The big question facing each o...

We're wrapping up our tour of the West's packed middle class by examining the one huge question that awaits teams 9 through 12 as they sprint into the stretch run. The 2023 NBA postseason begins in less than a month, and there is still so much to be decided, especially in the West, where only 3.5 games separate the fifth and 12th seeds.

With so many teams so close together, each night's results set off a new round of musical chairs. Moreover, with numerous playoff berths and all four positions in the play-in tournament on the line, each team's results highlight the key difficulties that they face as the season comes to a close.

After hitting the first four Wednesday, let’s dig into the rest of the bunch, starting with some youth being served:

Oklahoma City Thunder (34-35, No. 9 seed): Can OKC score enough to score an upset?

In the grand scheme of things, I understand the take that the Thunder — in Year 3 of their rebuild, with the NBA’s youngest roster, with No. 2 draft pick Chet Holmgren coming next season and control over as many as 15 first-round picks between now and 2029 — are basically playing with house money right now. But while they might not necessarily be heartbroken if they wind up back in the lottery, they’re sure as hell not playing like a team that’s indifferent to the prospect of making the playoffs. Just ask the Nets, who watched OKC turn a 16-point deficit into a 14-point win Tuesday:

Rather than shutting down All-NBA candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander after he missed a handful of games with ankle and abdomen injuries, the Thunder have continued to play through him, giving them an elite shot-creation engine and one-on-one scoring threat down the stretch. They’ve got a pair of capable secondary playmakers in Josh Giddey (averaging about 17-8-7 over the last two months) and Jalen Williams (arguably the best rookie in the league in that span).

Los Angeles Lakers (34-36, No. 10 seed): Will we get a version of LeBron healthy enough to make this all sing?

After completely revamping their team at the trade deadline, the Lakers got one (1) game in which tentpole superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis played a full complement of minutes alongside reinforcements D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. They won it, and then Russell sprained his ankle, and James “heard a pop,” and it seemed like the Lakers — 12th in the West and three games under .500 at that point — might be down for the count before they even got back in the fight.

Credit L.A., though, for not falling apart once yet another set of best-laid plans got immediately scuttled. The Lakers have won five of eight since James’ injury, and are now 9-6 with the NBA’s stingiest defense since the deadline. The oft-derided Davis has been equal to the task of putting the team on his broad shoulders, averaging 27.9 points on 55% shooting (and nearly 10 free-throw attempts per game) to go with 13.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.3 blocks a night since LeBron’s injury. Russell’s kicking in a shade under 19 points and six assists in 29 minutes per game while shooting 41.1% from deep on seven attempts a night. Beasley’s jumper has run hot and cold, but the promise that he’ll launch (11.1 3-point attempts per 36 minutes as a Laker) can warp defenses by itself … and, on nights like Tuesday, when he dropped seven triples on New Orleans in the first half alone, it can break them:

The Lakers have scored at a top-10 clip with AD and Russell on the floor. They’ve been absolutely suffocating on the other end whenever Davis has shared the court with Vanderbilt, whose length, quickness, frenetic ball pressure, board-crashing and general predilection toward havoc-wreaking has made him a perfect fit in a rotation that needed a bit more chaos. Dennis Schröder and Austin Reaves offer complementary ball-handling and shot-making; Troy Brown Jr.’s knocking down 3s and guarding on the wing; Rui Hachimura and Wenyen Gabriel have added athleticism and versatility up front.

Utah Jazz (33-36, No. 11 seed): Can the Jazz develop more core pieces while competing?

When Danny Ainge dealt Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell over the summer, the expectation was that their departures would send Utah down to the NBA’s basement for a long, cold, dispiriting rebuild. Instead, the Jazz have been consistently competitive and watchable, thanks to the emergence of Lauri Markkanen as a bona fide No. 1 option and All-Star (and maybe All-NBA selection?), helping vault Utah to a surprising seventh in offensive efficiency.

The offense has dipped below league-average since the trade deadline, but Utah has stayed afloat in the play-in mix due in part to an increasingly stout defense that sits just outside the top 10 in points allowed per possession during that span. At the heart of that: rookie skyscraper Walker Kessler, who came to Salt Lake City in the Gobert deal and who has been about as good as (if not better than) the three-time Defensive Player of the Year on a per-minute basis this season.

New Orleans Pelicans (33-36, No. 12 seed: Is there a path to enough points without Zion?

The results seem to suggest there isn’t!

With Zion Williamson in the lineup, the Pelicans looked like a legitimate title contender, thanks in large part to a brutalizing offense that smashed opposing defenses until they broke. On Jan. 2, New Orleans was tied for sixth in the NBA in offensive efficiency, scoring 116.2 points-per-100; with Zion on the floor to repeatedly bulldoze his way to the front of the rim, that soared to 118.1 points-per-100, which is top-three territory.

As you’re probably aware, though, Williamson hasn’t played since Jan. 2, suffering a hamstring injury that has kept him off the court ever since. While hope reportedly springs eternal that he’ll return before the playoffs, head coach Willie Green and Co. have had to try to piece things together without their centerpiece for the last two and a half months. It hasn’t gone great: Only the tanking Pistons, Spurs and Hornets have worse offenses than New Orleans over the past two and a half months, and only Detroit, San Antonio and equally decrepit Houston have fewer wins than the Pels in that timeframe.