Ranking the five-year window of every NBA franchise

This ranking has little to do with the head coach (Dave Joerger) or the Kings' roster. It has everything to do with the ownership and front office though. It's tough to criticize Vivek Ranadivé, considering he saved the Sacramento Kings from moving and seems like a good person in general. [Stephen A. Smith voice] HOW-EVA, he's been completely incompetent as a team owner. He's been impulsive with philosophies and employee decisions, and even worse, he placed his trust in a guy who had zero prior front office experience in Vlade Divac. The team has Marvin Bagley and De'Aaron Fox to build around, but it doesn't own its first-round draft pick next season because Vlade traded it in an all-time terrible move. Then again, it's probably a good thing that no top prospect in the 2019 draft class has to get relegated to these Kings.

Remember when Dan Gilbert was hell-bent on making the playoffs this season? Yeesh. It's tough to blame the players though — they spent the past four years playing specific roles flanking LeBron James, and now they're expected to morph back into the players they were four years prior. Anyone who's ever played basketball knows how hard that can be. The Cavs might be the worst team in the NBA right now...and that's a good thing. They'll keep their first-round pick (which is top-10 protected) and can get another high-end prospect (Zion Williamson, anyone?) to pair with Collin Sexton. Further, they have veterans who they can trade to contenders for more draft capital. Can they get a first-round pick for Kevin Love at the deadline? Kyle Korver and George Hill can probably yield them unprotected second-round picks as well. Finally, as anyone following JR Smith on social media can tell, he clearly wants out and is a logical buyout candidate. The ultimate goal at this point for the Cavs should be to have a clean slate and lots of draft picks once 2019 rolls around.

[Looks into crystal ball]: It's very grim. Instead of trading Mike Conley and Marc Gasol, the team tries to make the playoffs in 2019 and 2020. I can't tell if the Grizzlies made the playoffs or not — in all reality, it doesn't matter because the Warriors slaughtered the eight seed anyway. I see Jaren Jackson Jr., they're calling him "Cubed" now (get it? the three Js) — Cubed is surrounded by subpar talent because the Grizz refused to tank during 2019 and 2020, so they got mediocre talent in the draft, and they owed a pick to the Celtics. The only bright thing in their future: the white sand beaches on Chandler Parson's Instagram story.

It feels so icky to have a team with such an admirable player like Kemba Walker this low in the rankings, but the reality is that the Hornets have a first round of the playoffs ceiling with this roster. They're another team who should be hell-bent on clearing all of their bad contracts (Nic Batum, Bismack Biyombo, Marvin Williams, Cody Zeller) off the books by the end of the season. Unfortunately, the only logical way to do that is to package one or more of those contracts with Walker and hope that the other team throws in a protected first-round pick. If Walker ends up staying and re-signing, the Hornets will build around Walker, Miles Bridges and Malik Monk, which is a nice core, but still not getting them very far unless they hit on a stud prospect near the end of the lottery.

Turns out Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond might have something to say about this ranking, as the two have come out and destroyed opponents during the Pistons' 4-0 start to the season. Griffin was able to work on his game instead of rehabbing various injuries this offseason and is back to being a superstar — although it remains to be seen how long he can stay healthy. Drummond continues to put up video game-type double-doubles and is still shooting free throws at a decent clip. If Detroit gets a healthy Griffin for the next couple of years and picks up a better point guard in free agency or the draft, then the next five years might be much better than originally expected, especially with Dwane Casey at the helm. The team probably won't contend in the East, but the next five years can put it back on the map as a respectable franchise. However, if Griffin can play only 50-60 games per season, as has been his custom in recent years, then this lowly ranking will be justified.

