24. Portland Trail Blazers
After showing some competitive fight during the first 15 games of the season, it does appear as if reality has begun to set in for the Portland Trail Blazers. Since November 20, the Blazers are just 5-15. Their young core continues to be extremely inconsistent and the veterans they have on their roster haven't made enough of a difference for the team so far this year. The Blazers are likely on their way to having another top-10 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. At this point, it's pretty clear that this team should be willing to throw in the towel on this season.
I would say that the Blazers need to do so on this build as well, but that's something we've already known about this team. For one reason or another, the front office has refused to completely lean into a rebuild. I suppose they may know something we don't but there's no question that the Blazers find themselves in a far from ideal situation. Jerami Grant remains one of the bigger names on the trade block but there doesn't appear to be a great market for him at the moment. Heading into the trade deadline, that's certainly one storyline to keep a close eye on.
23. Sacramento Kings
There may be a few teams in the NBA that find themselves in the midst of some major chaos. The Sacramento Kings could very much be considered one of those teams. With some major questions revolving around their future already heading into the start of this season, it was clear this team needed to have a huge bounce-back year. So far this season, it's almost as if the opposite has happened for the Kings. Even though the Kings aren't expected to make a major move at the trade deadline, they're certainly one team to keep a close eye on.
The end of this core may be closer than most realize but if they have any shot of keeping the status quo together, you'd have to imagine that a big part of that will depend on the team salvaging this season during the second half of the year. The Kings certainly have the talent to do so but the West may be too competitive and deep for that to realistically happen at this point. A lot of this team's future is likley going to be decided by what happens over the next few weeks.