Why the West playoffs will be the most exciting one in years

We’re finally healthy

In a league where injuries happen all too frequently, it’s rare to see a team fully healthy at any point past the beginning of the season. That includes the time that the postseason comes around when there are usually at least a few teams missing key players. This has been the case in the West for the past few seasons, with players like Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, and Jamal Murray all having missed playoff games.

While there are no guarantee players will remain healthy throughout the postseason, teams should at least be at full strength coming in, a rare sight and one that we all should be grateful for.

Legacies are shaping out

Legacies are talked about often in the NBA. Typically, the most important part of a legacy is playoff success, and that usually means a championship. What is all the individual success in the world worth if you don’t have a ring to show for it? That’s a philosophy many strongly agree or disagree with. One person who seems to disagree is Damian Lillard, who recently made some comments about ring culture in the NBA.

Whether it’s a good thing or not (I don’t believe it is) it certainly matters in many people’s eyes when we look back at players’ careers. Here are a few players whose legacies can be defined by their playoff performance this year.