The Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards currently hold two of the top three seeds, while the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers would compete in the play-in tournament if the season ended today.

Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Portland Trail Blazers

A strange early season could make for a difficult to navigate trade landscape for the Portland Trail Blazers

During the course of a season, the teams most likely to make a trade are squads on the lower end of the playoff bracket, clubs just on the outside looking in, or bottom-feeders hoping to sell off their veteran talent for future assets.

This season, the teams that were expected to land in each respective category have been flipped on their heads a little.

Of course, it’s still early in the season, but nearly a quarter of the way through, the contenders and pretenders are starting to make themselves known.