Portland Trail Blazers
1 Alarming trend: The continued lack development from their young core
Looking at the standings, the Portland Trail Blazers may not be having as disastrous of a season as they had a year ago. However, when you take into consideration that their young core continues to leave much to be desired in the way of their development, you have to be second-guessing this franchise's entire rebuild.
At this point, the Blazers either have to completely embrace a rebuilding of their roster or it's never going to be done effectively. As the team continues to search for a new face of the franchise, it will be interesting to see how the Blazers approach the trade deadline with the potential to move on to a couple of key veterans.
Sacramento Kings
1 Alarming trend: The overall struggles after their addition of DeRozan
The Sacramento Kings entered this season with the hope that the re-signing of Malik Monk and the sign-and-trade for DeMar DeRozan would help elevate the team to a place where they would be competing in the Western Conference. However, at least so far this season, that hasn't been the case.
In fact, the argument could be made that instead of emerging as dark horse contenders in the West, the Kings have become somewhat of an afterthought amongst the rest of the conference. So much so that it will likely bring plenty of questions moving forward about the team's future with some big questions to be answered after this season.
San Antonio Spurs
1 Alarming trend: Keldon Johnson's continued regression
As the San Antonio Spurs continue to make steps forward in their progression as a team, there is one continued concern for the team - and it's the regression that they've seen over the last few years in the game of Keldon Johnson. At this point, Johnson is becoming less and less of a foundational piece for the Spurs.
But it's not even just that. It's also the fact that Johnson's play has fallen a downward spiral so much that it would be difficult for the Spurs to even find a willing trade partner at this point. That's not ideal considering there's a good chance San Antonio looks to move on from Johnson in the near future.