As of April 2, the ranking of the three teams in the NBA West:
The Suns, 62 wins and 15 losses, with a win rate of 80.5%, are the first in the West and the first in the league;
The Grizzlies, 55-23, 70.5 percent wins, second in the West and second in the league;
The Lone Ranger, 48 wins and 30 losses, a win rate of 61.5%, fourth in the West, and the Warriors in the third place in the West are only 0.5 wins away, the Warriors have been in poor form recently, and have suffered four consecutive defeats, and the Lone Rangers have a good chance of surpassing them to rise to third place in the West.
Four years ago, in 2018, who would have thought that these three teams would become the strongest teams in the West, and in the 2017-2018 season, these three teams ranked in the bottom three of the league.
The Suns had Booker and Josh Jackson at the time, and the two youngsters only led the Suns to a 21-61 record, with a winning percentage of only 25.6%, ranking first in the West and 44 wins away from the team with the highest record in the West.
The Grizzlies had Conley and Gasol Jr., both of them were very good players, but the team didn't break through for years, and the team decided to rebuild, and that season they only achieved a record of 22 wins and 60 losses, with a winning percentage of only 26.8%, ranking second to the bottom of the West, 43 wins away from the team with the first record in the West.
The Lone Rangers had the twilight of Nowitzki and the young Dennis Smith, and in the season between the old and the new, the Lone Rangers' record was also particularly poor, that season they only achieved a record of 24 wins and 58 losses, the winning rate was only 29.3%, ranking third in the West, and 41 wins away from the team with the first record in the West.
In the next two years, the record of these three teams was still in the bottom five of the West, and the poor record allowed them to get high draft picks, select talented young players, and as these young players grew, the team was slowly on the rise.
The Suns selected Ayton in 2018, and Booker formed a dual-core lineup of one inside and one outside, the team achieved the tenth place in the West in the 2018-2019 season, and they achieved a good result of eight consecutive wins in the final stages, although they missed the playoffs, but they already had signs of rise.
The Suns signed top point guard Chris Paul in the offseason, and also signed 3D players like Crowder, plus the growth of Booker, Ayton, Bridges, C-Johnson and others, the Suns achieved a second-best result in the West and reached the Finals, unfortunately failing to beat the Bucks to win the championship.
This season they have become a more holistic team, performing at the top of the league on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and the whole team is holding their breath and vowing to get back the championship lost last season.
Paul's addition makes the Suns' rise less surprising, and the Grizzlies' rise this season is completely unexpected. Without a star to join, the Grizzlies turned around with Morant and Jackson Jr. and other young players, who beat the Warriors in the playoffs last season to finish in the playoffs with a eighth-place finish in the West and were eliminated 4-1 by the Jazz in the first round.
They still did not sign any stars in the offseason, but this season they achieved the second best result in the West, they are all soldiers on the offensive and defensive ends, even if the star Morant is absent due to injury, they still beat the Suns by the remnants, showing a terrifying strength, and it is very likely to become a spoiler in the West.
The Lone Rangers' rebuilding work was also completed very quickly, and the team selected Doncic in 2018, who led the team to the playoffs as the seventh in the West in the second season, and entered the playoffs with the fifth place in the West last season, but the team has not had a good second boss, Doncic is difficult to support, and the team has traveled to the playoffs for two consecutive years.
This season's Lone Ranger traded Porzingis in exchange for Dinwiddie and shooter Bertans, Dinwiddie has a good performance, but his performance is still not stable enough, I don't know if Doncic, who has continued to evolve this year, can lead the team through the first round of the playoffs, let's wait and see.
In four years, the three bottom teams in the West have become the top four teams in the West, and all have home advantage in the playoffs. And some of the strong teams of that year are still working hard for the playoffs, some have missed the playoffs, and the NBA has really changed.