1. Los Angeles Clippers
Marquee summer move: Acquiring Paul George, Kawhi Leonard
At least for the time being, and mostly on paper, I don’t have an argument against the Los Angeles Clippers being the top-ranked team heading into the 2019-20 regular season. The Clippers check all the boxes, too. They have two of the 10 best players in the NBA, have the depth to win a championship and a good head coach.
This team will ultimately go only as far as Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can take them, and it’ll be interesting to see how much time the latter ends up missing as he continues to recover from offseason shoulder surgeries – yes, plural. Though, this team is deep enough to stay afloat until they’re fully healthy to make a real run in the West.
Head coach Doc Rivers knows what it takes to win a championship and might be the perfect man to coach this team. The sky is the limit for the Clippers, and they enter the season as the team to beat.