Go ahead and blame the Timberwolves for this one.
Their draft-night trade with Chicago for three-time All-Star Jimmy Butler was the first thunderbolt transaction from which everything else tumbled in a dizzying summer when eight All-Stars switched teams and the NBA's balance of power largely continued to shift from East to West.
Butler, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony and Paul Millsap all went west. Chris Paul, Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas stayed in the same conference. Gordon Hayward was the only one to buck the trend, moving from Utah as a free agent to Boston in the East.