March 10, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul (3) during a stoppage in play against the Detroit Pistons during the first half at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

First and foremeost, no Los Angeles Lakers fans; you’re not getting Chris Paul. But the market for Paul going into his ninth season as NBA player. He’s as elite a point guard as they come and with probably 3-4 years left in his prime he’ll have a nice market once free agency begins. The question is where he’ll end up. Though the masses think he’ll return to the Los Angeles Clippers there are a few teams out there that could use Chris Paul’s services. Here are four teams Paul could be playing for come October:

Los Angeles Clippers

The Clips are the perennial favorites as I stated before. Coming off their best year in franchise history, the Clippers have the tools to be a contender in the league. The problem is that Vinny Del Negro is holding them back in ways unimaginable. He’ll return to a team that features Blake Griffin, Jamal Crawford and DeAndre Jordan. This core doesn’t scream championship, but with the right person heading the ship there could be a chance. Also the Clippers can offer Paul $30 million more than anyone else in the league can. For a guard who’s had numerous knee troubles this may be his best chance to cash out and contend before his prime years are over with.

Dallas Mavericks & Atlanta Hawks

Paul could probably end up in Dallas or Atlanta if superstar Dwight Howard joins him. And if D12 does, then Dallas is a far more attractive destination than Atlanta. Dallas is a better basketball market, has an owner in Mark Cuban who’s willing to spend whatever’s necessary to win and a proven star in Dirk Nowitzki to be the third wheel. A Paul-Howard-Al Horford combination would be solid, the biggest knack on playing in the Eastern conference is that you have to go through the 4-time MVP in Lebron James just to get to the NBA Finals. Most would be better off meeting him there instead of having to go through him. Dirk has stated that he’d be willing to take a pay cut so Howard and Paul could join the team, so there’s a chance these three could be Big 3 West if the Clippers slip up and let him walk.

Houston Rockets

Would you be surprised if Daryl Morey pulls this one off? Not at all. I’m not sure how James Harden would co-exist nor am I sure that this team’s current roster + Paul is better than the current Clippers roster, so that may be problematic. But Paul/Harden would become the best backcourt in basketball and pose a threat in the Western Conference. Often the Rockets problem was that they couldn’t get anything going when Harden wasn’t being amazing. The Rockets were one piece from beating a Russell Westbrook-less Oklahoma City Thunder team and even when Westbrook was playing they kept it close. Chris Paul’s talent is good enough to push them out of the first round, but overall team depth may be a problem when it’s time to start thinking Finals.

The Western Conference is far superior to the Eastern Conference when it comes to good basketball teams and better talent. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-US PRESSWIRE

While I’ve been writing articles comparing the Los Angeles Clippers to other teams in the Pacific Division, I’ve re-realized something — the Western Conference still has better teams with more talent than the Eastern Conference.

I’ve only written match up posts on three teams: the Los Angeles Lakers, the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns, and I’ve already came to this conclusion. Who knows what else could come to mind as we venture through the league (stay tuned, the Sacramento Kings and possibly the top team from the Northwest Division will publish later today).

The Lakers took Dwight Howard from the Eastern Conference, along with Antwan Jamison and Jodie Meeks. Meeks may seem irrelevant but role players who can come off the bench and score 10 points a night seem to be rare these days.

A guy who can come off the bench and drop 10-to-15 points a night seems to be a rarity in the NBA these days. Jodie Meeks is one of those guys. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Andrew Bogut, a top-five center when healthy, was traded to the Warriors at the trade deadline last season. Then Golden State grabbed Harrison Barnes in the draft. Barnes has the athletic ability and basketball IQ to become an All-Star — time will tell. Package them around Stephen Curry, David Lee and Klay Thompson, and the Warriors are a scary team.

Phoenix grabbed Kendall Marshall in the draft, who could very well be the next Steve Nash or Mark Jackson and stayed within the Western Conference with their pick-ups of Luis Scola and Michael Beasley.

Speaking of the draft, the New Orleans Hornets’ took Anthony Davis (duh) with the first selection of the 2012 NBA draft and then the Sacramento Kings took Thomas Robinson with the fifth pick. I still think Robinson is going to be the best player out of this draft when we look back in five years.

I’ve spoke about the Clippers adding Lamar Odom, Jamal Crawford and Grant Hill many times because I think the Clips are the deepest team in the league. Then they added Matt Barnes to solidify my statement.

Matt Barnes is a Clipper. He adds a third small forward who can play a major role when needed behind Caron Butler and Grant Hill. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

Sure, last season, the Eastern Conference (the New York Knicks) stole Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire. But in all honesty, the Denver Nuggets won the trade with the Knicks because they’ve been a playoff team with high upside while the Knicks have been a laughing matter, an easy first-round out. Stoudemire looked broken last season and Anthony continues to be a team cancer because he is a me-first guy who chucks his team into losses.

The Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics have great players and are a challenge to any Western Conference team.

The Chicago Bulls have a top point guard in Derrick Rose — who might not play until mid-way through the season as he rehabs from knee surgery –, an All-Star in Luol Deng and maybe a soon to be All-Star in Joakim Noah. But injuries ruined last season and the salary cap has forced them to lose their depth and package scrubs around the stars.

I’m no longer counting the Bulls as a power team.

Besides Miami and Boston, the rest of the top 10 teams in the NBA could all very well come from the west: Lakers, Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets and the Memphis Grizzlies.

Next to these seven teams, the Eastern Conference looks super weak.

The Philadelphia 76ers gained Andrew Bynum, but who knows how the team is actually going to play since Andre Iguodala, an NBA elite defender, is in Denver and Lou Williams, the Sixth Man of the Year and leading scorer last season, is an Atlanta Hawk.

Lou Williams played a major role in the No. 8 Philadelphia 76ers eliminating the No. 1 Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs. Chica Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE

Atlanta brought in Williams but then lost Joe Johnson to the Brooklyn Nets. Williams is behind Anthony Morrow on the depth chart and the Hawks have Kyle Korver as a starting small forward. Korver is not a starter in the NBA.

The Hawks like the Nets have some talent, but the pieces don’t seem to mesh into winning basketball. At least not winning in the terms of playing a power team in the west. Don’t get me wrong, I like Deron Williams, Gerald Wallace and Johnson, but this isn’t a legit big three in terms of winning playoff series against the best of the best and they don’t have great role players around them besides Kris Humphries. Brook Lopez could be a beast, but he hasn’t stayed healthy to this point in his career.

Brook Lopez can be a great player on both sides of the ball. The Brooklyn Nets will most definitely need a healthy Lopez this season. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

If he can, the Nets could very well move into the Miami and Boston group because Lopez is an All-Star level player.

But that’s it. There isn’t another team that I’d even consider to move in Class A. Not even the Indiana Pacers, who looked strong last season, but didn’t do anything to bolster their lineup in the off-season.

Similar to seasons past, the Western Conference has multiple dominant teams with four or five that could legitimately win a ring, while the east only has a few. It never hurts to have LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh on the same team.

The problem is, the rest of the conference is rather week and doesn’t stand much of a chance this season except against the rest of the teams in the east. The Cleveland Cavaliers are able to beat the Orlando Magic and vice-verse. But when playoff time comes, they knock each other off and two teams get beat by Miami and Boston. This isn’t very engaging basketball to me because we already know who is going to win.

I would put my life savings on the Denver Nuggets — finished sixth in the west last season — against any team in the east besides Boston and Miami in a seven game series.

This of course says everything about the competition in the west and the lackadaisical rosters in the east.