Around this time of year, all eyes turn to the top and middle of the NBA standings.
Which high seeds are championship favorites? Who might pull an upset? What are the play-in matchups?
All of that top-heavy attention means it can be easy to ignore the 10 teams at the bottom of the standings, whose seasons ended before the play-in tournament and won’t matter again until the draft lottery on May 12. But even the league’s largest losers are still worthy of a final farewell.
Let’s take one last look at the 10 eliminated teams and — to avoid ending on a sour note — offer one silver lining from each of their seasons. Plenty went wrong for this group, but across six-plus months and 82 games, there’s at least one positive takeaway for each team.
