March 2025

There were 1,679 posts published in March 2025 (this is page 67 of 168).

Doc Rivers reportedly meets with Lillard, Antetokounmpo to discuss what is holding Bucks back

Bringing in Damian Lillard (and shipping out Jrue Holiday) was supposed to bring the Milwaukee Bucks closer to a title. Last year, injuries got in the way.

This year, a healthy Bucks are good — 38-30, fifth in the East — but have gone 2-5 in their last seven and look worlds away from a contender. Milwaukee is 0-11 against the teams with the four best records in the NBA (Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Boston and New York).

Following Tuesday night’s loss to the Warriors (who were resting Stephen Curry), coach Doc Rivers had a sit-down meeting with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lillard to talk about what is not working in Wisconsin, reports Chris Haynes.

“Now in this meeting, I’m told, was an open forum for both stars to provide input on ways to improve the team. It was a constructive session, with each individual being allowed to share their perspectives.”

There is no single answer for Milwaukee. There may not be an answer at all.

The Bucks’ biggest problem — in these seven games and all season — has been their offense. Even with Antetokounmpo and Lillard, this has been a middle-of-the-pack offense most of the season that has fallen into the bottom 10 across the last seven games. This is an outstanding shooting team — second in the league in 3-point percentage and fifth in eFG% — but nothing ever feels smooth and natural in getting to those shots.

If the Bucks get beat in the first round (which Indiana could do in a 4/5 matchup) or get routed by the Cavaliers or Celtics in the second round, Milwaukee is going to have to take a step back this summer and ask some hard questions. Can this personnel, at this age, contend? A Kyle Kuzma for Khris Middleton swap-out was not the answer. This summer, much more drastic changes may be called for.

USDA Announces $280 Million Grant Agreement to Support Rio Grande Valley Agricultural Producers Amid Severe Water Shortages

McALLEN, Texas, March 19, 2025 – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins today announced a $280 million grant agreement between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) to provide critical economic relief to eligible Rio Grande Valley farmers and producers suffering from Mexico’s ongoing failure to meet its water delivery obligations under the 1944 Water Treaty. Secretary Rollins announced this grant agreement today in McAllen, Texas alongside U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and U.S. Representative Monica De La Cruz (TX-15).

AL Central season preview: Can the Guardians stay on top? Will the Tigers and Royals make it back to the playoffs?

Just one year removed from being one of the worst divisions in MLB history, the AL Central enjoyed a collective breakout in 2024, producing three playoff teams in Cleveland, Kansas City and Detroit. Granted, the success of that October-bound trio partially came at the expense of a tremendously disappointing Twins club and a historically bad White Sox team. But still, the bulk of this division proved a lot of people wrong in 2024, setting the stage for a 2025 campaign in which four of the Central’s five teams can make a legitimate case as being the favorite to claim the crown.

Does the AL Central have an encore in store after an exciting 2024? Or will this subset of teams regress back to its longstanding status as a division that sends just one team to the postseason? Let’s take a look.

More previews by division: NL East | NL Central | NL West | AL East

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Projected record (per FanGraphs, as of March 19): 79-83, 22.4% odds to make the playoffs, 10.8% odds to win the division

What happened last year? It was a spectacular managerial debut for Stephen Vogt. With baseball’s best bullpen and just enough offense around Jose Ramirez, the Guardians overcame instability in the rotation to not only win the division but also reach the ALCS. But rather than running it back in 2025 with the same group, Cleveland was quite active over the winter reshaping its roster. The Guardians dealt away the right side of their infield in two trades (Andres Gimenez to Toronto and Josh Naylor to Arizona), reunited with Carlos Santana to handle first base and added several arms to reinforce the pitching staff (Luis Ortiz, Paul Sewald, Slade Cecconi, Jakob Junis). Perhaps most importantly, Cleveland re-signed Shane Bieber amid his Tommy John rehab, setting up a highly anticipated return for the former Cy Young winner later this summer.

Best-case scenario: The bullpen continues to excel, with Sewald’s addition and a markedly improved rotation lessening the burden on the core four relievers (Emmanuel Clase, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Tim Herrin) who threw so many innings in 2024. Bieber returns with no rust and leads the way in the second half, giving Cleveland an ideal Game 1 starter for October. Another MVP-caliber campaign from Ramirez, a fully healthy year for Steven Kwan and a full season from Lane Thomas amount to a much improved lineup that also features steps forward from younger hitters such as Kyle Manzardo, Brayan Rocchio and Bo Naylor. The Guards repeat as AL Central champs and win a playoff round or two.

