By Alec Marcus
Since the turn of the millennium, no professional sports league has engineered a greater explosion than the National Basketball Association. The league’s management, ownership, and players have revolutionized sport as we perceive it today.
Amateurs that came from overseas to star in America have helped make the NBA a global game. Its participant teams and players embraced social media to reach fans around the world and shape their own narratives. And their biggest talents seized far greater control over their careers in what we now refer to as “player empowerment”.
Just this past summer the NBA welcomed a wave of exciting international prospects that could rival its recent draft classes, experienced more interest thanks to its engaging and entertaining player pool, and saw more league-shattering deals and trades that should change its competitive landscape.
Nearly every team is at a critical juncture that will determine their actions over the next several years, creating lots of juicy topics to discuss. And given we’re approaching the quarter-century mark, I jotted down my list of favorites to celebrate accordingly.
Here’s 25 Storylines for 2025:
25. Risacher, Really?
In recent years the NBA Draft has had much less consensus than it used to have as to who the top overall selection should be, and that’s a testament to how terrific amateur prospects are nowadays. This year’s Draft was perhaps the most challenging to predict in quite some time, but not due to an abundance of talent.
The 2024 class was mostly considered to be “weak”, with no surefire slam-dunk top overall pick nor a handful of candidates worthy of the top selection. Most of the top prospects had question marks hanging over their heads, creating a challenging scenario for the Atlanta Hawks who landed the #1 overall pick for just the second time in franchise history.
They went with maybe the most anonymous candidate of all: Zaccharie Risacher of France. Riscaher becomes the biggest surprise top overall pick since Anthony Bennett in 2013, and given how that turned out, fans on social media started laughing at the Hawks.
But I’m here to say Risacher is no laughing matter…he’s a 6’9” forward with the ball-handling, instincts, defensive versatility, and shooting touch that all general managers are dreaming of nowadays. He has a solid foundation for success as the son of an Olympic Silver Medalist and 6x French League All-Star father. His apparent humble nature, selfless play, and individual confidence are the kind of mix you would want in a player heading your franchise.
I’m not saying Risacher will be the Rookie of the Year or take the reins from Trae Young, however he definitely looks the part of a star in today’s NBA and should be taken seriously as the top overall pick.
It wasn’t a sexy pick though it should be a successful one.
24. Cam Thomas: One Man Army
Someone that clearly should’ve gotten more consideration on Draft Night is Brooklyn Nets shooting guard Cam Thomas. The former LSU Tiger led all collegiate freshmen with 23 points per game yet fell all the way to 27thoverall to Brooklyn in the summer of 2021.
The Nets had just lost an extremely competitive series to the Bucks and were fortunate to land a gifted young scorer so late. Thomas played satisfactory as a rookie with several scoring outbursts off the bench, and then despite all the turnover stemming from the Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant trades, he played less games and minutes in his sophomore season.
It took until his third year to get the minutes and starts he rightfully deserved, increasing his scoring average from a very impressive 10.6 points in 17 minutes to a stunning 22.5 points in 31 minutes despite little experience playing against NBA starters. The Nets however were putrid, opting for a mid-season coaching change for the second straight year. After another trade to accumulate draft capital for the future, their roster consists of mostly journeymen, low-level prospects, and the broken promise of Ben Simmons.
The Nets are wiping the slate clean and commencing a brand new rebuild, creating unlimited opportunity for the stick-of-dynamite Thomas. Barring a Cam Johnson breakout, a Nic Claxton All-Star emergence, or a Ben Simmons return to stardom, Thomas is their only chance of avoiding a catastrophic plunge to the very bottom of the East.
Fortunately for them, Thomas is a madman who opened last year with 3 straight 30-point games, accumulated 40 points in a game thrice by the first week of February, and averaged a monstrous 26.6 points per game on efficient shooting since returning from injury in March. He’s a one-man army for generating buckets, and after just turning 23-years-old last Sunday, we’re on the brink of another rise to superstardom and James Harden-esque offensive detonation.
Buckle up.
23. Chris Paul’s Giant
While we’re on the topic of up-and-comers, there’s nobody rising faster and more unrelenting than the 7’4” French prodigy Victor Wembanyama. The unanimous Rookie of the Year averaged 21.4 points and a league-leading 3.6 blocks per game, which earned him a spot on the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team and a runner-up finish on the Defensive Player of the Year ballot.
