Jalen Suggs has emerged as a premier perimeter defender and passing lane pest, but he also is their best trade chip outside of their core of Banchero, Wagner and Bane. Black has emerged in a way that may make the tandem of Suggs and Black redundant. The direction of the franchise may be decided with what happens with Suggs and/or Black in the next two years.

Both Carter Jr. and Bitadze are serviceable NBA rotation level centers, and Banchero can play over into the center position if need be but there are some questions about how the performance of the center position may be a place of improvement for Orlando.

The emergence of a new core has lead to questions about how George and Embiid will be integrated and financially managed as the new core is incubated in the Philadelphia system.

Edgecombe and Maxey have become inherent to the future of the organization. The questions come when Grimes and Oubre are concerned as both are free agents and leadership will need to evaluate whether this pair are ideal running mates for this group.

This core has proven that they can win together, but Butler’s injury on an already truncated window simply due to age brings the move to bring in Porzingis under the microscope. If Porzingis and Butler can get and stay healthy for the stretch run next season, this could be the last run for Curry and Green.

Simply put, the question we have been asking for years, what happens when Steph and Draymond move on?

The Clippers have systematically built their cap sheets to clear in 2027 which leads to questions about whether they will be willing to sacrifice flexibility for one more run.

It will be interesting to watch how the Clippers handle their recent addition in restricted free agency, which has been increasingly hostile in recent years.