NBA: 2019-20 Western Conference playoff projections

Who will make the NBA playoffs in the Eastern Conference? Here is our Around the Arc Eastern Conference playoff predictions

Today, we’re going to dive into my predictions for the Western Conference standings and how the playoff picture might shape up in the west in the 2019-20 NBA season.

The West is incredibly deep this year with several teams each thinking they’re in with a shot at a title. So, understandably, it was quite the task trying to predict the western conference standings but I’ve gone ahead and done it anyway so let’s just get right into it.

*I also talk about this in the most recent episode of the Around the Arc podcast which you can listen to below!

1. Denver Nuggets

No, the Denver Nuggets are not the best team in the west. No, they’re not going to win the title or even make the NBA Finals for that matter. But they are still a contender and they’re going to win a whole bunch of games in the regular season.

Here’s why.

Last year, Denver won 54 games and finished second in the West. This was without Gary Harris and Will Barton (two key starters) for chunks of the year.

So with those guys now back and fully healthy, that obviously gives the team a boost, not to mention the fact that we’re finally going to get to see Michael Porter Jr. play as well and if he can give the team any sort of meaningful production, that just strengthens their case even more.

Then we come to the dynamic duo of this team, Nikola Jokic, and Jamal Murray.

These two each had career years a season ago and both took their games to another level in the playoffs. Now heading into this season, there is the potential for both to keep improving.

Murray should at least be competing for his first all-star appearance and The Joker should be looked at as a kind of dark horse MVP candidate.

All things considered, this Nuggets team has the makings of a high-50 win team that can make some noise in the postseason.