now what with the divisons

Just like Memphis is in the South West Division, just because a team moves doesn’t mean they will switch divisions.

. . . then Portland being with Denver and Utah still makes sense.
If you were to split up the Cali teams, Golden State and Sac O’ Mentos should still be together.
Oh, hey – that’s five teams, right there.

And so now you have the LA teams and Phoenix in need of two joiners.
Take the two westernmost of those Southwest Six; Rand McNally tells me that San Antonio would be one,
but Houston, Dallas, and OKC make a pretty even NNE-to-SSW line for a tie for the other spot.
Go with Houston because of its proximity to San Antonio, and also because
Dallas and OKC are so close together, they should stay in the same division.

So now you’ve got four teams in the Southwest, and Minnesota is hangin’ out there from the Northwest shakeup.
Put Minnie in the Central where they fit naturally, and it’s a six-team Central and a four-team Southwest.
Move one Central team (if it’s Minnie anyway, so be it) into the Southwest, and we’re good.

Hmmmmm. Who’s it going to be?
Moving west-to-east, it’s Minnie, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indy, Detroit, Cleveland.
Indiana is easily the southernmost. Done.

So, here’s the new realignment:

Western Conference
Northwest: Denver, Utah, Sac, GS, and Portland
Water Shortage Division: Clips, L[xxx]rs, Suns, Spurs, Rockets
Big Buckle Division: Indiana, Memphis, OKC, Dallas, New Orleans

Eastern Conference
Hockey Division: Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland
The Freaking Commute Division: Toronto, Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Philly
Anti-Hockey Division: Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta, Miami, Orlando
(why the NHL is in every one of these markets, if you count Orlando as being in Tampa’s market,
I’ll never understand. Gary Bettman is a freaking IDIOT.)
_

There’s also the expansion scenario; with Seattle and Las Vegas both on the path to getting franchises,
let’s assume an expansion would see those two added, for 32 teams in all, with the NFL alignment model:
Sixteen teams per conference, in four divisions of four teams each.
This makes it even easier to send Minnie East; there’d be no team coming back in return.

Then it might be something like THIS:

East:
Minnie, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indy
Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, Boston
NY, Brooklyn, Philly, DC
Heat, Magic, Hawks, Charlotte

West:
Phoenix, Vegas, Clips, L[xxx]rs
Denver, Utah, Spurs, Houston
Hornets, Dallas, OKC, Memphis
Sac, GS, Seattle, Portland

Unless you think expansion ain’t gonna happen (I think it SHOULDN’T; will-vs-won’t is another matter),
bet on this (or some other 32-teams, four-divisions-of-four-teams-per-conference scenario).
If so, the soon-to-be-Sooner team will stay in the Northwest, but only temporarily, pending expansion.

For starters, MLB realigned to the unbalanced leagues (NL-16, AL-14) because if they were an even 15-15, there would be at least one team off EVERY DAY, which is simply not feasible in the MLB schedule. The unbalanced league format is a necessity because the leagues don’t play each other with the exception of interleague play, and even then it’s only a two-team disparity. A six-team difference is too much, and with two of the poorer West teams moving east, the loss of playoff spots would simply result in more deserving teams from the West being left out. A clever and unorthodox idea, but it’s just a little too far out there.

its not like he tried to score your wife or girlfriend.