“Wemby” in just his first campaign made the San Antonio Spurs a top-3 shot-blocking unit and lifted them to the top-10 in field goal attempts, but their very inexperienced and under-developed roster could only help him win 22 of 82 games. Everyone who watched the Spurs last year realized that management had failed to develop or bring in anyone adequate to create easier shot attempts for Wemby, resulting in their bottom-5 offensive rating…it was dreadful to watch, mind-bogglingly frustrating for a fan.
Enter Chris Paul, one of the greatest playmakers in the history of basketball and the most gifted floor general of the 21st century, coming to town on a 1-year, $11 million contract. Yes, Paul is now 39 years old and things didn’t go according to plan in Golden State, but he was very busy off the bench averaging 9.2 points and 6.8 assists per game.
The future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer is, of course, not the long-term answer at point guard and is far from able to play 30 minutes a game (or play more than 70 games a year), though he’s absolutely the most perfect option to orchestrate Wemby’s offense in the short-term. “CP3” has helped turn ordinary players into All-Stars and All-Stars into superstars, names like David West & Tyson Chandler, Blake Griffin & DeAndre Jordan, James Harden & Clint Capela, Devin Booker & DeAndre Ayton, and that one wrinkle in time he mentored Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Victor Wembanyama with a solid point guard could easily emerge into an All-NBA player, but Victor Wembanaya with the third-most assisting man in the NBA could realistically become the youngest MVP in league history at 21 years old. The sky is the limit and it’s even higher with Paul steering the ship, yet what’s paramount to Coach Poppovich is his development and winning games.
Year 1 Wemby was historic, though Year 2 Wemby could be generational.
22. The Buzz of Brandon Miller
The second overall pick of the 2023 Draft got second-rate coverage, and that was Brandon Miller. The Alabama freshman sensation landed with the Charlotte Hornets, as Michael Jordan’s final draft pick before his tenure ended as team majority owner.
It was hard enough for Miller to get media attention in the same rookie class as the megastar Wemby, while also competing with the returning Chet Holmgren who missed out on his first season due to injury. What made it even more challenging for Miller to get noticed was that he was playing for the abysmal and abhorrent Charlotte Hornets, who rarely played on a national stage and were missing the charismatic LaMelo Ball most of the year. And, I suppose, the scandal from his collegiate days in which he supplied the handgun for a murder didn’t help his cause either.
Nonetheless, Miller was excellent starting 68 of 74 and averaging 17.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 44.0% from the field. His greatest impact was beyond the three-point line where he shot 37.3% on 6.7 attempts per game, en route to his franchise rookie record 184 makes last season. He started the year as a necessary floor spacer for the Hornets before asserting himself as the alpha dog, with much greater scoring outbursts despite a decent drop-off in efficiency.
Fans around the NBA like myself were hoping LaMelo Ball was the player Charlotte needed to return to relevancy, both on and off the court, except he’s only suited up for 58 games over the last two years. Their other pillar Miles Bridges has disqualified himself from consideration for repeated personal conduct issues.
That leaves Miller as the real focal point of the team going forward. His limitless scoring at his 6’9” frame should be a difference maker, particularly in the weak Eastern Conference these days. If he keeps improving as a stealthy scorer, LaMelo gets healthy as the lead playmaker, Bridges stays out of trouble, and the team keeps acquiring solid rotation pieces, the Hornets will certainly be on their way back to the postseason, something the NBA is going to need if they’re to remain in Charlotte.
Miller’s talented enough to become an All-Star in just his second season.
21. Whatever the Wizards Do
Now a team that’s completely helpless this upcoming season is the Washington Wizards. The Hornets’ Southeast “rival” has been on less of an upswing and is in the midst of a destructive downfall, but I for one am enjoying it.
Washington has blown draft pick after draft pick and lost the side of every trade since they dealt Russell Westbrook for some rotation players and draft capital, the main piece being Kyle Kuzma. They later traded Bradley Beal and his appalling contract in a deal for Chris Paul, but quickly flipped him in a package whose main piece was Jordan Poole. You could say that the Wizards have acted merely as a pawn to improve other teams while they’ve gotten thirty cents on every dollar and accumulated a bunch TBD’s.
