Over the summer, as the dust was settling on NBA free agency, basketball fans from coast to coast were preparing for a bloodbath in the Western Conference. Paul George, Jimmy Butler, and Paul Millsap were each headed from East to West to help put their respective teams over the top, and they were joining a conference that already went 10 deep with star-studded playoff contenders. The East would be even more irrelevant than it usually is, but that was fine. The West would be a glorious thunderdome full of All-Stars and elite teams.
That's not quite how it's played out.