As currently constructed, the Heat's ceiling over the next five years is the second round of the playoffs. Erik Spoelstra is an excellent coach. Josh Richardson, Goran Dragic and Justise Winslow are nice players, but none of them moves the needle that much when it comes to advancing in the playoffs. Their cap situation isn't pretty either — thanks to Pat Riley's low-key perplexing string of long-term deals for Hassan Whiteside, Tyler Johnson, Kelly Olynyk and Dion Waiters. People keep waiting for Riley to pull off another monster signing or trade, but it seems less likely by the day and the Heat seem content with toiling in mediocrity. 

The Bulls' five-year window is largely dependent on their top draft selections these next couple of years, because the roster right now isn't getting them anywhere near the playoffs. On the positive side of things, Zach LaVine is clearly back to full strength after his torn ACL and is killing it so far this season. He'll probably never be an adequate defender, but that doesn't matter as much if he's a threat to score 30 every night. The frontcourt of Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. should also be a good tandem moving forward. In a perfect world, the Bulls would be able to get their stuff together, pick up a big-time point guard in the next draft or free agency and make a run at the hometown kid Anthony Davis in free agency in two years. It's unlikely they pull it off, but it'd be a heck of a story.

Many writers and analysts, including yours truly, have criticized the Hawks for passing on Luka Doncic to select Trae Young. However, a couple of games into the season, I've completely changed my stance on the matter. It's not because Young has been any better than Doncic (they've both been up and down), but it's because without Young in Atlanta, Migos would have never nicknamed him "Ice Trae," which is currently one of the best nicknames in the league. As for the Hawks' five-year window, they clearly have a vision of being the next Warriors with the Young, Kevin Huerter and Omari Spellman picks in the 2018 draft. Young is for real; the other two are question marks. The Hawks should be targeting Cam Reddish in this year's draft and try to build around him, Young and John Collins instead.

For the love of God, can we please get this team a real point guard?!? Call me crazy, but I think the Magic's emphasis on big men with insane length and athletic ability can actually work if they can get a legitimate distributor. Aaron Gordon, Jonathan Isaac, Mo Bamba and even Nikola Vucevic all bring something unique to the table. Gordon is an insane athlete with a solid three-point stroke. Isaac and Bamba have the wingspans of a 747 and could both be All-Defensive Team players. Vucevic is just a big ol' boy who can score and rebound with the best of them, and now he shoots threes as well. If the Magic want to have a prosperous five-year run, they should do whatever they can to sign Terry Rozier or Ricky Rubio or Spencer Dinwiddie this offseason.

This is a fluid ranking with yet another potential Jimmy Butler trade in the works. It may sound counterintuitive, but the Wolves would improve their ranking more if they accepted the reported package that includes four first-round draft picks from the Rockets. If Butler stays, the Wolves will compete for the playoffs, and Karl Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins will continue to have their growth stunted. It's not Butler's fault that he wants more effort out of the two, but the Wolves are committed to Towns and Wiggins, not Butler. 

Give general manager Sean Marks and the Nets credit: This ranking is a hell of a lot higher than it should be after the Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce trade absolutely destroyed the franchise's future. They appear to have at least two keepers on their roster in Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen. A couple of other key contributors like Joe Harris and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are going to be in their respective primes (assuming they're still with the team) over the next five seasons too. While they will need to make decisions on whether to keep D'Angelo Russell and/or Spencer Dinwiddie (I'd probably trade Russell and keep Dinwiddie as a backup point guard), their ceiling will be defined by what they do, now that they finally have their own draft picks.

Excuse me for being a little bearish on the Wizards, but I'm just having trouble being excited about the future of a team that owes John Wall close to $190M over the next five years. Don't get me wrong: Wall is a premier point guard with cheetah-like speed and great vision. However, the dude told everyone before last season that he was the best two-way point guard in the NBA, then showed up out of shape and played in only 41 games. Then, he spent this entire offseason being "Club" John Wall (who can forget his incredible Team USA photo ) and comes out and gets absolutely embarrassed by Steph Curry this week. Curry's now scored 51 on him twice and 42 on him once in the past two years! Hey, John, you know that "two-way" includes defense, right? That's my John Wall rant. The Wizards have Wall, Brad Beal, Otto Porter and Kelly Oubre Jr., all of whom are nice pieces to have over the next five years but collectively aren't enough to make Washington a contender.

