After several long months, NBA basketball returns on Tuesday night. With a wide-open title race, an influx of must-see rookies headlined by Victor Wembanyama, and a handful of potential game-changing trade targets, the 2023-24 season promises to be great. To mark the league’s return, our staff weighed in with their title predictions as well as the teams, players, and story lines they can’t wait to watch.
1. What is the most interesting team of 2023-24?
Rob Mahoney: The Milwaukee Bucks. There are fascinating things happening at every level of the organization. At the top of the roster, you have one of the most awesome combinations of superstar talents we’ve seen in quite some time. Giannis Antetokounmpo finally gets to work opposite an explosive lead guard, and Damian Lillard finally gets to play off of the kind of do-it-all big he never had in Portland. Together, they should have the sort of output that melts defenses. Yet just about everything else with the Bucks feels a touch uncertain. A lot will be asked of Khris Middleton (at 32 years old, coming off a string of injuries) and Brook Lopez (35), without much margin for error. This season will be an open tryout for a rotation that already feels thin, which turns players like Jae Crowder, Malik Beasley, and MarJon Beauchamp into figures of sudden leaguewide importance. That’s enough to make any contender nervous. It’s all happening under the watch of first-time head coach Adrian Griffin, who lost his top assistant before Milwaukee even made it out of camp. We’ll be talking about the Bucks all season as a contender, an experiment, a trade option, a buyout destination, and so much more.
The Ringer’s Top 100 Players in the NBA rankings are back! Check in throughout the 2024-25 season for updated analysis on the players who are making a splash.
Howard Beck: Is there any team with a wider range of outcomes than the Pelicans? If Zion Williamson stays healthy (I know, I know), they could be a top-four team in the stacked Western Conference. If Zion follows his usual trajectory—dominate for four to six weeks, sit for four to six months—they will be a lottery team. Remember, the Pels spent most of December 2022 in first or second place in the West, before plummeting due to injuries to Brandon Ingram and Zion.
At full strength, this team has enough star power, shooting, defense, and depth to contend. (Sadly, the Pels are already dealing with injuries to Trey Murphy III, Jose Alvarado, and Naji Marshall, though none are considered long term.) It’s also fair to wonder whether this is the last chance this group will get, especially if Zion’s season goes south again. The Pels have quietly endured his repeated injuries, his spotty fitness, his questionable work habits, and some ugly off-court drama. How much more patience will they have? Team officials have tested the trade market before. Another disastrous season could spell the end of the partnership altogether.
Michael Pina: The Minnesota Timberwolves are positioned to be exactly what their front office envisioned a year ago, before Karl-Anthony Towns missed four months and their playoff hopes were dashed without even a chance to get off the ground. Now, with All-NBA talent, depth, size, shooting, and what could be one of the best starting lineups, it’ll be fascinating to see just how good Minnesota can be.
Seerat Sohi: The all-in-on-offense Phoenix Suns, who traded the disgruntled Deandre Ayton and what little resistance they could provide on defense for the flat-footed, rebound-munching pick-and-roll bomber that is Jusuf Nurkic. This, of course, comes after they traded two 3-and-D dynamos for Kevin Durant and shipped Chris Paul off in exchange for Bradley Beal.
The Suns’ blisteringly efficient new Big Three all had true shooting percentages over 59 percent last season and will make about $50 million apiece next season, when the punitive implications of going over the second apron of the luxury tax will kick in. This is an experiment in unorganized but explosive excess—from the firepower down to the cap sheet—and the biggest existential threat to the adage that defense wins championships that this league has ever seen.
Zach Kram: After a tremendously weird season—the home-road splits! the preseason practice punch!—the Warriors enter the 2023-24 campaign at something of a crossroads. Jordan Poole and James Wiseman are gone. Longtime frenemy Chris Paul is here. Klay Thompson could be a free agent after the season.
