How many NBA teams have a real chance to win the Eastern Conference?

1. Brooklyn Nets

When you have Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving on your roster, you’re a championship contender. It’s as simple as that for the Brooklyn Nets.

Durant looks like his former MVP-caliber self even though he’s fresh off an Achilles tear. Harden is averaging a league-high 11.2 assists per game this season, including 11.8 since his arrival in Brooklyn. And Irving has never been more efficient, averaging 27.5 points per game while slashing 53.3/43.0/93.5.

The Harden trade depleted the Nets’ supporting cast, but Joe Harris is a 3-point-shooting supernova — he’s shooting a scorching 49.7 percent from deep on 6.8 attempts per game — while DeAndre Jordan is turning into a more potent lob threat. Add in the likes of Jeff Green, Landry Shamet, Bruce Brown and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, and the Nets have the foundation of a playoff rotation in place.

Defense is their biggest concern moving forward. They rank 29th on that end of the floor since acquiring Harden, allowing 118.8 points per 100 possessions. Although they’re a threat to go off for 130-plus points on any given night, it might not matter if the opposing team can waltz to 140, as the cellar-dwelling Washington Wizards recently proved.

The Nets are already well into luxury-tax territory, but they should be one of the most popular buyout destinations after the trade deadline if they’re willing to pony up. But regardless of how they tweak their roster around the edges, having three elite shot-creators in Durant, Harden and Irving will give them a puncher’s chance in any playoff series.

All statistics via Basketball-Reference, Cleaning the Glass or NBA.com unless otherwise noted and are current through Sunday, Feb. 7.

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