Worst-case scenario: The bullpen regresses to a troubling degree, leaving little room for error for a rotation that remains relatively unstable outside of Tanner Bibee until Bieber’s return. Naylor’s big bat and Gimenez’s elite glove are both sorely missed, and Cleveland doesn’t boast a single above-average position player outside of Ramirez and Kwan, resulting in a wholly lackluster offense. Rivals Kansas City and Detroit continue their organizational ascents while Minnesota bounces back, making for an ultra-challenging division race that leaves Cleveland on the outside looking in, without a good enough record to even be in the wild-card mix.

Make-or-break player: Gavin Williams. As a rookie in 2023, Williams looked like the latest in a long line of great Cleveland starters. But injuries derailed his sophomore campaign, delaying his ascent and adding to the Guardians’ rotation woes in 2024. Now Williams is healthy, and he has looked splendid in spring training, making him an especially intriguing X-factor on this starting staff. Ortiz should also help fortify this unit, but among homegrown arms, there seems to be significantly more optimism surrounding Williams than guys such as Triston McKenzie and lefty Logan Allen. It’d be huge for this pitching staff if Williams can harness and sustain his high-end stuff over a full season.

Season prediction: Even with the fairly dramatic changes to the roster, the Guardians’ recipe for success remains: Kwan and Ramirez set the tone, and enough other bats step up to support a standout pitching staff that is notably more balanced than a year ago. The core of this Guardians squad prevails en route to another division title, albeit without the first-round bye they garnered last year.

Projected record: 82-80, 42.8% odds to make the playoffs, 24.9% odds to win the division

What happened last year? After losing 106 games in 2023, the Royals surged to a stunning 30-win improvement and a playoff berth, thanks to a sensational season from Bobby Witt Jr. and a tremendous starting rotation. Three major moves headlined a relatively quiet subsequent offseason: the extension of mid-rotation anchor Michael Wacha, the acquisition of Jonathan India from Cincinnati in exchange for starting pitcher Brady Singer and the free-agent signing of closer Carlos Estevez.

Best-case scenario: Witt improves the few holes remaining in his game, drawing more walks and becoming a much more efficient base-stealer en route to a 40 HR, 50 SB, 10 WAR season that earns him his first AL MVP Award. India gets on base a ton atop the lineup, ensuring that Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez continue to collect a boatload of RBI. Top prospect Jac Caglianone arrives midseason and boosts the lineup further. The rotation repeats as one of the American League’s best, with Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo both in the AL Cy Young conversation and Kris Bubic breaking out in his return to the starting staff. Estevez and Lucas Erceg combine to be excellent game-enders, and the Royals win their first division title since 2015.

Worst-case scenario: Witt regresses from MVP level to merely very good, putting more pressure on the rest of a lineup that proves ill-equipped to produce at an October-worthy level. Perez’s production dips as his years of outrageous workload behind the dish finally catch up to him in his age-35 season. The rotation is still pretty good but no longer anywhere near elite, which isn’t enough to compensate for a well-below-average offense. The Royals fall back below .500 to a humbling fourth-place finish.

Make-or-break player: Jonathan India. India represents Kansas City’s most notable attempt to upgrade a lineup that was severely lacking beyond Witt, Perez and Pasquantino. Swapping Singer’s innings for India’s on-base skills is a direct acknowledgement that the need for offense was worth sacrificing some mound talent, but now it’s on India to produce as planned — especially considering that his fit on the roster defensively is somewhat unclear.

Season prediction: The few moves Kansas City made over the winter aren’t quite as impactful as hoped. The bottom of the lineup remains a severe weakness, and the rotation takes enough of a step back to leave the Royals hovering around .500 for much of the season — within shouting distance of the AL wild-card race but not close enough to qualify.

