A sprint to the postseason will begin on Wednesday night after a surprisingly smooth All-Star weekend, and there should be plenty of intrigue in the coming months before the playoffs begin on May 22. The Jazz and Sixers will face quite the battle to hold onto a pair of No. 1 seeds. The fight for the top six in each conference will be fierce, and the MVP race could have five legitimate candidates by season’s end. A fascinating postseason awaits this summer. But the fireworks will begin long before the play-in tournament does.
So what should we expect across the league over the next two-plus months?