And yet, the Warriors still have the pieces to compete for another title. Steph Curry hasn’t displayed any real signs of slippage. Jonathan Kuminga starred in the preseason. And if the Paul experiment works, Golden State will be positioned for all sorts of compelling narrative glory—Paul’s first title! Curry’s fifth!—come spring.
Danny Chau: The Oklahoma City Thunder. More than a decade after building one of the most exciting young teams the league has ever seen, Sam Presti finds himself back in familiar territory: on the verge of a breakthrough with a top-10 player, a talented core, and a preseason Rookie of the Year hopeful. The arrival of Chet Holmgren could change everything. The Thunder are no strangers to developing an athletic, sweet-shooting rim protector—the last great Thunder team reached its apex the season it fully realized what it had in Serge Ibaka—and yet Holmgren’s presence looms much larger. His ceiling is incalculable, his offensive flexibility makes Ibaka’s skill set seem downright primordial, and his dynamic radius on defense fills the biggest gap remaining in the Thunder’s scouting report.
And if it doesn’t all go to plan? Well, there’s always the ever-replenishing bounty of first-round picks that Presti has amassed, ripe for a blockbuster trade. It feels impossible that the Thunder would find themselves in any way boring. They will shock the league one way or another.
Justin Verrier: The Minnesota Timberwolves. Anyone who spends time around Anthony Edwards quickly becomes convinced of his superstar potential. But can the Wolves clear a runway for his ascension with two centers clogging the lane? And if they do move Karl-Anthony Towns and his gargantuan contract, is Ant ready for all that comes with being the clear-cut face of a franchise after a mixed run as Team USA’s go-to guy in the World Cup? There’s a lot to like about Minnesota but maybe even more to figure out.
Logan Murdock: The Boston Celtics. Last season, Boston’s offense transformed under first-year coach Joe Mazzulla. But the team couldn’t get out of the shadow of Ime Udoka’s preseason departure and was left to adjust to its new head coach on the fly.
Over the summer, the Celtics filled Mazzulla’s staff with veteran assistants like Sam Cassell, Charles Lee, and Phil Pressey. They traded for Kristaps Porzingis and, most recently, Jrue Holiday and re-signed Jaylen Brown to the richest contract in NBA history. The moves make the Celtics better on paper, but the banners in the Garden are getting dusty, and it’s time to add to the trophy case. Each of the past two seasons has ended in disappointment, including a seven-game collapse against the Heat last May, which brought their team’s toughness into question and put their new coach on the hot seat. This year, I’m excited to see the two Jays™️ take on the challenge of sky-high expectations and use everything they’ve learned over the years to finally reach the NBA mountaintop.
2. Which player are you most excited to watch in 2023-24?
Kram: My editor asked for about 200 words to answer this question. I need only 13: Anyone who picks a player other than Victor Wembanyama is lying to themselves.
Chau: Tyrese Maxey. More than anything, I’m ready to see a thunder-and-lightning dynamic with Joel Embiid and a lead guard who isn’t fraught with emotional, psychological, or physiological drama. Is that too much to ask?
Maxey doesn’t have the immense size of Ben Simmons, the two-way potential we saw in Markelle Fultz predraft, or the creativity and experience of James Harden, but he does have the rarest of qualities for a Sixer: reliability. And speed—absolutely blistering, scheme-bending speed—along with one of the softest touches in the game. Maxey is the fastest player that Nick Nurse has ever coached in the NBA, and he’ll generate rim pressure in ways neither of Nurse’s stout star point guards in Toronto could. (Just thinking about how a tactical fanatic like Nurse might experiment with a guard outside the Kyle Lowry mold is exciting.) But the precedent is there for Maxey to have an even bigger breakout than he did last season. Fred VanVleet’s development arc—an off-ball player whose sharp increase in on-ball reps turned him into an All-Star and max-contract recipient—could be a sign of things to come.
Beck: Let’s not get cute here, OK? Sure, we could talk about Dame’s new partnership with Giannis or Zion’s newfound fitness (fingers crossed) or the potential for another quantum leap by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But with apologies to all (as well as Scoot, Steph, Ja, LeBron, and the Joker), there’s only one right answer here: It’s the super-tall, super-stretchy, physics-defying, mind-bending French dude down in San Antonio.