Their big mistake was believing that Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma could carry their franchise into the new era even for the time being, when in reality they are two of the most…hm…unserious stars a team could ever ask to lead them. Last year Poole made a “lowlight reel” of air balls and turnovers before being relegated temporarily to the bench, and Kuzma made more noise for his fashion choices and dating life than his 22 points per game. Great organizations like the Warriors and Lakers saw the warning signs and cut each of them loose.
The Wizards did make some wise moves this summer starting with the selection of Alex Sarr and trade for Kyshawn George on Draft Day, trading for recent Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, and signing strong rotation pieces Saddiq Bey and Jonas Valanciunas. Yet their lineup is still headed by the aforementioned Poole and Kuzma and there is not much in terms of veteran leadership across the board.
Washington lost 67 of 82 last season, and while their new pieces should help their bottom-10 offense and defense, I’m still very skeptical of Poole and Kuzma as the leading players. Sarr is incredibly gifted but expectations should be tempered given he’s only 19 years old and has little experience playing against premier talents. There’s a good chance this season is another catastrophe and they trade away their veterans once they prove valuable to other teams.
Which…I’m sure they’d just mess up too.
20. Houston, Ready for Takeoff
On the flip side, the previously-poor Houston Rockets are primed to climb in 2025. Their new head coach Ime Udoka lifted the young and hungry club from a 22-60 mark to an unthinkable 41-41 finish last season, and things should be even better this season.
Their top gun is 22-year-old Alperen Sengun who rose to become not just one of the best young centers in the league but one of the best centers in the entire NBA. He’s had an eerily similar ascent to Nikola Jokic through three seasons, and in The Joker’s fourth season, he was named the All-NBA First Team’s center and finished 4th in MVP voting. Their second in-command is another 22-year-old in Jalen Green, a scintillating scorer with pogo-stick hops who exploded for 27.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in March.
Last summer’s shopping spree to accelerate the rebuild was fantastic as Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks dominated the perimeter. Recent third overall pick Jabari Smith Jr. was a far more effective shooter in his second season. And rookies Amen Thompson and Cam Whitmore were very confident scorers.
This summer Houston added a gifted defender and the best shooter in the amateur draft in Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard with another third overall pick. They also welcomed back Steven Adams to on-court activities, a bruising center ready for a bench role after missing all last year with an injury. Adams is a perfect complement to Sengun in that he’s a physical force coming off the bench, a talented distributor in his own right, and has lots of experience playing against the top centers.
The Rockets have already built a stout defensive front with athleticism and grit on the outside to go with their length and toughness inside. They’re guided by a veteran point guard on offense and have enough perimeter weapons to play through their terrific center. Now they have a young prospect with game-wrecking potential and another year to develop their gifted set of wings.
Time to launch…
19. Indy Runs Wild
A team that already made the big leap last year was the Indiana Pacers. After winning 35 games and dropping 47 in 2023, they formed a complete-180 winning 47 games and dropping 35 in 2024. They were lucky to face injury-riddled teams through the first two playoff rounds, and were thrilled to gain so much playoff experience before being swept in the Conference Finals.
Indiana’s identity was putting up points…LOTS of them, averaging the most points per contest in 40 years with 123.3. Tyrese Haliburton soared into All-NBA status and even flirted with the MVP by averaging 20.1 points and a league-best 10.9 assists per game. Things really came alive when management acquired Pascal Siakam via trade, who provided far easier baskets and much-needed rebounding.
The Pacers’ unexpected playoff run was made possible by the best run of Myles Turner’s career, coupled with an Andrew Nembhard coming out party and the brilliant play of T.J. McConnell the second unit. Obi Toppin was a spark of offense as well and Aaron Nesmith hit several big shots to swing games in their favor.
Heading into 2025, the core is practically the same and features the return of Bennedict Mathurin. The former 6th overall pick had been a much-improved Sixth Man before a torn labrum ended his season in March. The rotation may also feature a back-to-back National Champion in Tristen Newton, nabbed with the summer draft’s 49th pick. They’re set to put up even more points with another season developing its young rotation.
