After 4 lengthy months, the eightieth NBA season begins tonight. Basketball will probably be on nearly on a regular basis till June.
Final yr, we noticed the dominance of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder on full show. We noticed loads of Achilles accidents, the emergence of younger gamers, and a few groups endure disappointments.
The NBA is arguably the toughest league to foretell due to the 82-game grind, plus an extra two months of postseason play. With that mentioned, we’re going to try to predict it in any case. Listed here are three predictions for the 2025-2026 NBA season.
3) The Cavs, Knicks, and Magic all win a minimum of 50 video games
The East is in dire straits. The Celtics aren’t going to have Jayson Tatum for a lot of the season, and the Pacers received’t have Tyrese Haliburton for the entire season. The Sixers are an absolute wildcard as a result of we don’t know who will probably be wholesome.
The Bucks are a multitude and could have the Giannis Antetokounmpo commerce drama hanging over their heads the entire yr. That leaves Cleveland, New York, and Orlando because the Bonafide prime contenders within the convention.
The Cavs went wire-to-wire final season because the one seed, successful 64 video games. They did flame out within the playoffs, however this can be a good common season staff in any case. Particularly since their complete core of Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, Darius Garland, and Jarrett Allen is again.
New York made the convention finals final yr, and return their duo of Jalen Brunson, and Karl-Anthony Cities. In addition they have a brand new head coach in Mike Brown, and extra general depth. This is among the extra full groups within the league.
Orlando upgraded considerably after they acquired Desmond Bane. Add him to 2 of the perfect younger gamers within the league in Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, plus a stifling protection, and you’ve got one of many extra frisky and enjoyable groups within the NBA.
These three groups are the clear class of the convention, and in a weak East, count on them to take full benefit.
2) Anthony Edwards breaks the American MVP drought
The final time an American participant received MVP was James Harden in 2018. With Tatum seemingly lacking a lot of the yr, Edwards is the perfect wager for the drought to finish, and that might occur this season.
Edwards was phenomenal all throughout the board. He averaged a career-high 28 factors per sport, six rebounds, and 5 assists. He shot a career-best 39.5 % from three and led the league in complete threes made (320). He was in a position to information Minnesota by means of a sluggish begin to the yr, and led them again to the convention finals.
Edwards had an up-and-down sequence in opposition to OKC, however there isn’t any doubt that he is among the 5 greatest gamers in basketball. With an offseason spent engaged on his mid-range and put up up sport, the 2 largest weaknesses in his arsenal, count on Ant-Man to return for blood this yr, culminating in his first MVP.
1. The Denver Nuggets will win the NBA championship
Many on the OKC Thunder have admitted that their hardest sequence throughout their championship run was in opposition to the Denver Nuggets. Regardless of coping with a number of accidents to their greatest gamers, Denver gave OKC all they might deal with. They fell brief in seven video games, however after a extremely profitable offseason, the Nuggets are set to be the category of the West once more.
They swapped out the risky and inconsistent Michael Porter Jr. for the extra dependable three-and-D wing Cam Johnson. They introduced again Bruce Brown and added extra taking pictures in Tim Hardaway Jr. In addition they traded for Jonas Valanciunas, who would be the greatest backup middle Nikola Jokic has ever had.
Denver is deeper, and have probably the greatest beginning fives within the league in Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Johnson, Aaron Gordon, and Jokic. They will arguably go ten or 11 gamers deep now with Brown, Hardaway Jr., Valanciunas, Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther, and DaRon Holmes. They’ve choices.
Gone are the times of scraping collectively a unit to outlive the non-Jokic minutes. Gone are the times of working out of fuel within the playoffs as a result of they didn’t have sufficient our bodies. The Nuggets pushed the champs to the brink and count on them to recover from the hump in a loaded West.