Victor Wembanyama isn’t just talented. He’s mesmerizing. You can’t take your eyes off of him at either end of the court. He dribbles like a guard, sashays like a ballerina, fires pull-up 3s like Luka Doncic, and dunks like Kevin Durant. He’ll guard the rim and block a 3-pointer in the same sequence—in less time than it took you to read this sentence. At 7 feet, 4 inches with an 8-foot wingspan, Wemby looks like he’s everywhere at once—and he just might be! The Spurs rookie played 83 minutes in the preseason and lit up social media every time he twitched. He’ll be must-see TV this season—and for a very long time to come.
Murdock: Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 bag of bones, has already taken the league by storm. I look forward to seeing him nutmeg 6-foot guards in otherwise listless January games. The past year has been filled with testimonials to the 19-year-old’s brilliance and the promise that he’ll carry the NBA into the future. But the most intriguing part of his game is how much it’s been influenced by the stars who came before him. Wemby can shoot like Durant, he can run the floor like Giannis, and he has the ceiling of LeBron.
But more importantly, I can’t wait to see how he develops under the tutelage of Gregg Popovich, the godfather of the league, who is simultaneously responsible for guiding the French sensation and shielding him from the biggest league hype machine in decades. Wemby’s preseason play has yielded fruitful results. In his latest outing, a 19-point, five-block performance against the Warriors, Wembanyama made plays that left observers in awe. It was the latest showcase for a center trying to bring the Spurs out of the bottom of the standings. And if the preseason is a sign of things to come, Godspeed to the rest of the league.
Pina: I covered a few of these questions in a recent column that featured 20 increasingly bold predictions about the upcoming season. Here, the answer is Zion Williamson, who’s (everyone, please cross your fingers) healthy, physically unstoppable, and skilled enough in a five-out offense to rack up way more assists than some people might be expecting.
Verrier: Victor Wembanyama. Any other answer would be a lie. Spurs preseason games were appointment viewing, and the no. 1 pick still managed to exceed expectations—nutmegging defenders in transition, dunking over normal-sized centers with little effort, showing a competitive streak when tested by peers, hitting stepbacks from midrange like a stretched-out Kobe, blocking every damn shot imaginable. Victor’s a true one-of-one, the kind of player who makes you laugh nervously multiple times a game because you can’t believe what he just did.
Mahoney: Victor Wembanyama. This is a thrilling time all around the NBA, but let’s be real: There’s only one dude who’s plucking opponents’ 3-point attempts out of the air and nutmegging them for good measure. Maybe it’s a little basic to be wowed by the things Victor has been doing lately, but what other reaction are we supposed to have to a player whose dimensions bend the laws of time and space? What am I supposed to do with the fact that Wembanyama can take a step out from the paint and block a shot all the way out on the wing? I haven’t the faintest idea, but we’ve seen enough already to know that Wembanyama is at least a few degrees removed from anything we’ve seen before. And that “we” isn’t just you and me—it’s the whole NBA world. It’s all of us as a basketball culture. As a species. Opposing teams are strapping extended pads to the arms of their assistant coaches just to get their players—the best and most athletic on the planet—used to some shit that is beyond the scope of normal basketball consideration. So, yeah, the unfathomable, unprecedented source of all that strikes me as someone I might like to see as often as possible.
Sohi: The dimension-shifting elastic man who evokes comparisons to Michael Jordan’s half-court dunk in Space Jam and threatens to reshape the very geometry of the court. The early returns on the Victor Wembanyama experience have gone something like this: a first-quarter flurry of blocks and deflections followed by hesitation and fear in the eyes and actions of his opponents. Deterrence motivated by destruction.
Just the other night, Klay Thompson rushed his 3s for most of the game after a pump fake that allowed Wembanyama to not leap, but shuffle on balance from the paint to the perimeter to block his shot.