Projected record: 83-79, 46.4% odds to make the playoffs, 28.3% odds to win the division

What happened last year? Detroit ended its decade-long playoff drought, rejuvenating the fan base and inspiring excitement for this new era of Tigers baseball. Tarik Skubal emerged as one of the best pitchers on the planet, dominating all season before surrendering a devastating grand slam to Lane Thomas in ALDS Game 5. An interesting offseason followed: Gleyber Torres was brought in to bolster the lineup as the every-day second baseman, and Jack Flaherty was brought back after being dealt away at last July’s deadline to reunite with Skubal atop the rotation.

Best-case scenario: Riley Greene takes another leap, powering an improved lineup alongside Torres en route to another All-Star appearance and a top-10 MVP finish. Kerry Carpenter continues to demolish right-handed pitching to a ridiculous degree. Skubal and Flaherty lead a breakout rotation that also features AL Rookie of the Year Jackson Jobe and a resurgence from former No. 1 pick Casey Mize. Spencer Torkelson, another former No. 1 pick, bounces back and leads the team in home runs. The Tigers win their first division title since 2014, and AJ Hinch wins Manager of the Year.

Worst-case scenario: The rotation beyond Skubal remains suspect at best, as free-agent signing Alex Cobb gives Detroit next to nothing due to injuries, and Flaherty disappoints in his return to Detroit. The lineup remains well below-average outside of Greene, with none of the other young hitters taking big enough steps forward and Torres struggling to slug in a more spacious ballpark. The Tigers aren’t brutally bad, but they’re well out of postseason contention come September.

Make-or-break player: Tyler Holton. Holton was arguably the most important character in Detroit’s self-described “pitching chaos” strategy that carried them down the stretch on days Skubal wasn’t starting and was simply marvelous by all measures before faltering in the ALDS. It was wildly impressive to watch both how Hinch utilized Holton in a wide range of situations and how Holton handled it, but it seems like a lot to ask him to reprise that role. Reliever volatility is hardly a secret, but Holton is a key arm to watch if the Tigers want to return to October.

Season prediction: The Tigers benefit from enviable depth in the upper minors, which the Royals lack, putting them in position to stay in the mix over the course of a long season. They remain in the wild-card race all the way through September before coming up just short, as the Detroit offense continues to underwhelm relative to other AL contenders.

Can Tarik Skubal and the Tigers surprise everyone again in 2025? (Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports)
Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports

Projected record: 84-78, 55.0% odds to make the playoffs, 36.0% odds to win the division

What happened last year? The heavy favorites to repeat as division champs, the Twins played well in the first half and stayed in the race as late as mid-August before collapsing in catastrophic fashion in September, losing 18 of their final 25 games. Any hope of a busy winter that could help flush the bad vibes from their frustrating finish proved unwarranted, as Minnesota was one of the least active teams of the offseason, adding only outfielder Harrison Bader, first baseman Ty France and lefty reliever Danny Couloumbe via free agency.

Best-case scenario: Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton combine for 250 games played and 10 WAR, finally fulfilling the hype as bona fide costars in their fourth season together. Eduoard Julien bounces back, and Trevor Larnach breaks out, which, along with slugger Matt Wallner, makes Minnesota’s lineup an absolute nightmare for right-handed pitchers. Pablo Lopez gets back to looking like a Cy Young contender and leads a stellar rotation backed up by one of the best bullpens in the American League, headlined by Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax. Buoyed by perhaps the most balanced roster in the division (when healthy), the Twins reclaim the AL Central crown.

Worst-case scenario: Correa and Buxton combine for fewer than 200 games, and the offense suffers accordingly. The struggles Lewis showcased even when healthy last season (.620 OPS over final 58 games) spill over into 2025, magnifying the lack of impact in the lineup. The rotation continues to underperform its strong peripherals, and the bullpen disappoints relative to sterling projections. Minnesota falls to fourth place again, marking the team’s first time finishing worse than third in the division in consecutive seasons since 2013-14.

Make-or-break player: Brooks Lee. With the health of several other stars perpetually up in the air and the departures of veterans Carlos Santana and Max Kepler, it’s crucial that some of Minnesota’s younger position players start to elevate their games in 2025. Lee hasn’t exactly been the picture of health over the course of his young career, but his contributions could become particularly pivotal in the wake of Lewis’ latest injury, a hamstring strain that will put him on the IL to start the season. A top-30 overall prospect as recently as a year ago, the switch-hitting Lee has the talent to make an impact on both sides of the ball if things start to click.

