On Thursday night, the Golden State Warriors showed us that, unsurprisingly, without Steph Curry, they don't stand much chance in the NBA Playoffs. The Warriors lost 117-93 to Minnesota in Game 2. It's hard to fault them for that, considering every team would fall off a cliff without its superstar.
But what if every team's best player was suddenly removed from the NBA Playoffs? What if Adam Silver decided there would be a superstar-free playoffs? I don't know why he'd do that, but let's use our imaginations for a second.
Which teams would falter, and which ones would still be able to perform? In other words, which teams have the strongest supporting cast around their superstar?
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
This might be a blowout. Oklahoma City has about a dozen guys who can contribute, and putting the ball in Jalen Williams' hands is about as good as you can get without your primary ball-handler. There's skill and depth at every position.
Without SGA, this team would still make a postseason run against teams that do have their stars. In a star-free playoffs, they would be untouchable. That's not a knock on SGA (who will be a deserving MVP winner) but a testament to the outrageously good roster Sam Presti has built.
2. Boston Celtics
Some corners of the basketball internet will tell you that Jayson Tatum is unimportant to this team. Although I wholeheartedly disagree with that statement, Boston's brand of basketball — spamming drive-and-kick 3s from lots of sources — does make it easier to succeed without the best guys on the team.
Boston could elect to go with a double-big lineup and start Al Horford in Tatum's place, or go with Sam Hauser to keep more movement shooting along the perimeter. Plenty of (hypothetical) options here.
3. New York Knicks
Jalen Brunson is the best player on the Knicks — so he's the one we're removing for this thought experiment — but a lineup of Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and Miles McBride is still very, very capable. KAT can be the high-volume scorer necessary, and we've seen the impact OG and Mikal have on opposing wings in this series against the Knicks.
With Jalen Brunson, this team (apparently) can beat anyone. Without Jalen Brunson, this still looks like a good NBA team.
4. Indiana Pacers
Tyrese Haliburton might not have the most eye-popping raw stats, but he's the foundation of this Pacers team, and his absence would make things precarious. Pascal Siakam's volume would increase, as would the severely underrated Andrew Nembhard's.
There's enough balance here to compete, but maybe not enough punch with Haliburton out of the picture.
5. Cleveland Cavaliers
In this world, Donovan Mitchell is not playing, but Darius Garland has recovered from his injury and is back on the court (let's manifest that for real life, too.) Garland steadies an offense enough to make this team still viable without Mitchell, and a historically good offense wouldn't completely falter by losing one piece (even if it's the most important piece.)
But Mitchell makes everything go in Cleveland. This offense relies more on personnel than, say, Boston's does, and Mitchell is the most important personnel.
6. Minnesota Timberwolves
Things could get a little nasty without Anthony Edwards. Julius Randle has been really good in these playoffs, but in this experiment, he would have to step into Ant's role, and that uptick in volume is not exactly what Wolves fans want to see. Randle is at his best when he's at the exact volume he's at now.
Maybe Rob Dillingham would get more looks and that could be fun, but Ant is more than just the team's leading scorer; this year, he's transformed into the superstar-level difference maker for the entire team.
I'm the No. 1 Jaylen Clark, too, so I'd be tuned into all of these games if he got some minutes.
7. Golden State Warriors
Well, we now know exactly what a Steph-less Warriors team looks like in the playoffs. The defense is still pretty solid, as it has been all year, but the offense is disjointed to say the least.
It looked like Golden State had some life in the third quarter last night, and cut Minnesota's lead to seven, but then the Wolves kicked it back into gear. Jimmy Butler looked like he'd take over a few times, but never really got into the "playoff Jimmy" zone we've seen so many times over the years.
The rest of the Dubs roster is full of capable role players who aren't meant to be high-volume producers.
8. Denver Nuggets
Jamal Murray is notoriously outstanding in the NBA Playoffs; he averages 23.9 points per game in his postseason career and the Nuggets would not have won it all in 2023 if Murray wasn't there. Aaron Gordon is also one of the most important role players in the NBA.
And still... without Nikola Jokic, this team would be swept by any of the remaining teams in the playoffs. That's less an indictment on Denver's role players and more praise for Jokic. The entire character of this team is built around him, as it should be.
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