Wembanyama’s combination of height, flexibility, agility, and wingspan is already forcing veteran NBA players to recalibrate the terms of the court they have long been accustomed to. The Wembanyama era is here, and Thomas Bryant’s face says it all.
3. What is the most intriguing story line of 2023-24?
Verrier: It’s the fate of James Harden—but less because of how Harden, fresh off his latest playoff disappointment, impacts the title race and more because of how a trade affects the future of Joel Embiid. Swapping Harden straight up for another star seems unlikely, at best … but it’s also hard to figure out how Daryl Morey could flip the pile of stuff he would get for Harden into a star down the road. Cap space doesn’t seem all that helpful, given the paltry upcoming class, and any follow-up trade might force the Sixers to fork over prized up-and-comer Tyrese Maxey. Maybe Maxey will make a major leap and Philly will get its no. 2 the old-fashioned way? But the path to an appropriate running mate for the reigning MVP is fuzzy. And if Trader Daryl can’t pull it off, it might be Embiid’s turn to ask out, leading to the kind of tectonic-plate-shifting deal we haven’t seen since the summer of 2019.
Pina: Which team is the best? And how many are actually good enough to make that claim over the next six months? Pose these questions to five NBA analysts, and there’s a chance you’ll get five different answers.
I’m fascinated by all the contenders, pseudo-contenders, and semi-delusional franchises that have no choice but to believe in themselves. None look like they did a season ago. Some look very different. The Celtics, Nuggets, Bucks, Suns, Sixers, Warriors, Heat, Clippers, Cavaliers, Lakers, Knicks, Pelicans, Mavericks, Timberwolves, Grizzlies, and Kings would all say they’re either in this conversation or, at worst, one trade away from entering it. That’s over half the league!
As a form of entertainment, unpredictability is the NBA’s secret sauce. As an arena for competition, it’s long been an elusive ingredient. But over the past five years, with five separate teams who have won an NBA title, the unknown has enriched a league that’s at its best when nobody knows anything and everything feels possible.
Kram: I’m a believer in the long-term potential of the new in-season tournament, though I’m somewhat skeptical of its ability to draw attention and fan interest this year. The format itself, including “group play” designations for regular-season games in November, will take some getting used to, and some teams might not really care.
Still, any new sports tradition has to start from somewhere. Few Americans cared about the World Baseball Classic when it debuted in 2006, for instance, but the 2023 edition was a spectacular highlight of the baseball calendar. The NBA’s in-season tournament is a long-term investment that won’t succeed or fail based on this year alone—but Adam Silver is surely hoping for some late-round fireworks in Vegas to generate excitement for the years and tournaments to come.
Mahoney: Is any team in the West ready to actually challenge Denver? Because last we checked, the answer was an emphatic no. That seems like it could be a bit of an issue come springtime, when the most serious challengers in the conference will have to reckon with the Nuggets’ buzz-saw offense all over again. Most of the teams in that contending class spent the summer improving in their own ways. The Suns supercharged their attack. The Lakers got deeper. The Warriors cleaned up their act. All of that is well and good, but none of those clubs have materially improved the way they match up with the best player in the world, the two-man action that drives everything the Nuggets do, or even the supporting cast that complements it all so perfectly. I suppose you could certainly try to just outscore Nikola Jokic and all the great looks he helps create. I’m just not sure why you’d feel especially confident about that prospect when Denver’s finely tuned playoff offense made dominance look so easy.
Sohi: Giannis Antetokounmpo is locked, loaded, and extended, and the situation with James Harden in Philly remains at a stalemate, so the attention of a league built on capitalizing on the unhappiness of superstars turns to the Lone Star State, where one has to wonder: Will the wheels fall off in Dallas?
Summer-body Luka came to an unceremonious end when he all but accused FIBA referees of fixing matches and, in the preseason, re-aggravated the calf injury that impeded him in last season’s playoffs.