Season prediction: With another year of injury-related interruptions, the Twins find themselves stuck in the middle again. They boast enough talent to avoid having the bottom fall out from under them but not enough impact to power a return to the postseason. Minnesota finishes third while either Kansas City or Detroit disappoints and falls to fourth.

Projected record: 62-100, 0.1% odds to make the playoffs, 0.0% odds to win the division

What happened last year? A truly astonishing amount of losing. We all knew the White Sox were going to be bad in 2024, but no one expected them to be one of the worst teams in the history of the sport. Alas, such was the case for last year’s squad as the losses piled up in a hurry thanks in large part to a historically horrendous offense that finished a distant 30th in virtually every major category. There were, however, a handful of promising developments on the mound, most notably the remarkable breakout of Garrett Crochet, who was traded over the winter for an exciting package of prospects from Boston. After a trial run for Grady Sizemore as interim manager following Pedro Grifol’s firing, another former big-league outfielder in Will Venable was hired as the skipper entering 2025.

Best-case scenario: What constitutes success for the White Sox coming off last year’s nightmare of a season? Ideally, more than the 41 wins they mustered in 2024, but it’s not like anyone on the South Side is expecting a playoff run anytime soon. An ideal outcome for this season is a last-place finish that isn’t a complete embarrassment for everyone involved and a year in which young players are given the opportunity to fail and grow at the major-league level while demonstrating tangible progress toward becoming not just useful big-league players but also good ones. The White Sox have a promising collection of arms (Sean Burke, Jonathan Cannon, Hagen Smith, Noah Schultz) who warrant considerable optimism for what the pitching staff could look like in the not-so-distant future. But this organization needs bats badly, which means that the best thing that could happen for them this season is to find some hitters to build around, whether that’s homegrown guys such as Colson Montgomery or the hitters in the Crochet return, such as Kyle Teel, Braden Montgomery and Chase Meidroth.

Worst-case scenario: The White Sox aren’t as bad as they were in 2024 — that genuinely seems impossible — but they’re still by far the worst team in baseball, with little signs of progress on offense resulting in another 110-plus-loss season. Worse yet, the farm system fails to produce enough positive developments on either side of the ball to warrant much optimism for 2026, making it even more difficult to envision the White Sox being even remotely competitive in the near future. The rebuild remains a long-term venture, prompting further apathy and disdain among Sox fans.

Make-or-break player: Luis Robert Jr. With zero hope of reaching October, the focus for this franchise is squarely on figuring out which players can be core pieces for the next good White Sox team, even if that’s several years down the road. But Robert also represents the team’s last opportunity to cash in a valuable trade chip for a package of young talent similar to what they reaped for Crochet. That said, Robert must return to All-Star form after a poor 2024 if teams are to come calling offering a huge haul of prospects. He certainly has the talent to do so, but that must happen sooner rather than later if the White Sox want to maximize a return for the center fielder.

Season prediction: Avoiding 100 losses feels like simultaneously a monumental task and a legitimate goal for this club in Venable’s first year at the helm. That said, the losses will have to come from somewhere in the standings, and it seems likely the White Sox will find a way to collect more than their fair share of defeats in 2025. I think the Sox will ultimately sink below the rebuilding Marlins and finish with MLB’s worst record once again — but with at least 10 more wins than they managed last year.

NBA power rankings 2024-25: Cavaliers remain on top, Timberwolves and Rockets climbing fast

As the basketball world turns its eyes toward the NCAA Tournament and the top prospects headed to the teams at the bottom of this rankings, the NBA keeps on rolling (but dials back the number of marquee matchups for a week or two).

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1. Oklahoma City Thunder (53-12, Last Week No. 2). Oklahoma City has played in just 21 clutch games this season (within five points in the final five minutes), the fewest in the league. While that’s a sign of just how good this team has been — they are blowing teams out — in the playoffs the Thunder will need to win close games. Will that lack of experience in the moment come back to bite them? On the positive side, they beat the Celtics in a clutch game last week. However, they are 7-6 in really tight games (within three points in the final three minutes) and are 0-4 in one-possession games this season.

2. Cleveland Cavaliers (56-12, LW 1). Cleveland has dropped two straight and it’s given coach Kenny Atkinson something to target as he readies his roster for what will come when the playoffs tip-off next month: “That kind of defensive performance, you’re not surviving in a playoff atmosphere, he said after Tuesday’s loss to the Clippers. That game was the first of a five-game road trip.

