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The way things look at the moment, with several contenders outpacing the Golden State Warriors in record, net rating and general top-down harmony, the best way for teams to prevent a Dubs three-peat might be doing nothing at all.

Empires collapse on their own all the time. It's the natural order of things.

Except...if you're a team with a shot to knock off the Warriors, don't you have to take it? It's not just Golden State's window that's finite; everyone else's has a particular lifespan too. So dangerous clubs like the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors should strike while they can because nothing guarantees they'll be as good if/when the Warriors erode completely in a couple of years.

These deals are all about improving the teams with the best chance to beat the Warriors in the postseason. We're trying to create contenders by shoring up specific weaknesses that are holding back these squads from their full potential. And you'd better believe it'll take a team meeting its full potential to keep Golden State from collecting another ring when it hits the switch this spring.

Save for our first suggestion, these won't be magic bullets. Instead, they'll provide marginal help in areas of need. Maybe they'll be enough to beat the Warriors in a playoff series, and maybe they won't. That uncertainty shouldn't prevent all of these teams from pursuing every avenue toward improvement. The smallest change could make the biggest difference.