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15. Indiana Pacers

The Pacers lack the big-ticket talent the Wolves have in Towns, but most other teams fall short of Minnesota by that method of comparison. What Indy has that warrants a higher spot in the rankings are two All-Star caliber studs in Victor Oladipo and Myles Turner, and both are inked to fair deals that could become even bigger bargains as they age.

Oladipo's health is a concern after a ruptured quad tendon, but he just turned 27 and proved in 2017-18 that he's one of the toughest individual covers in the league. Turner is only 23, and he's already on the short list for Defensive Player of the Year this season.

In those two, the Pacers have anchors on either end—and it's not like they're one-way players. Oladipo can be a shutdown defender, and Turner will become a devastating offensive force as he adds three-point volume.

Indiana will have significant cap space this summer, a Coach of the Year candidate in Nate McMillan, the option to retain or flip Domantas Sabonis and an organizational history that produces playoff trips on the regular. The Pacers have missed the postseason six times in the last 30 years.

You can trust this team to maximize the considerable talent it has while also leveraging its flexibility to build on the margins. Being consistent, which the Pacers are, is not the same thing as being boring, which they definitely aren't.

14. Oklahoma City Thunder

Given their ages and levels of production, none of Thunder's top three players—Russell Westbrook (30), Paul George (29) and Steven Adams (25)—figure to be better next year than they were in 2018-19. That's a problem made worse by the fact that some of OKC's younger pieces, chiefly 20-year-olds Terrance Ferguson and Hamidou Diallo, haven't shown enough to inspire confidence that they're on the verge of leaps.

Jerami Grant added a three-point shot this past season, and he's a viable five-position defender. Beyond him, the Thunder are short on players we should expect to trend up in a meaningful way.

OKC will be competitive because of its best players, but Westbrook is in serious decline, and the long-term outlook here isn't great.

13. San Antonio Spurs

Heading into his age-34 season, LaMarcus Aldridge is a prime candidate for slippage. Fortunately for the Spurs, their young backcourt trio of Derrick White (24), Bryn Forbes (25) and (a healthy) Dejounte Murray (22) is one of the league's more exciting positional groups.

White and Murray should quickly become the NBA's best defensive guard duo, and Forbes is a dead-eye shooter who can hide on weaker matchups whenever he's sharing the floor with the other two. It's probably unrealistic to project consistent All-Star trips for any of those three guards, but San Antonio's backcourt will play winning ball.

The Spurs will continue to be the Spurs, a team committed to execution and allergic to B.S. There's nothing spectacular here, but you can bank on winning records and playoff trips in perpetuity.

12. Portland Trail Blazers

If Zach Collins becomes a reliable high-volume three-point shooter, you've got something interesting for the long term in Portland. But this is generally a win-now group defined by its veterans—who aren't particularly old, by the way. Evan Turner is the most senior Blazer, and he's only 30.

Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic, once healthy, give Portland the foundation of a playoff team for the next few seasons. If Al-Farouq Aminu doesn't stick around in free agency, perhaps Jake Layman or a re-signed Rodney Hood will absorb his minutes without hurting the Blazers' bottom line too badly.

Portland is a stable winner, and it figures to stay that way.

11. Dallas Mavericks

Luka Doncic's presence means the Mavs' future is bright, no matter what else happens this offseason.

It would certainly help if Dallas jumped into a top-five lottery spot, which would allow it to keep its first-rounder, and it'd be nice to have some certainty about Kristaps Porzingis' next contract—not to mention his health upon returning from a torn ACL.

But Doncic, already a transformational force as a rookie, is the key. A forward who can run an offense, spread the floor and empower teammates with his vision and IQ, Doncic is the ultra-rare superstar around whom you could construct virtually any kind of team. Dallas could have between $30 million and $40 million in cap room this summer, and it can confidently use that space to add shooting, size, ball-handling, defense or anything else. Whatever the Mavs do, Doncic will make it work.

The deal to add Porzingis forced the Mavs to take on ugly contracts for Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee. Add to that three future outgoing first-rounders between now and 2023, and the Mavs have several roster-building hindrances.

Good thing Doncic is there.