The 2019 off-season is shaping up to be the most exciting since LeBron, Wade and Bosh formed the "Big Three" in Miami back in 2010. That model of building a "superteam" ushered in a new era in the NBA and has been the blueprint for success ever since.LeBron James: Will he add another chapter to his legacy or see out his NBA days in Cleveland?
Once again LeBron James will be the centerpiece of free agency this time around. The future Hall of Famer could be set for "The Decision 2.0" in July if the Cavs don't improve significantly.
Since winning the 2016 finals, they have been beaten 4-1 in the 2017 finals by the Warriors, have crashed out in the conference semi finals against the Wizards and are currently only holding the fifth seed this season, six games behind emerging powerhouse Philadelphia.
The era of dominance over the eastern conference seems to be over for LeBron. No longer is the team that he leads guaranteed to be finals bound. Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Toronto and Washington are seriously challenging for the eastern at the moment.
The Sixers made the finals in 2018, eventually falling to the Russell Westbrook-led Thunder in six games. They have continued that form this year and find themselves leading the eastern conference with the third-best record in the entire league.
An impressive core of Ben Simmons, John Wall and Joel Embiid, with a supporting cast made up of Robert Covington, Dario Saric, Dwyane Wade and JJ Redick makes them heavy favourites to return to the finals this season.
Boston have their own "Big Three" with Kyrie Irving, Paul George and Al Horford. Milwaukee have pushed forward since acquiring Eric Bledsoe to compliment Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker and Khris Middleton. Chicago are surprising everyone behind the stellar play of Kris Dunn, Zach LaVine and promising big man trio Bobby Portis, Mohamed Bamba and Lauri Markkanen.
The likes of Toronto and Washington are both currently underperforming, but could be dangerous to their rivals if they make the playoffs. The Raptors could be an especially dangerous team with veterans DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas capable of challenging anyone when they're at their best.
Orlando seem to be figuring things out behind the play of Aaron Gordon, Evan Fournier and Nikola Vucevic. Around them are Elfrid Payton, Bismack Biyombo, Mario Hezonja, Jonathan Isaac, Brandon McCoy, Justin Jackson and Isaiah Hartenstein.
Then there are a couple of teams looking to be powerful in a couple of years. Louisville are building around young trio Luka Doncic, Lonzo Ball and Noah Vonleh.
Indiana has an incredibly talented, but young roster with Victor Oladipo, Jeff Teague, Jaylen Brown, Markelle Fultz, Michael Porter Jr, Myles Turner, Wendell Carter, Grayson Allen and a likely top five pick in the 2019 draft to come.
At this stage, only a handful of teams have the potential cap space to actually sign LeBron outright:
- Chicago (IF they decide not to re-sign Cameron Payne)
- Boston (IF they decide not to re-sign Malcolm Brogdon and hoping Al Horford declines his $30 million player option)
- Miami (IF Kevin Love, Hassan Whiteside and Tyler Johnson decline their player options and/or they decide not to re-sign Justise Winslow)
- Dallas (IF Harrison Barnes declines his $25 million player option)
- Phoenix (IF they decide not to re-sign Andre Iguodala)
- Minnesota (IF Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic both decline their $19 million player options)
But clearly if a player of LeBron's calibre is available and signals that he wants to join your team, you will find ways to open up the necessary room to sign him.
It's likely that whatever LeBron decides to do, it will have a domino effect on the rest of the free agency period. Players and teams will be waiting to see what happens before committing to deals themselves.
Russell Westbrook: Are the bright lights of Los Angeles enough to tear him away from his perfect situation in OKC?
The two-time reigning MVP and 2018 finals MVP has surprised a lot of people by failing to re-commit to the Thunder yet. Sam Presti and company don't seem to be panicking though.
In the past two seasons Westbrook has flirted with replicating Oscar Robertson's legendary feat of averaging a triple-double over an entire season. In 2016-17 he averaged 28 points, 9.2 rebounds and 11 assists per game, then he managed 25 points, 12 rebounds and 9.6 assists per game in 2017-18.
But this year he looks set to do it in style. He currently averages 28 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists per game. He leads the league in assists, is third in scoring and rebounding, and is second in steals. It's hard to see him not retaining he MVP title for a third successive season.
Westbrook has made no secret of his love for the city he now calls home and the fans who cheer the team, even when they are arriving back at the airport at 3am after a loss. So it seems unlikely that he is planning on leaving, but rather is just keeping his options open.
You never know how strong the call home to Los Angeles will be strong will be. Will it be strong enough to make him leave a championship-winning team that is built around him?
James Harden: Is the Houston experiment a failure? Will he head elsewhere in search of help?
The future of superstar James Harden in Houston is one of the most intriguing aspects of the upcoming off-season.
With the Rockets currently sitting several games out of the playoff race, Harden is allegedly growing tired of his situation in Texas. Reports have claimed that he is frustrated with the quality of the team that has been built around him since he arrived from Oklahoma City in 2012.
Houston general manager Daryl Morey has failed to secure a second all-star talent to play alongside Harden. And with overpaid role players like Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon clogging up their salary cap, it's highly unlikely that the Rockets will be able to sign anyone in July.
Perhaps the biggest failure of the team has been them getting swept by Portland and Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs in the past two seasons. And if things keep going as they are right now, they may not even make it to that stage this time around.