The Mavericks had a better offseason than anyone expected them to, but don’t let that cagey draft-night trade for Richaun Holmes distract you from the headline: They still gave Kyrie Irving more job security than he’s had in years, and they’re relying on Grant Williams and two rookies to bolster what was a bottom-six defense last season.
Which NBA teams are pushing their chips in to win now? Which ones are gobbling up picks and building for the future? We analyzed the draft capital and cap sheets of every team and ranked them.
Chau: The Pacific can’t all be winners (again), right? Last season, all five teams in the division were seeds three through seven in the Western Conference. It was only the fifth time since the NBA expanded to eight playoff seeds in the 1983-84 season that every team in a division qualified for the postseason. The Suns, Lakers, and Clippers—each with an extremely narrow window for championship contention—are all in; the Kings have youth and continuity; the Warriors have Steph. Of course, it isn’t just the teams within their grouping they have to worry about. The Grizzlies may have fallen on hard times with key absences, but they were the 2-seed last season; with a full year of Luka and Kyrie, the Mavs will surely be better than they were in their disastrous 2022-23 campaign; and the Pelicans, Timberwolves, and Thunder are all young-and-hungry strivers hoping to ascend the ranks in short order. (Also, what if Wemby really is just that transformative?)
But there can be only eight. And the odds are likely that at least one of the teams in the Pacific is headed toward a soul-crushing disappointment of a season.
Murdock: Joel Embiid’s future in Philadelphia. Lost in James Harden’s trade request is how the Beard’s eventual departure will affect Philly’s MVP center. In his nine-year tenure with the Sixers, Embiid has endured the Process, the departure of Ben Simmons, and the arrival of Harden—and has made zero conference finals appearances. The frustration boiled over this summer, when Embiid said he’d like to win a title, “whether it’s in Philly or anywhere else.”
Harden will soon be out of the picture, and no matter who takes his place, the road to a title will be paved by Embiid’s play in the postseason. In recent years, he simply hasn’t played to the caliber of his peers, like Giannis and Jokic, who just won his first ring. Last postseason, after winning MVP, Embiid put together a subpar performance against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, shooting just 38 percent from the field over the final two games. Embiid can point to the Sixers’ lack of continuity, coaching changes, and the Harden reversal as reasons for wanting out. But before he looks for greener pastures, he should look in the mirror.
Beck: The sudden logjam in the West. We have 11 teams legitimately competing for eight playoff spots—and even the bottom four (Utah, Portland, Houston, San Antonio) should be competitive.
The Nuggets are still the Nuggets. The Kings (who finished third last season) are still the Kings. The Suns, Lakers, and Warriors (who finished fourth, sixth, and seventh, respectively) are all stronger than they were last season. The rising Timberwolves should have a full season of Karl-Anthony Towns, Rudy Gobert, and Anthony Edwards. The Mavericks should get a full season of Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic, along with an improved supporting cast. The Pelicans [deep breath] could have a full season of Zion, Brandon Ingram, and CJ McCollum. The Clippers (I know, I know) could have a full season of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook (and maybe, eventually, James Harden). The young Thunder are bursting with talent and primed for a breakout. Among the top 10 last season, only the Grizzlies are measurably worse off now, given Ja Morant’s 25-game suspension, Steven Adams’s season-ending knee surgery, and Brandon Clarke’s Achilles recovery.
The real kicker? A lot of these teams are in make-or-break seasons, which means missing the playoffs, or an early flameout, could hasten massive roster changes.
4. Name one player you want to see traded in 2023-24, and to where.
Chau: Karl-Anthony Towns to Miami. I know, I know. Jimmy Butler and KAT don’t like each other at all—I’ll take Jeff Teague’s word for it. Hell, I’ll take Towns’s own barely veiled words. Still, it’s been five years since that practice incident. In that time, we’ve seen the last gasp of optimism in Towns as a franchise player. But how might the enormity of his talent be purified in a different sink-or-swim context—not in the waters of Lake Minnetonka, but in the masochistic hell pool of Heat culture? In Minnesota, it was an ego-fueled territorial feud between two stars; but Miami, as it’s been for so many players who have come through its torture chamber, can be a place to learn how to win. I’d love to see how Bam Adebayo, an uncommonly malleable big, plays off someone whose most apparent gifts lie on the opposite end of the spectrum. And after years of chasing big names to no avail, wouldn’t it be so Miami to take on the fallen star that absolutely no one would expect it to?
