After a tough few years in which seemingly every deadline and offseason saw the Western Conference get stronger, the “Leastern Conference” finally appears to have won a transaction period.
Seriously, it had gotten a little crazy. Coming into February, seven of the top 10 scorers in the NBA found themselves in the West. If you prefer advanced stats, 13 of the 20 leaders’ win shares were in the West.
If you rank players by salary, only five of the top 20 played for an Eastern Conference team, and you have to use “played” loosely, as the top 20 includes Gordon Hayward and even Chris Bosh, whose salary still impacts Miami Heat books.