I’ve been working on some bigger posts that just haven’t fully come together yet. Hopefully soon! But meanwhile, I was looking at the standings and it suddenly occurred to me that what seems like a puzzle out West is not actually a puzzle at all, and indeed sheds interesting light on how the modern NBA works. And although it was obvious once I thought of it, I don’t think I’ve seen it pointed out elsewhere, so I figured I’d share.
The remarkable thing about the NBA’s Western Conference standings is that, with the exception of the Phoenix Suns, all the teams’ records are quite closely bunched.