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Both NBA squads are gearing up for their nationally televised game, preparing for the proceedings by going through their typical layup lines. The Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers are ready to do battle as their best players get ready for yet another clash of wills following their offseason split.

But as LeBron James and Kyrie Irving dart in for finishes on opposite ends of the floor, with showstopping warm-up conversions that will dazzle any fans who got to the arena early, the lights in the stadium briefly flicker before the entire venue is plunged into darkness. When visibility is restored just seconds later, the two megastars are gone.

No one knows where they went, and reports slowly trickle in that every single organization is also attempting to figure out the disappearance of its best player.

Assuming these men can't be found before the end of the season, which squads would be in the best shape?

That's the hypothetical we're seeking to answer today by picking out each team's best player (determined by my joint rankings with Bleacher Report's Dan Favale of the league's 100 best contributors for the rest of the 2017-18 campaign). We're then using their off-court net ratings as a baseline for analysis. That number, though not always truly telling because of rotations, quality of opponent and other confounding factors, will serve as an initial indicator of team quality. After all, it's the literal representation of how the team in question performs without its best player.

Then comes the fun part as we try to figure out how the team would look and, in some cases, the accuracy of the listed figure.