3. Boston Celtics (50-19, LW 3). Last Wednesday’s loss to Oklahoma City sparks the question: Could the Thunder beat the Celtics if they meet in the Finals? Yes, the Thunder could, it’s a rough matchup for Boston. This wasn’t a one-time thing, the Thunder swept the season series. OKC is one of the few teams with the size, versatility, and — as it showed last week — physicality to match or exceed Boston. Sure, the Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis, but the Thunder were without Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso. This would be a fantastic Finals.

SECOND TIER CONTENDERS

4. Denver Nuggets (44-25, LW 5). When the Lakers beat the Nuggets back on Feb. 22, they held Nikola Jokic to 12 points on 2-of-7 shooting, leading some to wonder if the Lakers had figured something out with their fronting of the three-time MVP with smaller players and aggressive double-teams. Apparently not. In the 11 games he has played since then, Jokic is averaging 27.7 points a game on 57.9% shooting, with 13.5 rebounds and 10.5 assists a night. He remains in the thick of the MVP race and shows no signs of slowing down.

5. Golden State Warriors (40-29, LW 4). Steve Kerr is trying to walk a tightrope. The Warriors need wins as just one game separates 6/7/8 in the West (with a red-hot Minnesota team pushing Golden State for sixth), but Stephen Curry looks a little worn down. “He’s tired. Steph’s been carrying us for a month…” Kerr said after the Warriors’ sloppy loss to a shorthanded Denver team Monday. “You can see it – he doesn’t have his energy right now.” Mark your calendars now — Jimmy Butler returns to Miami next Tuesday (March 25).

PLAYOFFS OR BUST

6. Houston Rockets (44-25, LW 12). Houston has won seven in a row, and you can say they did it against a soft stretch of the schedule but you have to beat the team in front of you — and some other top teams couldn’t do that this week. You know Ime Udoka isn’t going to let up on his guys. Houston has an easier schedule than the three teams chasing them for the No. 2 seed (Nuggets, Lakers, Grizzlies) and it just got floor general Fred VanVleet four games ago and he is crucial to them. Huge game Sunday against the Nuggets.

7. Minnesota Timberwolves (40-30, LW 13). Minnesota’s first-round matchup will be tough — there are no easy outs in the West — but the Timberwolves should be hoping for another series against the Nuggets. Even without Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota’s win last week over the Nuggets shows they still seem to have Denver’s number, going 3-0 against them this season (with one more meeting to come).

8. New York Knicks (43-24, LW 7). Jalen Brunson is going to be out a couple more weeks, but as long as the Knicks continue to tread water — they are 3-2 since he went down with a sprained ankle — they will be fine as they are locked into the No. 3 seed. Brunson needs to return and play four more games to reach 65 and qualify for postseason honors (he is a lock for All-NBA). While the Knicks miss Brunson in the clutch, Mikal Bridges did a pretty good impression of him last week.

9. Los Angeles Lakers (42-25, LW 6). The biggest beneficiary of the Luka Doncic trade might be Austin Reaves. Since the All-Star break, with Doncic drawing the attention of defenses, Reaves is averaging 21.2 points a game shooting 38.3% from 3, with 5.1 assists and 4.6 rebounds a game. “I mean, this guy just scored 30 in his 4th game in 5 days…” Doncic said this week. “He’s an amazing player. For him to go undrafted is unbelievable. It’s not easy to go undrafted and play at this level.”

10. Memphis Grizzlies (43-26, LW 8). The Grizzlies went 3-1 with Jaren Jackson Jr. out — their leading scorer and best defender — a testament to Memphis’ depth. The big playoff question for the Grizzlies: As good as Jalen Wells and Zach Edey have been (they likely are voted two of the top three in Rookie of the Year), can a team leaning that heavily on its rookies make a deep playoff run?

11. Los Angeles Clippers (39-30, LW 14). The Clippers have won 5-of-6 because they suddenly found their offense. The Clippers have been middle of the pack on that end of the floor all season long — it was a top-five defense that carried the team — but over the last six games the Clippers have the best offense in the NBA. The latest win came over the Cavaliers — when Kawhi Leonard is playing like this the Clippers are a very tough out in the West (and they are just a game back of the Warriors for the No. 6 seed).

