NBA Champions: the Golden State Warriors
The reigning champs come into the year with the same core that has now won 4 rings; Steph, Klay, and Dray will always put up a fighting title contention, and newer blood Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole give the Dubs enough firepower to entrench the Warriors second dynastic period.
Look for the Dubs to coast through much of the regular season in order to conserve energy from the playoffs; come the postseason there is no one in the league that can “turn it on” like the Warriors and play up to their potential when it counts.
NBA MVP: Luka Doncic
All signs point to the NBA’s golden boy finally being crowned. Luka has proved it in the regular season as well as the playoffs that he is one of the stone cold best players in the league, and in the NBA MVP race narrative matters as much as stats and accolades. The MVP voters have established in recent years that they don’t like awarding the award to the same player 3 times; despite any continued domination Nikola Jokic will not win his third consecutive MVP; Giannis Antetokounmpo faced the same problem before him and Steph Curry and Lebron James too met the same fate.
Joel Embiid could be a good dark-horse but the man from Philadelphia durability remains the biggest knock against him; while Embiid is an MVP level player, there are other MVP-level players like Jokic and Giannis who simply play and win more games.
1st Team All-NBA
C Joel Embiid
F Giannis Antetokounmpo
F Zion Williamson
G Luka Doncic
G Ja Morant
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