Feeling glum about your NBA team this holiday season? Here's a wishlist that is sure to cheer you up (Maybe)

As the holidays near, it’s easy to imagine the wishlists of certain NBA teams across the league. We’ve highlighted what specific teams should be asking Santa to course-correct their season or become the contender we all expected. Let’s dive into the top 10.

It’s been a strange trip since the Mavericks’ 2021 Western Conference Finals run. Jason Kidd and former Nike shoe salesman and current general manager Nico Harrison botched the Kristaps Porzingis experiment and let Jalen Brunson walk for nothing. They have also lost the perimeter defensive anchors Dorian Finney-Smith and Reggie Bullock, who fortified their perimeter game. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are as miserable on defense as they are great on offense. Rookie Dereck Lively has been a surprising anchor in the middle, but is forced to clean up tons of mistakes and blow-bys by the Mavs’ wings, unable to keep their man in front of them. Josh Green failed to make the jump Mavs Twitter predicted and has been bad on defense. Dante Exum and Derrick Jones Jr. have resurrected their once-defunct careers, but lack the size and strength to bully bigger, high-scoring wings. With minimal trade chips, the Mavs’ improvement must be internal.

Tom Thibodeau recently benched Grimes for Donte DiVincenzo, who has been hot off the bench, but put forth a Grimes-esque performance in his first start (six points on 2/6 shooting). Grimed had the freedom and touches off the bench to put up 13 points on 5 of 10 shooting. The issue with the Knicks isn’t Grimes’ lack of development. It’s the role of the starting shooting guard under Thibs. With three high-volume scorers and heavy isolation dudes in Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Jalen Brunson, Grimes has no room to have a bigger role or more shots. It doesn’t matter who you put in that role, their production and usage will plummet. At least Grimes provides elite point-of-attack defense, which was missing when replaced by DiVincenzo’s man, Derrick White, who cooked him for 30 points on 10 of 16 shooting. Thibs be Thibbin’.

If there is one major criticism to levy on Sam Presti, it’s his reluctance to use his cap space or historic pick horde on veterans to help the team win now. Thunder fans are some of the biggest sycophants in the NBA and refuse to critique Presti, who is God to them. But the emergence of Chet Holmgren has fast-tracked the Thunder’s timeline. Presti needs to package the Davis Bertans of the world and picks for vets to bring strength and defensive edge to the frontcourt, not to mention a viable backup point guard for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Targets like Clint Capela and Daniel Gafford, or even bringing back Jerami Grant, would immediately take this team from pretender to contender.

Charlotte has been teaching the NBA how not to run a franchise for more than a decade. They have seemingly taken the wrong pick in every draft except in 2011 (Kemba Walker) and 2020 (LaMelo Ball). Worse than the on-court product Michael Jordan has constructed is the optics around their ethics as a franchise. Case in point: Miles Bridges. There is zero reason a man who beat in the face of a woman, made even worse in front of their kids, then threw a brick at her car should be allowed to rejoin the NBA. The NBA is also responsible for its light suspension and poor judgment in handling the situation. Even with Jordan selling his stake in the franchise, the precedent for moral reprehensibility will likely remain the status quo.

Regarding Evan Mobley’s offensive game, I predicted things to be far along by now. Yet, Mobley has maintained his 15.5 PPG average over three seasons while his attempts per game (12 per game) remain the same. Starting next to Jarett Allen demands more creativity from Mobley, as the young forward is the more promising of the two. Allen is a classic center, bruising, a beast on the boards, but severely limited offensively outside lobs and dunks. Mobley has the size, first step and handle to be the next coming of Kevin Garnett. It’s not just about the horrid perimeter shooting, but his lack of a post-up or face-up game. Worse, there are moments where Mobley fades from the offense due to passivity, such as when he only took five shots against the Detroit Pistons, a team he should have dominated.

This one is fairly simple: The playoffs are a hell no and will stay that way. The Pistons just need that oasis in the desert. One solitary win will be enough to put them out of their misery. With a month against the Pacers, 76ers, Bucks and Hawks, it looks like Santa will be skipping Little Ceaser’s Arena this year.

The Chris Paul experience has been awkward, at the least. But the team isn’t waiting for him to find the Fountain of Youth. The most concerning piece is Andrew Wiggins, the best defensive player on their 2022 Championship team. There was even a case where he should have been Finals MVP. After a mysterious absence last season and critiques of the shape in which he entered training camp, Wiggins has been awful (41.4 FG%, 26.4 3P%). If he were to regain his 2022 form, he could elevate the Warriors back to contender status and prolong the eventual demise of their dynasty. If not, he is the primary candidate to be traded before the deadline for an injection of youth and defense.

Hey, the Rockets already got their stocking stuffer when they smacked the defending champ Nuggets last week in Denver for their first road win. Now, if they could string together a few more, it would fortify their tremendous turn-around under Ime Udoka, as they are already dominating at home. But to prepare for the playoffs, where they will surely be the lower-seed team in the first two rounds, they will need to show an ability to bring it on the road.

It took Rick Carlise three seasons to turn the Indiana Pacers into the high-flying version of his Dallas Mavericks teams. But since acquiring Tyrese Haliburton, which was a controversial move at the time by sending out All-Star big man Domantis Sabonis, the Pacers are the best offensive team in the NBA. After adding Obi Toppin for a mere two second-round picks, they got the perfect lob complement to Haliburton’s high-octane court vision. Along with veteran big Myles Turner manning the middle and Benedict Mathurin continuing his stellar offensive growth, they are almost set. Almost, except they need a big, defensive-minded wing to hold court with the NBA’s lethal array of perimeter threats. Luckily, Indiana feels like a fun place to play for the first time in over a decade, thanks to their free-motion style. With many assets in hand, it shouldn’t be hard to convince Santa to bring them an available wing like De’Andre Hunter or OG Anunoby in time for Christmas.

While Jeremy Sochan masquerading as a point guard has been great Greg Popovich theater, watching how hard Victor Wembanyama has had to work compared to how easy Chet Homgren’s shots come, proves the Spurs need a true lead guard. The lead-guard spot is the only position the Spurs have left to fill. Wemby is too good and this team has too high a ceiling to not go all-in on a dynamic guard either through the draft or via trade. The Spurs are still top three in assists per game, thanks to a pass-first culture under Pop, imagine what could be if they added a facilitator to this group.