The beard has given no indication of his future plans yet, apart from the obvious lack of signing an extension. The Rockets reportedly have an offer on the table with his agent, but he wishes to wait until the end of the season to assess all of his options.
These days that is rarely a good sign for a team wanting their star player to stay with them. Especially if they do end up missing out on the playoffs.
Klay Thompson: Can the Warriors afford to keep him? And does he even want to stay in the shadow of Curry and Durant?
It's hard to imagine a player contemplating leaving a team that has been viewed by many as the greatest of all time. But that is the situation Klay Thompson may find himself in soon.
Since the "Splash Brothers" era began in earnest in 2012, Thompson has slowly found himself falling down the pecking order in the Warriors' championship crusade. The arrival of Kevin Durant effectively demoted the sharpshooting wing to third option on offense.
Meanwhile the emergence of versatile forward Draymond Green into an all-star calibre player and defensive anchor of the team has seen Thompson be relegated to the fourth most important piece in the Warriors' setup by many observers.
All of this leads to the inevitable question: Is Klay happy being a glorified role player whilst the others on his team earn accolades like MVP, Finals MVP and all-star selection? Or will he be content with the two rings that he has already won and leave to forge his own legacy with a team built around him?
The other elephant in the room is the question of whether the Warriors can even afford to keep him with three other all-stars already taking up about $76 million of their cap. Sure, they are owned by billionaire Joe Lacob and have made truckloads of extra revenue from bandwagoners in recent years, but spending most of their cap on only four players isn't healthy.
Klay has been quoted in the past as saying that he would ideally like to remain with the Warriors, but it remains to be seen where his head is at come July.
Nikola Jokic: Denver have the talent, but have they shown enough improvement to convince the big man to stay?
If you had asked any basketball fan a year ago about the odds of Nikola Jokic leaving the Denver Nuggets, they probably would have said 0%. But a lack of tangible progression by the young team has suddenly raised the very real possibility of him leaving as an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Everything seems to be in place for Denver to become a successful team in the near future, with young prospects like Emmanuel Mudiay, Jamal Murray, Josh Jackson, Gary Harris, Trevon Duval, Skal Labissiere and Mikal Bridges in place around Jokic.
But if James Harden or LeBron James called him and said "Hey, come join me in X city", would he be able to say no? How badly does he want to win a championship?
Not many big men in the league possess his combination of shooting, passing and rebounding ability. It makes him a very highly valued commodity. A lot of teams want to build around an Embiid, Porzingis or Towns type of player in the current NBA climate.
The Nuggets currently hold the equal-second-worst record in the league with Dallas, only behind the Atlanta Hawks. It's been a bitterly disappointing season for the franchise as this was the season that they were supposed to push for a playoff spot. They traded for all-star veteran Paul Millsap over the off-season and drafted Duval and Bridges in the lottery.
Their decision to trade down from the first overall pick seems to have been a massive blunder. Luca Doncic (Pick 1), DeAndre Ayton (Pick 2) and Michael Porter Jr (Pick 3) are all impressing, whilst Trevon Duval has been solid but not spectacular. And the 2019 first rounder that they received from Louisville in that deal is top three protected and currently only worth the sixth pick.
Perhaps they will package up some assets to land a veteran player to join Jokic and Millsap in the hopes of making a late season playoff push. That is, if they haven't already left it too late.
It could be a particularly hard off-season for Denver if Jokic does leave. Their own first round pick is currently in the top three, but is controlled by Portland and has no protections on it.
The Veterans: Potential ring chasers?
There will be a solid class of veterans in their thirties who will be available as unrestricted free agents. A group of players who will see their window of opportunity to win an NBA championship closing quickly and could sacrifice some status and money in order to get a shot at securing the ultimate prize.
The standout will clearly be Memphis big man Marc Gasol. Many people expected him to quietly finish up his career with the Grizzlies, but a recent announcement that they plan on trading him before the deadline has thrown his future up in the air.
Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Zach Randolph and Chris Bosh are also set to be free agents as well if they decide to play on next season. There has been talk that each of them could retire, the first three because of age and the latter because of medical issues.
Andre Iguodala, Dwight Howard, Marcin Gortat, Shaun Livingston, Taj Gibson, Jeff Green, George Hill, Wesley Matthews and Patrick Beverley are the pick of the other veterans available. No doubt title chasing teams will be in contact with them in July.
Restricted Free Agents: Will any shake loose?
Every year the list of restricted free agents seems to generate the most excitement amongst fans, with highly rated prospects coming to the end of their rookie contracts. But very few ever actually end up leaving the team that drafted them into the league.
The latest bunch includes Karl-Anthony Towns, Kristaps Porzingis, D'Angelo Russell, Devin Booker, Emmanuel Mudiay, Justise Winslow, Malcolm Brogdon and Kelly Oubre Jr. All of them have so far failed to reach an agreement with their teams for an extension.
Of that list, Oubre is probably the most likely to end up on another team because the Wizards have a logjam at the small forward position. They have Otto Porter Jr and Bojan Bogdanovic both locked into long-term contracts already.
Towns, Porzingis and Booker in particular are seen as cornerstone players by their teams. They won't be going anywhere.