn't good enough to compete with the likes of Boston and Denver.

The Lakers need to make one of two choices: let Lebron leave and use the considerable amount of free cap space to build around Davis, Reaves, and Hachimura. This avenue would require a trade for a star ball-handler such as Trae Young, as Davis isn't a polished enough offensive player to be the primary option.

Another option is to retain James and Davis and completely pivot in terms of their role players. Currently, Los Angeles doesn't possess enough perimeter speed, athleticism, and defense to compete through the long regular season and playoffs. The team should target durable, high-energy guys who can sustain the team during the regular season, as seeding has been a consistent issue because of the injury history of their two stars.

The Lakers would do well to revamp their roster in some way to change the future outcome.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Donovan Mitchell may be on his way out, but that isn't Cleveland's only issue

After the Cleveland Cavaliers embarrassing five-game first-round loss to the New York Knicks in 2023, questions began to circle about Donovan Mitchell's future with the team. Furthermore, the Cavaliers' core appears to be somewhat mismatched and might need a reboot.

The biggest problem with Cleveland's current team construction is the diminishing returns they are receiving at the guard position. Mitchell and Darius Garland both deserve to be lead ballhandlers on a playoff team, but playing my-turn-your-turn offense typically fails to maximize the potential of both players and the team. Cleveland would be much better off swapping one of the two guards for a defensive-minded, All-Star-caliber forward.

Another huge issue for the Cavaliers' backcourt is the defensive predicament they put the rest of the lineup in. They are both smaller players who struggle to stay in front of the ball, putting a ton of pressure on their help defenders to stifle offenses at a disadvantage. Luckily for Cleveland, they have two excellent big men who can protect the rim, but playing two non-shooting bigs at once minimizes their offensive ceiling.

To put it simply, the Cavaliers have their four top players, and only two of them should be playing together at any given time. Cleveland would be much better off trading one of Mitchell/Garland and one of Allen/Mobley, building a lineup around the two players that stay, Max Strus, Caris LeVert, and a star wing.

Cleveland could make in-house improvements to fix these issues, with Mitchell slowly improving defensively and Mobley developing an outside shot, but there seems to always be a ceiling on this group.

Miami Heat

The Heat must acquire more talent to help Jimmy Butler

For the Miami Heat, the off-season plan is simple: bring in talented players to lessen the immense burden on Jimmy Butler's shoulders. 2024 should be the last season Miami wastes with a poor regular season that puts them in a tough playoff position.

This year was the perfect example of the problem with the Heat's flip-the-switch in the playoffs mentality: they failed to make the Damian Lillard trade, snuck into the play-in tournament behind a lackluster season from Butler, and lost their superstar to injury in the tournament game, all but ending their title hopes.

Miami has been the top destination for several trade targets over the past few off-seasons, from Lillard to Bradley Beal to Donovan Mitchell. This summer, Mitchell will likely be on the trade block, as well as others, leaving Miami no excuse not to pull the trigger this time around.

Butler is just getting older and more injury-prone, and he desperately needs a legitimate secondary shot creator to share responsibility with. Acquiring a player like Mitchell would ease the regular season burden as well as raise the Heat's playoff ceiling.

Phoenix Suns

The Big-3 model might not be effective in today's NBA

The Phoenix Suns traded for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal in 2023 with visions of a healthy big three, the league's most unstoppable offense, and a championship run. The reality has been very different: Beal and Devin Booker dealt with injuries, their depth has been tested, and they lack the physicality and athleticism to compete deep into the NBA Playoffs.

As the league has transitioned away from teams adding as many star players as possible and figuring the rest out later to building complete rotations that fit seamlessly together around one or two stars, Phoenix is the perfect example of the downsides to a big three.

The conventional wisdom is that the superstars can cover for the weaknesses of the players four through eight, but in reality, there are diminishing returns to having three ball-dominant players on the floor at the same time. This holds true especially when the three guys have very similar play-styles, as the Suns' trio does.

At the very least, Phoenix needs to acquire more size, strength, and toughness in the off-season to put around Durant, Booker, and Beal, but paying out three max contracts can hamper a team's ability to sign quality free agents. This is why they ended up with veterans like Eric Gordon and Drew Eubanks.

Phoenix's best option would be to trade one of their star players away, preferably Durant or Beal, but luxury tax implications under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement makes it extremely difficult to do so.

Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks desperately need to get younger and faster at several positions

The 2023-24 season has been a tumultuous one in Milwaukee, complete with a head coaching change midseason, wild inconsistency, and one of the worst defensive efforts around the league. An injury to Giannis Antetokounmpo will give them a pass for losing in the Eastern playoffs, but the truth is that this team was never destined for greatness with the current roster.

Quite simply, the Bucks need to turn over much of their roster in one off-season to be a legitimate contender in 2024-25. Luckily for Milwaukee, the changes are very straightforward, if not very easy to accomplish.

Milwaukee needs to acquire as many perimeter defenders as they possibly can, as they had one of the worst point-of-attack defenses in the league this year. Their inability to stay in front of the ball couldn't be overcome, even by Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez, who are two of the best rim protectors in the NBA.

Unfortunately for the Bucks, they are tied to Lopez, Lillard, and Khris Middleton for the foreseeable future, capping their flexibility to make trades for quality players. Milwaukee might have to trade Lopez or Middleton to free up space that can be used to address the defense, as they are getting less and less out of these declining players every year.

2024-04-25T05:23:28Z dg43tfdfdgfd