I’m excited to see what the Pacers can accomplish with a full offseason to integrate Pascal Siakam. Injuries surely slowed down Haliburton towards the end of the playoffs, though he was already looking like a streaky shooter who regularly shied away from scoring. The All-NBA star will need to invest more time into isolation play if Indiana is going to compete with the league’s best.
He will have every opportunity with the Pacers pushing the pace all year long.
18. WingStop
A team on the complete opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to defense is the New York Knicks. Tom Thibodeau had perhaps the strongest defensive unit of his Knicks tenure with hard effort on the perimeter, intense shot-blocking, and 94-feet of hustling for loose balls and rebounds.
After Tatum and Brown coasted to the NBA title, New York thought it was necessary to tighten up their defense even further. They first re-signed OG Anunoby to a massive four-year extension and then they traded five first-round picks for Mikal Bridges. Their pairing forms one of the scariest defensive forward duos in recent memory – fans online are calling it WingStop.
Anunoby was the player most crucial to the Knicks’ second-half turnaround given that he took on the toughest assignments each night while stabilizing the team’s offense. Bridges some years ago was the strongest defender for a Suns team that reached the NBA Finals, and the only reason for his lost prominence on that end was his demanding offensive responsibility on the Nets.
Together, they’ll be able to ease each other workloads and share the most difficult defensive matchups. It should make them more effective on both ends of the floor.
The Knicks have lost their edge inside without Isaiah Hartenstein and with Mitchell Robinson sidelined, and they’re also hurt on the perimeter losing the agile and tenacious Donte DiVincenzo. It will be up to WingStop to anchor the Knicks’ respected defense and create problems for the East’s top scorers.
Thibodeau is taking this wings order to-go.
17. The Carousel in Chicago
Now if you’re a bigger believer in guard play, then the Chicago Bulls are for you. Last year four of their top six players were guards and the team generated the second most shots inside the arc. That, coupled with their bottom-10 defense, is not a recipe for success in the NBA, and the Bulls lost in the Play-In Tournament for the second straight year.
Zach LaVine playing just 25 games would have made it a total wash of a season, however the Bulls finally lit the Coby White candle and he more than doubled his scoring average, and a career-high 57 starts for Alex Caruso helped his chase for the League’s Defensive Player of the Year award. That threesome of guards was put into jeopardy after Ayo Dosunmu’s stellar third season and Lonzo Ball’s readiness to return to the court. And given their four choices of guards to play beside Zach Lavine, management decided to flip Alex Caruso for the wacky wizard Josh Giddey.
Before you process that, they also traded their leading scorer and only source of true relevancy DeMar DeRozan in a sign-and-trade. So, if you’re wondering who the new top six are for the Bulls, it’s four point guards, Zach Lavine, and Nikola Vucevic…brutal.
I have no idea how Bulls management expect to put together any cohesive offense or respectable defense with this build. After losing their top scorer and top defender, the Bulls have two ball-dominant point guards to develop in Coby White and Josh Giddey, two perimeter weapons to stay valuable in Lonzo Ball and Ayo Dosunmu, a 20 point-per-game scorer in Zach Lavine without his co-star coming off an injury, and Nikola Vucevic defending the rim.
The Carousel in Chicago of guards is destined to backfire and the holes at the rest of their roster will be exposed quick. I anticipate a bottom-10 offense and defense and for the Bulls to finally face reality by reconfiguring their talent pool.
They just won’t quit the Michael Jordan and Derrick Rose builds.
16. Tyus Time
A team that needed to face reality and add a point guard this summer was the Phoenix Suns. Their lineup of Devin Booker, Grayson Allen, Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, and Deandre Ayton proved to have no real sense of structure, and the Minnesota Timberwolves danced around them in a four-game First Round sweep.
When you need playmaking and you’re on a budget, and you have some sort of disdain for Chris Paul, there’s no better option in the open market than Tyus Jones. He at last got an opportunity to start on a regular basis in Washington, though it was an unpleasant experience due to the team’s disastrous defensive effort.
Desperate for a role on a highly-competitive team, Jones signed a 1-year minimum contract with the team that needed him most. Phoenix with all its talent should be a dream fit for someone so historically efficient distributing the ball, and the Suns were looking desperate to get into any sort of rhythm.
Devin Booker was clearly missing his playmaking partner in the backcourt, Bradley Beal wasn’t being maximized due to ball-handling responsibilities, Jusuf Nurkic was fending for himself for any sort of baskets, and Kevin Durant was being swarmed in closing minutes of games.