Beck: Someone, anyone, please rescue DeMar DeRozan from the unimaginative, happy-to-tread-water-in-perpetuity franchise in Chicago. Seriously, what did DeRozan do to the basketball gods to deserve this purgatory? He’s 34, a six-time All-Star, a widely respected vet, and one of the league’s genuinely good dudes. (He’s also in the last year of his contract.) He deserves some meaningful spring basketball before hitting his twilight.
Send him to the Cavaliers, who could use a clutch shotmaker in that youth-laden lineup. Send him to the Heat to provide a little scoring pop between Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo (and for a misty-eyed reunion with Kyle Lowry). Or, hey, send him to the Sixers in a YOLO deal for the disgruntled James Harden. Even an up-and-coming team like the Pacers or Thunder could provide DeRozan with a fulfilling final chapter of his career so he doesn’t languish on a team built to finish .500 for the rest of eternity.
Sohi: In the interest of putting championship-level shot deterrence to its best use, I want Rob Williams III moved off the rebuilding Blazers and shipped to Memphis to replace Steven Adams, who is out for this season with a knee injury. Despite Steve Kerr’s best efforts with Team USA this summer, Jaren Jackson Jr. isn’t really a 5. He’s a little too jumpy, erratic, and foul-prone as a rim protector with no backup, and he doesn’t rebound well enough for the position. The Time Lord, accustomed to playing alongside another perimeter-oriented big in Al Horford, could stabilize Jackson’s role—as well as Memphis’s season. Adams’s and Williams’s contracts cancel each other out, and the Grizzlies still have a few of the juicy draft assets Portland would want back in a potential trade. Williams, who turned 26 last week, is in the same coming-of-age phase as Memphis’s core, while Adams could play an off-court mentorship role without putting Portland at risk of winning too many games or displacing Ayton.
Kram: Send O.G. Anunoby to the Grizzlies already. This isn’t a new idea by any stretch of the imagination, because Memphis reportedly offered three first-round picks for the Raptors’ All-Defensive team honoree at the 2023 trade deadline. But it still makes tremendous sense for both teams.
The Grizzlies were short on reliable frontcourt players even before learning that Steven Adams would miss the season due to knee surgery. They desperately need someone from the Ziaire Williams/David Roddy/Jake LaRavia tier to make a leap—and even then, they might still lack enough big wings to compete in the West. But a lineup with Ja Morant, Marcus Smart, Desmond Bane, Anunoby, and Jaren Jackson Jr. would be built for the playoffs, with enough on-ball creation, shooting, and defensive chops to win the West.
Meanwhile, from Toronto’s perspective, Anunoby will decline his player option to become a free agent after this season, and the Raptors can’t lose him for nothing like they did Fred VanVleet this year. It’s not as if the Raptors are a true contender this season anyway, so they should take some of Memphis’s picks and adjust their competitive timeline rather than remain stuck in the middle.
Verrier: Donovan Mitchell to Miami. We’re probably a year too early for Spida Watch, but it’s hard to imagine the Cavaliers will solve their issues—namely, Evan Mobley’s still-developing offensive game and how he fits with a traditional center like Jarrett Allen—this season, before Mitchell enters a contract year in 2024-25. So why not get ahead of the inevitable and try to recoup the premium assets they’ll need to build a future around Mobley and Darius Garland? The Heat might not have the best package (just ask Joe Cronin), but they’re the most exhilarating fit: Mitchell would supercharge an offense that proved to be too reliant on Jimmy Butler magic as last postseason dragged on and would vault Miami back into the elite tier of the title race.
