A Royal Pain
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5 Western Conference teams the Sacramento Kings need to worry most about next season

By Mat Issa

Apr 9, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) drives against Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (10) during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 9, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) drives against Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (10) during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports / Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
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Minnesota Timberwolves

Last year, the Minnesota Timberwolves won 56 games, finishing with the third-best record in the Western Conference and fourth-best record in the entire NBA. In the playoffs, they embarrassed the Phoenix Suns before dethroning the Nuggets en route to their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 2004.

The team that accomplished all of this brought back all of their top seven players (Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley, Jaden McDaniels, Karl-Anthony Towns, Naz Reid, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker) in minutes played. Two of those players (Edwards and McDaniels) will still be under 25 when the season starts, opening the door to one (or both) of them taking a significant step forward in 2024-25.

Along with maintaining their current core, they also bolstered it by trading future draft capital to acquire the eighth overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, Rob Dillingham.

Like the Kings, the Timberwolves are a relatively new team in the Western Conference's upper echelon (after years of being in the doldrum). But since this iteration of the Timberwolves has two playoff series wins compared to our zero, we are going to be chasing their ghost heading into the start of the 2024-25 season.

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