The Suns have sucked the past couple of years and will continue to suck this season. However, it will all be worth it when Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker and whomever they select with their top-five pick in next summer's draft are all starting to hit their respective primes in four or five years from now. Between now and then, the team needs to continue to surround its young talent with mature veterans like Trevor Ariza to keep the young stars from developing bad habits on or off the court. 

The Blazers are stuck in the mud a bit until all of their detrimental contracts from the summer of 2016 come off the books in two years. Although they won't compete for a title during that time (just ask Kevin Durant), they'll at least be a threat to win 50 games each season with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum running the show. Moreover, if they can continue to develop Zach Collins over the next two years (he's shown lots of progress between Years 1 and 2 already), and maybe sign or trade for the star forward they've been missing ever since LaMarcus Aldridge left years ago, they could shoot up this list in a couple of years.

The Clippers next five years are basically a blank check, as they have two max cap slots for next summer and a number of somewhat intriguing, hard-playing guys on their roster. They're actually comparable to the Miami Heat in that they have a bunch of above-average players but no superstar. In addition to whichever free agents they land (and there's no guarantee that they get two max players), the Clippers' future will depend largely upon the progress of rookie point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who showed some flashes of brilliance during the Summer League and preseason. The other player who's shown some long-term potential has been Tobias Harris, who has quietly developed into a 20-plus-point-per-game scorer.

Considering his history with knee ailments, his hyper-relentless playing style predicated on generational athleticism and his streaky three-point shooting, ask yourself: At what age does it all go south for Russell Westbrook? He turns 30 in November — can he still play this way when he's 32? 33? Or is he destined to age like an NFL running back and see his game fall off a cliff once his athleticism wanes? The Thunder better hope that he can still play at an elite level into his mid-30s because they're going to be paying him over $47M in the final year of his contract, when he's 34. Fortunately, the Thunder will also have Paul George, Steven Adams and a couple of their solid youngsters locked into more reasonable contracts for most of those years. Perhaps Westbrook learns to shoot later in his career, like Jason Kidd, or transitions into a more traditional point guard role as his explosiveness decreases. Or perhaps the Thunder have a 2011 Mavericks-type season where everything comes together at the right time, and they win a title to make this all worth it. If none of those positive outcomes happens, it could get ugly toward the end of this team's five-year window.

While it's important to not place too much weight on the early results from this season, I must admit that the Pelicans have risen up the rankings a bit after exploding out of the gate to a 3-0 start with the No. 1 offensive rating in the league. Interestingly enough, their offense revolves around three bigs, Anthony Davis, Nikola Mirotic and Julius Randle, who are currently averaging a combined 77 points and 32 rebounds per game. Despite signing with Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group, Davis seems content playing for the fast-paced, sneaky-talented Pelicans for now. If New Orleans can retain him in two summers, their five-year window leaps up into the top 10, possibly even the top five, depending on how transcendent Davis becomes.

With the Kawhi Leonard fiasco last year and the wave of injuries to all of their young guards (Dejounte Murray, Lonnie Walker IV and Derrick White) this year, it starts to make you wonder what Gregg Popovich did in his past life to deserve all of this bad luck as an old man. Seriously, the trio of injuries before this season was devastating, especially Murray's ACL because he was poised to make a leap, according to all of the whispers coming out of training camp. While all three young guards should recover, this season was supposed to be about their development for the Spurs. Of course, they were still going to make the playoffs with Popovich steering the ship and All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and LeMarcus Aldridge still in their primes. However, San Antonio's five-year outlook certainly dropped a couple of spots with Murray's progress put on hold for at least a year. Walker and White could still get some valuable experience, but they're going to be eased back into things and probably won't improve as rapidly this season as the Spurs originally hoped.