12. Detroit Pistons (38-31, LW 9). In what has been an amazing season, the Pistons are not going to fall out of the top six in the East, but they should set their sights higher — Detroit is one game back of Indiana for the No. 4 seed. The Pistons have a tougher remaining schedule than the Pacers or Bucks (the teams they would need to leap to get to fourth), which is why they can’t afford ugly losses like last Thursday to the Wizards. That lesson should resonate this week with games against struggling teams in the Heat, Mavericks, Pelicans and Spurs.

13. Milwaukee Bucks (38-30, LW 11). Milwaukee is a good team and its win against Indiana last week keeps it in the running for a top-four seed and hosting a first-round playoff series. However, the loss to the Thunder last weekend was a reminder that the Bucks are now 0-11 against the teams with the four best records in the league, and the last five of those were by double-digits. This Bucks team is not striking fear in the hearts of top opponents.

14. Indiana Pacers (38-29, LW 10). If anyone needed more evidence of Tyrese Haliburton’s value to this team, the Pacers going 0-3 against the Hawks (twice) and the Bulls without him should answer that question. Two weeks in a row we have a leaning corner-three game-winner for the Pacers, but this time it was more stunning because who saw Obi Toppin draining it?

15. Sacramento Kings (34-33, LW 15). Domantas Sabonis’ sprained ankle keeping him out a couple of weeks is terrible news on a few fronts. First, the Kings are 3-6 in games he’s missed this season and have a -3.8 net rating in the minutes he is off the court — this team is going to have to fight to hold on to the No. 9 seed and at least host one play-in game. Second, with Sabonis having played just 58 games this season, it’s unlikely he will make it to the 65-game cutoff for postseason awards, ending his legitimate chance at an All-NBA spot.

16. Atlanta Hawks (33-36, LW 16). Can we just stop for a second and marvel at Dyson Daniels’ 194 steals on the season, a number that is the most in the NBA in more than a decade. It’s an impressive feat and he’s going to get some Defensive Player of the Year down-ballot votes this season, ones well deserved. Atlanta needs to start stacking some wins to hold off Orlando for the No. 7 seed in the East (and getting to host the first round of the play-in), but that will be tough to do against the Warriors and Rockets this week (a loss to Philly would be ugly).

17. Orlando Magic (32-37, LW 18). Orlando’s win snapping Cleveland’s 16-game win streak last Sunday is a reminder why the Cavaliers want to avoid the Magic in the first round (as of today, that would be the 1 vs. 8 matchup, pending the play-in). Orlando’s defense made Donovan Mitchell inefficient (9-of-28 shooting), and as good as Cleveland’s defense can be, it struggles to slow Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. That series went seven games a season ago and it feels like a rematch would be another long series.

PLAY IN HOPEFULS

18. Phoenix Suns (32-37, LW 19). There are a lot of things about this season’s Suns I don’t understand, but this is near the top of the list: Why have Kevin Durant work off the ball so much? Especially early in games, where the Suns have Devin Booker and Bradley Beal as the primary shot creators, with KD as the late-clock bail-out option? We can only question it so much, the Suns have a top-10 offense in the league and Durant is averaging 26.7 points a game, but the fit just never seems smooth with this trio. Beal is out for a week, at least, with a hamstring strain. The Suns need wins, one game behind Dallas with 13 games left, and things get tough with games against the Cavaliers, Bucks and Celtics starting Friday.

19. Chicago Bulls (29-39, LW 21). Chicago has won 5-of-6 thanks to the team having the fourth-best defense in the NBA over that stretch. That win streak plus the free-fall in Miami has the teams tied for the 9/10 seeds in the East — Chicago looks like it will host a play-in game the way things are trending.

20. Portland Trail Blazers (30-39, LW 22). The spark of optimism coming out of Portland based on the play of Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Scoot Henderson, and even the steps Donovan Clingan is taking has been fantastic — but Portland would be better off dropping a few games. They beat Toronto and Washington this week and currently would enter the lottery with the No. 11 pick, but they are just one game “behind” Chicago, Miami and San Antonio. Rack up a few extra losses in the coming weeks and the Trail Blazers could really help their lottery odds.