Mahoney: Pascal Siakam to the Pacers. Or the Hornets. Or the Hawks. Or really to any team where he would have a clearer future. Siakam is a tremendous player who, if nothing else, deserves to understand where and how he fits into his team’s plans. The picture in Toronto is a little too murky for that—particularly with the same old positional glut in the middle of the Raptors’ lineup and since Siakam is rolling into a contract year without the certainty of an extension. Maybe it’s just time to let a good thing go. Siakam is flexible enough to help all sorts of teams, but his game would really sing in the open floor of a faster-paced offense. All three of the teams above play with that kind of tempo, have an evident positional need for a forward just like Siakam, and could pair him with a high-level playmaker to make his life easier. Let’s make it happen; free Pascal—all involved could be better off for it.
Pina: Jarrett Allen is a useful, properly paid rim protector who was a critical part of the NBA’s best defense last year. But after a disappointing first-round exit against the Knicks that saw Mitchell Robinson bully Allen on the glass and Cleveland’s offense struggle to space the floor, the Cavaliers may, at some point, consider moving on from their starting center.
It’s always possible Cleveland will get where it wants to go with Allen on the roster. He’s awesome. But their best iteration will eventually be with Evan Mobley at the 5 more often, surrounded by more 3-point threats and skilled ball handlers. Allen’s services may ultimately make more sense elsewhere, like, say, any team located in Texas. The Spurs just signed Zach Collins to a sensible extension. But put Allen beside Victor Wembanyama, and San Antonio’s long-term defensive limitations would nearly disappear.
In Dallas, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving would get a proven pick-and-roll partner and some established paint protection. The Rockets tried and failed to add Brook Lopez over the summer. Allen could be a nice fit there, too. And with the news that Steven Adams will miss all of the 2023-24 season, let’s throw the Grizzlies into this discussion. (For what it’s worth, Allen is represented by the same agent as Ja Morant and Desmond Bane.) If he’s beside Jaren Jackson Jr. and Marcus Smart, scoring on those units will be an all-time chore.
Murdock: Myles Turner. The 27-year-old was involved in trade rumors for the past few years, including last season, before he ultimately signed an extension with Indiana. But the terms of that deal—two years, $60 million—are still relatively attractive for suitors who could come the Pacers’ way. Last season, the Lakers kicked the tires on a deal for Turner before deciding to revamp the roster elsewhere, but the 6-foot-11 center’s shooting and defense could still be a boon to prospective contenders. Let’s send him to Dallas.
5. What is your NBA Finals prediction?
Beck: (Before I answer, a quick aside: Can we slow down with the Nuggets-as-dynasty chatter? I can’t recall a time when people were so eager to declare a one-time champion a budding dynasty. It generally takes at least three titles to earn that label and two to start speculating about a third. NBA rules are making it increasingly difficult to sustain supremacy. Denver has a chance, absolutely—but can we wait a bit before wildly invoking the d-word? Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.)
Another thing I can’t recall: having such a difficult time with a Finals prediction. And that’s because we’ve rarely seen this much parity. There are at least four teams (Suns, Warriors, Lakers, Clippers) that, given health and a little luck, have a chance to topple the Nuggets in the West. The Celtics or Bucks should win the East, and both are built to win it all come June. That’s seven plausible contenders (six, if you gagged at the thought that the Clippers will stay healthy).
Because repeats are rare, I’m ruling out the Nuggets and going Bucks over Lakers in the Finals. The Dame-Giannis pairing should be absolutely devastating, and the Bucks are battle tested. LeBron is still a force in year 21 and has a rejuvenated Anthony Davis and a strong supporting cast to help him reach his 11th Finals.
Mahoney: Denver over Milwaukee. The West looks deep as hell and incredibly competitive this season—at least through most of its ranks. The Nuggets stand above; I don’t see much reason to expect that a healthy Denver team wouldn’t have a similarly successful run through the conference, especially when so many of the principal characters involved might only get better. Things are a bit tougher to parse out East, with the Bucks, Celtics, and ever-persistent Heat, but the foundation of Giannis and Dame just feels too strong to doubt. There’s a lot for Milwaukee to sort out between now and the Finals, but there’s a lot of time, too—enough for a full arc of growth and change and compromise. Give me the team that has two of the most unstoppable players of their generation, and I’ll trust them to figure out the rest.
