NBA: Which teams are contenders/pretenders at the All-Star Break?

Breaking down each of the top teams in each conference, and determining whether they’re pretenders or contenders

The NBA All-Star break is officially here, as players from both conferences prepare for a weekend that will forever live in history. From the Celebrity Game that just took place on Friday night to all the festivities on Saturday night, culminating in the actual All-Star game on Sunday, there will be plenty of action over the course of the next couple of days.

At the same time, this is a great time for every team in the NBA to take a bit of a step back from the non-stop action that has been the regular seasons thus far. Most teams have a little more than a quarter of the season left to play, before the start of the playoffs.

It’s the point of the season where we’re beginning to realize who the real players will be this season, heading into the post-season, and separate the real potential contenders from the, for the lack of a better word, pretenders.

For the sake of not making this more complicated than it needs to be, we will only analyze the top 5 teams in each conference at the NBA All-Star break. With, really, the only exception being the Los Angeles Lakers for obvious reasons.

Is your favorite team a contender or pretender? We explore.

(Note: *Contender in respect to making the NBA Finals. Thus, being a contender in the West is measured on a higher standard than being one in the East.)