Tyus Jones entering the Suns rotation brings much-needed stability to the court when they see fit. He’s been the best backup point guard in the NBA for years and now has experience running against NBA starters. He has thrived on teams with star players, created standout campaigns for young players, and is a highly-efficient shooter on a highly-effective offensive team.
And he also had that national title run with Grayson Allen.
15. Quickley Gets the Ball
Someone guaranteed the keys to the kingdom is Immanuel Quickley. The longtime Knick was eagerly waiting for his chance to start full-time and he finally got it in a winter trade to the rebuilding Toronto Raptors. In his 38-game debut, he ran away with the lead playmaking job and came alive as their top perimeter scorer.
“IQ” had contagious energy and the young Raptors fed into it, making life easier for Gradey Dick and more fun for Scottie Barnes. And his career-long attachment to the homecoming king R.J. Barrett alleviated pressure to perform in his new playing environment. He averaged a career-best 18.6 points and stellar 6.8 assists per game in his short span, and incredibly shot the same 3-point percentage (39.5%) on nearly two more attempts per game.
A full offseason to prepare for the starting role will surely lead to a greater and more confident Quickley. The Raptors were pants’d by the Rockets who stole Fred Vanvleet last year and have nailed down their new path with the exhilarating point guard.
Tyrese Maxey’s collegiate backcourt partner has every opportunity to replicate his former teammate’s success in the NBA, as a dizzying attacker and side-step shot-maker. They’ll square off several times in the Atlantic Division, which should be great motivation to become the best rival he can possibly be.
The Raptors have had several strong point guards in their young history, but the bar is almost unattainably high following Kyle Lowry’s nine-year tenure. Nonetheless, Quickley has all the tools to be a successful lead guard and has so much untapped potential as an offensive weapon.
He’s the next great Kentucky guard to make his mark in the Association.
14. The Life of Paolo
A player that’s already broken out and rewriting his own potential is Paolo Banchero of the Orlando Magic. The runaway 2023 Rookie of the Year went mainstream as an All-Star last season and was the captain behind their earlier-than-expected playoff berth.
47 wins is a staggering figure for a team two years removed picking first overall in the NBA Draft, though that kind of turnaround isn’t out of the ordinary for the Orlando Magic franchise. Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard lifted it up relatively fast, and Banchero has done the same.
The decorated Duke product has driven over his competition thanks to his elite scoring gene and impractical athleticism. He’s distinguishable from “the goods” and is well on his way to being one of “the greats” given his playmaking prowess and magical late game heroics, no pun intended.
Year 3 could be a drastic shift in control of the Eastern Conference if Banchero is ready to go to war with the likes of Giannis, Tatum, and Embiid. NBA die-hards have been sitting on their hands and knees clamoring for the Franz Wagner breakout, and there’s still time for Wendell Carter Jr. to awaken as an offensive force at center. Jalen Suggs finally broke through his glass ceiling and realized his role as the Magic’s new Jameer Nelson.
With the number one pick comes unlimited possibilities, but the 22-year-old Paolo is steadfast towards an all-time career. He’s in power for one of the NBA’s most irrelevant franchises and has accelerated their competitive timeline just two years in.
A playoff series win for Paolo is all he’d need to put Orlando back on the map.
13. Mount Russ
While we’re on the subject of all-time careers, one future Hall-of-Famer is working towards his final chapter. Russell Westbrook has left his hometown Los Angeles after a split three-year stint for the mile-high mountains of Denver.
Russ was intensely criticized as a Laker and needed a fresh start on the crosstown Clippers, who signed him as a midseason free agent following a star-stuffed three-team trade to the Jazz. His Clippers tenure was generally a success though he was atrocious in their six-game series loss to the Mavericks. LA was desperate for offensive production with Kawhi Leonard out, and Russ failed miserably as a bench contributor.
The 36-year-old was in search of a calmer environment and more regular playoff team this summer and found a terrific landing spot in the Denver Nuggets. Just a year and a half removed from their NBA title, the Nuggets were looking for an insurance policy given Jamal Murray’s recurring injuries and veteran experience to lead their very young reserve unit. They got it in a former league MVP on a team-friendly, 1+1 player option deal this summer.
