The 2024/25 NBA season is now less than 60 days away. As ever, the ensuing weeks before opening night tend to be filled with pundits’ predictions, power rankings, and other elements of crystal ball gazing to make pronouncements on what shall be.
Of course, it rarely works out that way, and every pundit – even the great ones – has come off looking foolish when preseason predictions go wayward.
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We thought we would go a different way, offering one line of opinion on every NBA team. Stopping short of making outright predictions, each line aims to suggest what could be the narrative for each of the 30 teams in the 2024/25 NBA season.
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
Boston Celtics
A team that has all the attributes to start building another Celtics dynasty.
Brooklyn Nets
Plenty of prospects but the 2024/25 season is way too early for Nets 2.0.
New York Knicks
Roster depth should transform them from dark horses to contenders
Philadelphia 76ers
Currently ranked 3rd favorite for the Championship in the NBA odds, which seems right.
Toronto Raptors
2019 feels like a very, very long time ago.
Central Division
Chicago Bulls
Will struggle to break .500 once again.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland could be the surprise package of the season.
Detroit Pistons
Player development, not wins, is the focus for the foreseeable future.
Indiana Pacers
Good talent, great coaches, and the Playoffs are in reach again.
Milwaukee Bucks
Giannis Antetokounmpo can guide this team to the top (again).
Southeast Division
Atlanta Hawks
With all due respect, non-Hawks fans might forget they are in the league.
Charlotte Hornets
Their odds are as much as 1,000/1 with some sportsbooks, which says a lot.
Miami Heat
Middling performance last season, and the same for next season.
Orlando Magic
A team for the future – just not fully cooking yet
Washington Wizards
An improvement on last season’s dismal 15-67 record is not guaranteed.
Western Conference
Northwest Division
Denver Nuggets
They need to prove they have more depth beyond Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards can make Minnesota credible contenders.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Vying with Boston for the most complete team in the NBA, so they are understandably second favorites for the title.
Portland Trail Blazers
Signs of defensive improvement won’t be enough to satisfy fans.
Utah Jazz
Teams worse than them strengthened better in the offseason.
Pacific Division
Golden State Warriors
Experience (and Steph Curry) might see them sneak into the Playoffs.
Los Angeles Clippers
A below average team will struggle in a stacked Western Conference.
Los Angeles Lakers
LeBron James needs more help and probably won’t get it.
Phoenix Suns
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker can prove the Suns’ critics wrong.
Sacramento Kings
DeMar DeRozan can shake things up for Mike Brown’s under-the-radar team.
Southwest Division
Dallas Mavericks
Klay Thompson, Naji Marshall, and Quentin Grimes should make last season’s runners-up better.
Houston Rockets
A young team is capable of surprising everyone next season.
Memphis Grizzlies
Look out for Zach Edey next season.
New Orleans Pelicans
Too many roster issues to sort out before we can talk about contending.
San Antonio Spurs
A team can be built around the brilliant Victor Wembanyama.