Sohi: Lakers-Celtics. LeBron passes the torch to Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves makes a leap, and the hodgepodge of multifaceted role players around them serves them well in a Western Conference that requires shape-shifting, whether it’s defending the guard-oriented Warriors or the best offensive center of all time. Speaking of Jokic, he’ll be a little too tired to carry the Nuggets to a repeat title.
The Celtics, on the other hand, have had enough losses turn into lessons. With Jrue Holiday in tow, they’re armed with the NBA’s best perimeter defense and a sense of championship experience and calm that has eluded them in past seasons. Joe Mazzulla has another season under his belt. Jaylen Brown has his bag. They beat the Lakers in six games.
Verrier: Celtics over Nuggets. All due respect to Denver, who blew away the competition en route to last season’s title, but I still have my doubts about the Nuggets’ ability to hold up against a five-out offense. Recent playoff history has been written by teams that can spread out a defense and attack the weak link, and the Celtics, now armed with one of the best two-way lineups in recent history, have the shooting to unroot Nikola Jokic from the paint and the scorers to attack the likes of Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. in isolation.
Boston certainly isn’t without its own flaws (Jaylen Brown’s left hand, Kristaps Porzingis’s health, and Al Horford’s age-induced decline are at the top of the list), but it has the lineup versatility to match up with any team—yes, including the reigning champs.
Murdock: Lakers-Bucks. I’d love to see the greatest player of his generation play against the player who wants to carry that baton into the back half of the decade. Fortunately, these two teams have the rosters to make a run. The Bucks are the class of the Eastern Conference after landing Damian Lillard. Meanwhile, the Lakers, led by Bron and AD, have one of the deepest rosters in the NBA, and Davis has taken the matchup against the Greek Freak personally in recent years. Last December, Davis dropped 44 points and 10 rebounds in a win over the Bucks.
A series between these two teams would give LeBron one more shot at a title, setting the stage for a legendary potential farewell for the King or a ’91 Jordan–like coming of age for Giannis. At this point, I’m taking the latter. Bucks in six.
Pina: Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Clippers. Celtics win.
Kram: Denver over Boston. I couldn’t be more boring if I tried: the reigning champion to defeat the team with the highest preseason over/under. But I can’t help myself. The Nuggets have the world’s best player and one of the best postseason performers in NBA history, and they return all five starters from the team that, lest we forget, romped through the 2023 playoffs with a historically great 16-4 record. The Nuggets should remain the favorite until another team conclusively surpasses them. And the Celtics have the best six-player core after adding Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis this summer; I think their two-way strength makes them the favorite in the East over the Bucks, who might have trouble guarding Boston now that Holiday’s on the opposing side.
Chau: The Suns win their first championship in a 2021 Finals rematch against the Bucks. Milwaukee will have sizable adjustments to make on the defensive end, which could lead to a rockier regular season than usual, but after 82 games, I’ll bet on the willpower of a healthy Giannis Antetokounmpo and what could be the defining pick-and-roll attack of the season. Out West, the superteam isn’t dead; it just needs some finessing around the margins. Phoenix was wise to serve as a liaison in the Damian Lillard blockbuster, turning a disgruntled young fourth wheel in Deandre Ayton into a starting center and useful depth pieces on the wing. The Suns’ Big Three might not be as formidable as Kevin Durant’s previous superteam configuration in Brooklyn, but they seem infinitely more willing to coalesce—a quality that could allow the team to be even better than the sum of its parts.
Ultimately, this feels like the year that Durant will be free to be the player he’s always been, with all the setbacks and baggage firmly in the rearview. In the dawning age of Wembanyama, it’d only be right for Durant to reassert himself as basketball’s apex scorer—and to absolve himself of that toe on the line that changed the course of recent NBA history.
