For the first time since Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon” was still in theaters, the New York Knicks enter the NBA season as the defending champions — and the favorites to come out of the East and defend their crown.
As Adam Silver is all too happy to tell you, the NBA has had eight different champions in the past eight years. If Silver’s quest for parity persists, which teams are poised to take the crown? Here are the five teams with the best chances to dethrone the Knicks.
San Antonio Spurs
San Antonio made it to the NBA Finals ahead of schedule last season, and it showed in the Finals — blowing a 20-point fourth-quarter lead in Game 4 is the prime example.
“I couldn’t imagine a better motivation,” Victor Wembanyama said this week of losing in the Finals.
This is still a young team: Wembanyama (22), Stephon Castle (21), and Dylan Harper (20) are still early in their careers and on a steep learning curve, they should improve this season. The “old guys” are not that old, for example Keldon Johnson is 26, and De’Anthony Fox is 28. As a team, this group is still growing together.
The addition of Tobias Harris is underrated. He’s got an oversized group of online critics, largely because he was forced into situations in the past where he was asked to take on more responsibility — particularly in the postseason — than fits his skill set. However, with the Spurs he becomes a great third or fourth option, another guy who defenses have to respect and who can knock down 3s and create his own shot if the offense is stuck late in the clock.
If we get a rematch of the Knicks and Spurs in the Finals, New York is going to learn quickly this is a very different San Antonio team than the young pups they dispatched last June.
Oklahoma City Thunder
If Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell had been healthy last May for Oklahoma City’s seven-game series against San Antonio — or even if one of them had been — we likely would have had a very different Finals matchup last June. Heading into this season, both are back and healthy.
On paper, Oklahoma City is still the best team in the NBA — they won 64 games and made the Western Conference Finals last year without J-Dub, who was coming off an All-NBA season. They are led by two-time reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the peak of his powers, they have the second-best defensive center in the game protecting the rim in Chet Holmgren — who averaged 17.1 points and 8.9 rebounds a game as well — and now they get back Williams after a hamstring sidelined him for much of last season.
“I know what I am,” Williams said at media day. “So, I’m not too concerned about trying to prove to somebody — we’ve all seen it. I’m just excited to prove that I can play healthy and do that whole thing and move on. I’m just excited to get going, bro.”
OKC lost some veteran depth for financial reasons (Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins) but this is still a deep roster with Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Jared McCain, Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams, and other guys who will get their chance to step up. If the Thunder are back in the Finals and poised to knock the Knicks off the top of the mountain, it will not be a surprise.
Philadelphia 76ers
Mike Gansey had a better offseason than any executive in the league: He added Jaylen Brown — coming off an All-NBA season and at the peak of his game — and LeBron James to a lineup with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe, forming arguably the best starting five in the NBA. They have some solid depth behind them led by Dean Wade and Anfernee Simons…
If it all comes together. And everyone can stay healthy.
“In order for us to be great, we have to do things that are just not comfortable. We have to be comfortable being uncomfortable,” four-time NBA champion LeBron said, laying out the path forward for this team. “That is the best way to expedite being great. You have to fall in love with doing things that’s uncomfortable, and if we can do that, then we can be a great team. If we don’t do that, then we be like, oh man, it was a great team on paper, and we had a lot of great talent, and we lost in the second round. Like, I don’t want to do that.
“I didn’t leave my family to lose in the second round. I know that for sure. So, work needs to be done, and I’m ready to put the work in.”
There are legitimate questions about how good Philadelphia’s defense will be and whether they have enough shooting, but on paper, this team has a chance to dethrone New York. What the Knicks did to win a title was become a whole greater than the sum of their parts — can the 76ers do that?
Cleveland Cavaliers
I understand the eye rolls this selection elicits: Picking a team that will need more from the historically up-and-down playoff performances of James Harden — with some major, painful downs — to knock off the Knicks and make the NBA Finals is a risk. And it’s why I named Harden one of the players under the most pressure this season.
However, Cleveland is stacked. Donovan Mitchell is in his prime, coming off a season in which he was seventh in MVP voting, averaging 27.9 points and 5.7 assists a game. They have a dominant front line with Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. This summer, the Cavaliers’ front office plugged the team’s biggest hole, poaching two-way wing Peyton Watson from Denver to play the three. While there are questions about depth and level of defense, this is a 52-win, top-four seed that reached the Eastern Conference Finals and then got better this summer.
But can they win it all with James Harden?
Houston Rockets
Out of a group of four teams in the West that maybe could rise up to threaten the Thunder and Spurs — including the Lakers, Timberwolves and Nuggets — I think the Rockets will be the breakthrough team. If anyone has a chance to knock off the Oklahoma City or San Antonio, it’s Houston.
“We’re not here to just make the first round, we want to make some real noise,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said at media day, referencing the team’s first-round exit last year at the hands of the Lakers (without Luka Doncic). “Everybody’s hungrier for that and to take the next step and not plateau.”
The huge key is the Rockets get point guard Fred VanVleet back. Anyone who watched the Rockets in the clutch last season — when they had a -8.8 net rating — or in their playoff series against the Lakers, knows how stagnant and predictable their half-court offense would get. That despite Kevin Durant’s legendary scoring, Alperen Sengun’s all-around game (20.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game last season), and Amen Thompson’s athleticism. They lacked a floor general. Getting VanVleet back means not just another clutch scoring threat, but also someone who gets the ball in better positions for Durant and company to thrive. Expect the Rockets to be a good clutch team this season.
Houston was a 52-win team with a top-10 offense and defense last season that just got their glue guy, their connector back, and will be much better for it. If anyone is going to rise out of the West and threaten the two juggernauts, it is the Rockets.