21. Miami Heat (29-39, LW 17). Jimmy Butler returns next Tuesday (March 25), and for the Heat the timing couldn’t be much worse. How ugly is Miami’s eight-game losing streak — a streak where Bam Adebayo played in every game and Tyler Herro in seven of the eight? This is the longest Heat losing streak of Erik Spoelstra’s 17-yr career. The problem is on the offensive end, where the Heat are dead last in the league since that streak started. They miss Butler’s shot creation. Miami has some hard questions to answer this summer, and Pat Riley is far from blameless for this mess (he’s not changing Heat Culture, but he may need to step back and re-examine how that is playing in the modern NBA).

22. Dallas Mavericks (33-36, LW 20). It’s easy to get where P.J. Washington is coming from as a player, saying, “All that ‘Fire Nico’ stuff, we’re sick and tired of hearing it. We just want to go out there and play and we need the fans to support us no matter who’s on the floor.” I think the fans support the players on the court, but it’s easy to empathize with the Mavericks fans who feel they had the rug pulled out from under them with the Doncic trade. They are not over it, nor should they be.

CAPTURE THE (COOPER) FLAGG

23. Toronto Raptors (24-45, LW 23). Toronto has the easiest remaining schedule in the NBA, which could mean a few more wins, but it shouldn’t hurt their lottery positioning. As of today, the Raptors would enter the NBA Draft Lottery as the No. 7 seed, but they have a five-game cushion to the No. 8 Spurs. No reason to rest Scottie Barnes and company too much over the remaining 13 games.

24. San Antonio Spurs (28-39, LW 26). This is what Victor Wembanyama’s Defensive Player of the Year candidacy was based on: Without him, the Spurs have the worst defense in the league since the All-Star break. It’s still worth tuning in to Spurs games to watch Stephon Castle make his push for Rookie of the Year, he’s averaging 20.6 points and 4.1 assists a game over his last 10.

25. Brooklyn Nets (23-46, LW 27). Cam Thomas, the Nets leading scorer at 24 points a game when healthy (he has played in just 25 games this season) is out for the rest of the season with a strained left hamstring. The big question: Will the restricted free agent this summer be back in Brooklyn next season? He says he wants to be, but he also wants to get paid. The money will talk.

26. Philadelphia 76ers (23-45, LW 24). Quentin Grimes is bringing the offense the 76ers thought Joel Embiid and Paul George — now both officially out for the season — would bring from Day 1. Since March started, Grimes is averaging 28.6 points a game, shooting 41.3% from 3, and has two 40+ point games and three more 30+ point games. He has been a force. Which means don’t be surprised if Nick Nurse is forced to sit him a little, Philly isn’t looking to win a lot of games as it tries to hold on to its top-six protected pick.

27. Charlotte Hornets (17-51, LW 28). The Hornets and Pelicans are in a “race” to see which team ends up with the third worst record in the NBA, and with that a 14% chance at the No. 1 pick (Cooper Flagg, if you want to know why, tune in to the NCAA Tournament this weekend). The Hornets have the third-worst record right now, just half a game worse than New Orleans, but games like the win last week over the Spurs make holding that spot difficult. Miami and Toronto (two struggling teams) are on the docket this week.

28. Washington Wizards (15-52, LW 29). Washington was so bad early in the season that things like surprising wins last week over Detroit and Denver don’t hurt its lottery odds — the Wizards can play to win, it will not matter in the standings. Well, it does a little, Wednesday night we get a tank-off game against the Jazz with two teams targeting the worst record in the league. We’ll see what rotation the Wizards roll out for that game.

29. New Orleans Pelicans (18-51, LW 25). While the most important development in the last month with the Pelicans is the impressive play of Zion Williamson — he’s built up his value, whether that’s to trade him or keep him is the question — it also matters that the Pelicans have found long-term depth in players such as s GG Jackson, Scotty Pippen Jr. and Vince Williams Jr. New Orleans is poised for a massive leap next season.

30. Utah Jazz (15-54, LW 30). While they may understand what is happening intellectually, all this losing—10 straight right now—is hard on Jazz fans. Utah doesn’t tank like this. If they finish with the worst record in the NBA, the Jazz are guaranteed a top-five pick, and the last time they had a pick in the top five was more than a decade ago, in 2014 (Dante Exum).