It's a dangerous proposition putting the Knicks in the top half of the five-year window rankings, considering James Dolan is their owner. However, a core of Kristaps Porzingis and Kevin Knox — plus cap space — is enough to warrant some excitement. The Knicks have made it known around the league that they intend to pursue the likes of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving this summer. While Kyrie has verbally committed to the Celtics, the Durant thing has some legs to it as he appears to be bored or unsatisfied with the ease in which the Warriors are winning titles (as he should be!!). If the Knicks land Durant, they immediately have one of the more unique and potentially devastating front lines in the NBA. If they land Durant, all of a sudden, the Tim Hardaway contract is a little more stomachable because contenders need heat-check guys like him. If they land Durant, the Knicks have one of the best five-year windows in the NBA. Let's make it happen!

The Pacers are almost an Eastern Conference version of the Jazz. They've built their team around a star guard in Victor Oladipo, they have a number of high-end role players (Thad Young, Darren Collison, Cory Joseph and Bojan Bogdanovic) and youngsters with pretty high ceilings (Myles Turner, Domantas Sabonis). They obviously are missing a Rudy Gobert-type rim protector, but there's still hope that Turner can be a plus-defender. And while Nate McMillan isn't the best coach in the world, he performed admirably last season. But to take the next step and contend with the likes of Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto, Indiana needs another star. Perhaps Turner or Sabonis or even Aaron Holiday can fill that void, but there's not an obvious choice on the roster. So they might need to take a big swing on a trade and acquire a player in a contract year and then hope that playing with Oladipo and competing in the East is enough to keep him around.

Much like the Pelicans with Anthony Davis, the Bucks' ranking is entirely dependent upon whether Giannis Antetokounmpo stays or goes in the summer of 2021. Since it's still three seasons away, Milwaukee gets a higher ranking than New Orleans. From a basketball standpoint, the Bucks have surrounded him this year with a perfect complementary star (Khris Middleton), a solid roster and a good head coach (Mike Budenholzer) this season. While the Bucks aren't having the same type of success as young LeBron James' Cavaliers had, they appear to be doing a better job of long-term planning around Giannis than the Cavs ever did with James. 

The Mavericks automatically qualified for the top 10 when they made a Dennis Smith Jr.-Luka Doncic "White Mavs Can Jump " spoof trailer. Kidding aside, the Smith-Doncic backcourt pairing has one of the highest ceilings in the NBA. Smith is a freak athlete who can play above the rim at point guard. Doncic is a genius-level playmaker at age 19 with the potential to have an entire offense revolve around him a la James Harden. While they both have their flaws — Smith can't shoot, and Doncic is out of shape — the two will be hitting their respective primes at the same time five years from now. The Mavericks' outlook is also positive because they have a brilliant head coach (Rick Carlisle) and will have the cap room to add more talent in the years to come.

With their offense built around the next Dwyane Wade (Donovan Mitchell) and their defense anchored by a man nicknamed the Stifle Tower and the French Rejection (Rudy Gobert), the Jazz are set up wonderfully for the next five years. In addition to their talented centerpieces, they have a top-five coach (Quin Snyder) and one of the better GMs (Dennis Lindsey) in the league. Their current roster features a nice mix of three-and-D wings (Joe Ingles, Jae Crowder), quality veterans (Derrick Favors, Ricky Rubio) and a couple of exciting young guards (Dante Exum, Grayson Allen). They're a fringe contender for now, but if they can develop or get one more playoff bucket-getter like Mitchell, they could end up being a better version of the 2012-2014 Pacers: built around defense, but talented enough offensively to hang with the best teams in the NBA.

