The 2016-17 NBA season kicked off on Oct. 25, the first step in an arduous 82-game marathon leading to another 16-game playoff marathon come April.
The storylines are already set for April. In case you have not noticed, the NBA is an extremely top-heavy league, with star-studded teams on one hand, and a litany of other project teams on a much larger hand.
The number of teams which will realistically contend for an NBA title this season don’t go beyond four, yet the number of teams which qualify for the playoffs is quadruple that number.
Granted, this season may be an outlier with Kevin Durant’s arrival in the Bay Area, but never in recent memory have more than eight teams entered the playoffs with honest hopes of hoisting the trophy.