Good morning.

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Since it’s just a few days after Christmas, I thought now would be a good time to check back in on the N.B.A. Christmas, after all, is perhaps the most celebrated day of the regular season, and a signal that we are almost halfway through it.

So I asked one of our N.B.A. experts, Marc Stein, to give us a little update on how California’s four teams are doing. He told me something surprising and raised an intriguing question: This is the 34th season in which California has housed four N.B.A. franchises — and the state is 0 for 33 when it comes to sending all four teams to the playoffs in the same season. Could this be the year that the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings finally conspire to end that drought?

As Marc pointed out, all four teams have winning records. Here’s his quick take on where each of them stands:

Warriors (23-13)

The champs are 15-5 when their four best players (Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson) have been healthy enough to play together — so no one is deeply worried about them just yet. But Green and Thompson are mired in shooting slumps, depth and advancing age are two more concerns and the team’s marquee off-season acquisition, DeMarcus Cousins, has yet to appear in a single game. It’s a good thing for the Warriors that the rest of the West, while ridiculously deep with competent teams, doesn’t appear to house a consensus threat to the overwhelming preseason favorites.