Like the sun reflecting off a Rocky Mountain ski trail, the Nuggets future is bright enough to give you a sunburn. They have all the pieces a young team on the rise could ask for: a 23-year old superstar center with savant-like passing skills (Nikola Jokic), two well-rounded, potential future All-Stars manning their backcourt (Jamal Murray and Gary Harris), a couple of good veterans (Paul Millsap and Will Barton) and another potential superstar being eased into the NBA (Michael Porter Jr.). With all of the aforementioned players signed to multiyear deals, this team should continue to grow together and make leaps and bounds from a fringe playoff contender last season to a legitimate playoff team this year to a title contender at some point during the next five seasons. Keeping with the theme of continuity, Denver recently extended coach Mike Malone's contract as well. 

The Raptors might be the best team in the NBA the date this slideshow is published. The team is scoring with ease, its bench mob led by Fred VanVleet looks great again, Danny Green has fit in perfectly and most important of all, Kawhi Leonard is playing like a top-five player again — particularly on offense, where he's been ultra aggressive. The Raptors are a threat to win 60-plus games and contend for a title; no doubt about it. The only "problem" with their five-year outlook is whether Leonard will be in a Raptors jersey a year from now. If he commits to Toronto long term, it probably jumps to No. 3 on this list, especially when you consider how savvy its decision-maker, Masai Ujiri, is. However, if the Raptors do not retain Leonard after this season, they probably drop out of the top 10.  

As long as they have peak-James Harden, the Rockets should always boast one of the best offenses in the NBA. As long as they have the current Chris Paul and peak-James Harden, the Rockets should always have one of the best teams in the NBA. How long will they have the current version of CP3 though? Two years? Is that long enough to justify a top-five ranking for the next five seasons? The answer is yes. When Harden, Paul and Clint Capela played together last season, the team was 50-5, had an all-time great offense and a stellar defense to go along with it. Even more, the Rockets have an innovative head coach in Mike D'Antoni, who has shown the ability to win with fast break-heavy teams as well as isolation-heavy teams. Daryl Morey will need to continue to be creative in building around his three stars, but that's his specialty.

With the Celtics and Warriors operating at a different level of franchise building than the rest of the league, it's easy to forget just how set the Lakers should be for the next five seasons. First and foremost, they have the best player in the world in LeBron James inked to a four-year deal. Second, they have four good prospects in Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma whom they can either develop or trade. The other thing the Lakers have is cap space for another superstar. It's all speculative at this point, but if the Lakers could ever land the likes of Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard or Kawhi Leonard, they'd be set to contend with the Warriors and Celtics for the next five years.

Did you know that if the Kings land the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft, it doesn't go to the Celtics but actually the 76ers? Could you imagine a team built around the likes of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Dario Saric, Markelle Fultz and RJ Barrett? Or Zion Williamson? The 76ers are in a similar position to the Celtics in that most of their talent is young. In fact, their four most important assets aren't set to hit unrestricted free agency for a number of years. Assuming Embiid and Simmons both stay healthy and don't clash with one another, Philly will have two MVP candidates on its roster for the next five years. How many other teams can say that?

The Warriors present a difficult proposition because as long as the Steph Curry-Kevin Durant-Draymond Green-Klay Thompson core stays together, they'll probably win the championship. Even five years from now, they'll probably still be the favorites. The issue is whether Durant and/or Thompson will be with the team a year from now? And whether Draymond will be with the team two years from now? With its impressive front office and coach, the team is built to withstand a superstar leaving. But it won't be able to replace him with another superstar, as the current team is allowed to pay all these superstars because the Warriors have their Bird Rights and were able to sign them all under the previous collective bargaining agreement. 

The Celtics nudge the Warriors for the top spot on the list because their window is still opening, whereas the Warriors' window, as magnificent of a window you'll ever see, is starting to close. The Celtics' front office and coaching combination is on the same level as Golden State's, their roster is deeper and their superstars, while not as legendary, are much younger. The fact that they could have as many as four 2019 first round picks, including a pick as high as No. 2, to work with gives them a narrow edge over the Warriors. With the core of Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Gordon Hayward and Al Horford all committed (at least verbally with Irving) for the next few years, the Celtics should be contending for titles for this entire five-year window.