The 2022-2023 NBA season has seen an unprecedented amount of player movement throughout the season. With superstars being traded at high rates, the NBA is seeing a lot of new faces in new places. This has led to many teams rising to the top of the league who normally have been stuck at the bottom, while other teams who were preseason favorites have fallen to the bottom of the league after trading their superstars.

With the recent upticks in NBA player movement the media has portrayed the league as having a “championship or bust” mentality, resulting in players without rings to seek out teams with a chance to make the NBA finals. Players like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, D’Angelo Russell and Russell Westbrook are all notable players traded to playoff-contending teams during the middle of the season. This has led to some of these teams making a run to the playoffs.

The biggest surprise of the NBA season has by far been the Sacramento Kings. The Kings and their first year head coach Mike Brown made the playoffs for the first time since 2006. The Kings finished 48-34 this year, won the Pacific Division, and finished 3rd in the Western Conference. Led by young star De’Aaron Fox and all star big man Domantas Sabonis, the Kings are young and ready to make some noise in the playoffs.

The biggest disappointments of the season are the Dallas Mavericks and the Brooklyn Nets. Both teams had championship aspirations to begin the year, and both teams’ seasons ended with an underwhelming result. The Mavericks started the year with an MVP candidate in Luka Doncic, and, after a trade with [TEAM], All Star Kyrie Irving. With two superstars in the backcourt, the Mavs looked to make a second half run in the standings. However, after the trade for Irving, Dallas dropped from 7th to 11th in the standings and missed the playoffs entirely. The other disappointment was the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets came into the year with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. However, this star studded duo did not live up to the hype, as both stars were traded midseason, the Nets dropped to 6th in the Eastern Conference, and were swept by the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round.