For those of you owners of Mike Miller, Joe Johnson, Andrew Bogut, Ray Allen, etc, who think that this is about as bad as it’s gonna get, I’ve got some bad news for you:  It’s only going to get worse from here.  As we get even closer to the end of the season, teams are going to have even less incentive to play, and studs are going to start sitting more and more.  Let’s look at a few teams who could, by the time the weekend is through, have thrown in the towel, and what that might mean for you:

Sacramento Kings
The Kings are a great bet to have someone come out of nowhere to me a real fantasy force over the last few weeks of the year.  Why?  For one, they’ve got 12 games left this year still, tied for most in the league with Washington, Milwaukee and Denver.  Two, they’ve got plenty of disgruntled veterans who would be more than happy to sit out - Brad Miller has already called it quits, Ron Artest may or may not even be in the NBA by this time next week, and Mike Bibby is so ready to be done with this season it isn’t even funny.  And three, they’ve got a couple of guys who have the potential to be fantasy factors if they’re given enough PT.  John Salmons has flirted on and off with fantasy value all year and, given enough PT and enough offensive attention has the potential to be a 15-5-5 guy.  Francisco Garcia, meanwhile, has regressed from his disappointing rookie year but could be a source of threes if he’s relied on much for offense, as well.  The Kings are hanging on for dear life in the playoff race, play twice this weekend, and could be essentially out of it by Monday.

Minnesota Timberwolves
Oh, Kevin Garnett, how we feel for ya.  Was it really just a few weeks ago that you and the Timberwolves went on a three game winning streak and were right in the thick of things for a chance to make the playoffs?  Well, not anymore.  The T-Wolves have lost 3 of 4 and 7 of their last 10 and are now 4 games out of the 8th spot in the West, with four teams ahead of them.  Now, the Wolves are going to play their best as long as possible because it would make Kevin McHale look even MORE ridiculous if they didn’t trade Garnett AND tanked in the same season, but eventually they’ll be so far out that Garnett and probably Ricky Davis will find reasons to wear suits on the bench.  This could be great news for guys like Craig Smith and Randy Foye should it happen.  The Wolves play their next four games against East Coast opponents and we may have already seen Kevin Garnett’s final intra-conference game as a Timberwolf.

Indiana Pacers
Now, the Pacers don’t look all that close to being out of it, but check out this nugget from Chad Ford’s chat on ESPN.com yesterday: “Yeah, the Pacers have a huge incentive to tank. If their pick is 11 or higher, they have to send it to Atlanta. If it’s 10 or lower they keep it.”  I did not know that!  Something gives me the feeling that Jermaine O’Neal may sit out some more games because of this, if not now than later when they COULD be out of it.  In fact, their itchy tanking trigger finger might be in effect as early as next week after they host both the Spurs and Pistons.  That’s probably great news for Danny Granger, probably awful news for Jermiane O’Neal, and who the hell knows for the rest of the team.