The 2023–2024 NBA season is upon us. While this season doesn’t feature the super teams of years past, no season in recent memory featured so many teams that could contend for a title. In this article, let’s look at some of those teams.
Denver Nuggets
You knew this piece would feature the Nuggets. Denver is the defending world champion after storming to its first-ever NBA championship last season on the back of two-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Fans would be hard-pressed to find a more dominant postseason performance than Denver managed the previous season. They finished the season as the number-one seed in the Western Conference and lost just four games in the postseason.
This year, they might be even better. The Nuggets bring back all its key pieces from last season, including Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr, and Aaron Gordon. More importantly, they are all healthy and getting better. Thanks to his improved health, Porter Jr had a career year last season, and Murray was dominant in the postseason, showing he might have more upside in his game. The NBA odds here will heavily favor the Nuggets this season.
Milwaukee Bucks
Denver may be the overwhelming favorite after last season, but no team has more buzz around it than the Bucks. Since Giannis Antetokounmpo became a perennial MVP candidate, Milwaukee has always been in contention, ultimately winning it all in 2020. However, a first-round exit in the 2023 playoff tapered those expectations a bit.
That is until the news broke that Blazers star Damien Lillard was coming to town. The Bucks were already among the favorites to win the Eastern Conference, but they are now the clear favorite with Lillard in the picture. It’s NBA Finals or Bust for Giannis and the Milwaukee Bucks.
Los Angeles Lakers
Seeing the Lakers on this list might surprise and even annoy some fans. After all, they won just 43 games last season. LeBron James is the greatest player of his generation and arguably the best player of all time, but he’s also entering his age-39 season. Anthony Davis is a superstar at his best but is often injured and inconsistent.
Those things are all true, but it is undeniable that the Lakers are a threat when they are healthy. Los Angeles isn’t likely to light up the regular season. It is unreasonable to expect LeBron and Davis to play a full slate of games. With that said, if they get to the postseason healthy, they will be a factor in a weak Western Conference. They aren’t beating the Nuggets, but they could find themselves playing them again in the Western Conference Finals.
Boston Celtics
If the Bucks are the most exciting team on this list and Los Angeles the most surprising, the Celtics are the most complicated. NBA fans know what they are capable of. Jayson Tatum is a superstar. It’s easy to forget that he helped lead the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals as a rookie and gave LeBron and the Cavaliers a run for their money. Jaylen Brown is a reliable, if not exceptional, scorer and a great defender. He also signed a huge contract in the offseason.
With that said, this team lacks some identity. Joe Mazzulla, Boston’s oft-criticized head coach, came in with the desire to make the Celtics an offensive team. He emphasized the three-point shot, a common emphasis in today’s NBA. The only problem was that Boston sometimes lacked the personnel for that vision. Furthermore, it took away from their defensive identity that had brought the young Tatum and Brown teams so much early success. That identity took a deeper plunge this offseason with the departure of Marcus Smart — in many ways, the glue that held this team together.
The Celtics are one of the best teams in the NBA. They can compete with any team on their best day. However, it’s hard to know what to expect from them. And questions still linger about Tatum’s ability to be the number one option on a championship team and about Brown’s ability to be a playmaker at the end of games.
Miami Heat
We need to be honest. Miami isn’t one of the NBA’s best-performing teams, at least not until the playoffs. They thought Lillard would come to Miami and called Milwaukee’s bluff. It didn’t pay off, and now, without extra help, superstar Jimmy Butler is back where he has been for several seasons. That is, without any significant star power help.
With that said, we cannot overlook this team. Miami Heat may lack the talent of other top teams and a viable second-scoring option compared to other contenders — and they’ve watched teams around them get better. However, that doesn’t change the fact that they have made the NBA Finals twice in the past four seasons and were a game away from a third appearance, not to mention that last year’s Finals appearance came as the eighth seed. There must be some kind of magic down in Miami.
Conclusion: What Can We Expect?
It’s hard to say this early what to expect from the NBA’s top-performing teams. However, we have a good idea of who will still be playing come June, and the odds are that these five teams will be among those on that field.