Westbrook should be a spectacular fit in Denver, a team centered around its MVP unicorn Nikola Jokic and designed to push fastbreaks while attacking the basket. Jokic has done wonders for his teammates’ developments no matter their strengths, with his precision passing and unfathomable selflessness. The Joker’s savage-style of rebounding has ignited their avalanching offense, one that made the second-most two-pointers on elite efficiency last season and generated top-10 proficiency from beyond the arc.
That sounds an awful lot like the old Russell Westbrook offenses, where he was the one crashing his way into the paint for rebounds and pushing the pace for dunks, while at the same time manufacturing easy attempts developing players and outside shooters. Where Westbrook should thrive in this new home is playing off-ball with the genius of Jokic, something he’s grown more comfortable to doing playing beside ball-dominant superstars LeBron James and James Harden. And where the Nuggets should most improve is with the security of Westbrook backing up Jamal Murray, given his sky-high ceiling as a starting point guard and his propensity to stuff the stat sheet as a backup point guard.
Despite his shooting woes, Russ playing beside Jokic could revitalize his standing as an all-time playmaker and crunch-time performer.
12. Heyyyyy Jaaaaaaa
Those attributes are starting to describe the MVP-like ascent of Ja Morant. The Grizzlies guard is entering 2025 ready to rumble following a troubling year and a half mostly in street clothes.
Ja’s inglorious descent began in March of last year when he was livestreaming from a nightclub and playing with a gun just hours after a loss to the Denver Nuggets. The young star was forced to enter a stress-related counseling program and then given an eight-game suspension by Commissioner Silver. Following his First Round exit to the underdog Lakers in April, his behavior resurfaced on social media in May in another livestreaming incident surrounding a gun, one that resulted in another entry to counseling program and a more substantial 25-game suspension from the league office.
Morant returned to action in December 2023 but would only play nine games before undergoing shoulder surgery. 2024 became a lost season for the Memphis Grizzlies, who had just risen all the way up to the Western Conference’s 2-seed behind the brilliant play of their young star.
The South Carolina native is healthy after nine months off an NBA court and has the Grizz positioned to return to prominence. When we last saw him at full strength, Morant was a bonafide MVP candidate averaging around 26 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds per game. He was only rivaled by the league’s top bigs for most points scored in the paint and was one of the league’s most feared second-half scorers.
Ja has all the tools to be successful and elevate the Grizzlies to legitimate championship contention. Memphis is all the way in with a long list of bigs to play with, no proven secondary playmakers, and win-now moves for Marcus Smart and Zach Edey. However, a third incident would send his professional career into a spiral, since he has two strikes with Commissioner Silver and Nike as his corporate sponsor.
For us fans the wish is simple, for Ja Morant to stay out of trouble, stay healthy, and stay on the path to making Memphis a mainstream unit.
11. DeRozan Gets Crowned
On the much more pleasant side of things we have another all-time great, one who’s getting his flowers and finally having an opportunity to play meaningful basketball. DeMar DeRozan is saying good riddance to Chicago and getting his crown as a Sacramento King.
The 34-year-old sorcerer of scoring posted some of the best numbers as a ballplayer on the Bulls, averaging 25.5 points and 5.1 assists in three Windy City seasons. His All-Star resurgence and clutch heroics made him one of the most beloved players in the entire NBA, and he surprised the world flirting with the league MVP in his first and best season with the Bulls in 2022. For no fault of his own, the team won just one playoff game in his time in red and black.
Both parties mutually agreed to part ways via sign-and-trade to the opposite end of the league, out West in Sacramento. The Kings under Mike Brown are having their most successful run in two decades, but just couldn’t get over the hump against the all-time great Warriors in their first playoff bout two years ago. If the perimeter-toasting, small-market royals could add another piece, it would be another bona fide bucket to play beside De’Aaron Fox and through Domantas Sabonis.
Enter DeMar DeRozan, the midrange assassin and crafty playmaker who scored 24.0 points per game on high 48.0% field goal efficiency. The traditionally talent-deprived Kings don’t have to worry about burning DeRozan out, who in his 15th NBA season led the entire league with 37.8 minutes per game in 2024.
Sacramento isn’t exactly the California homecoming the USC product had anticipated, however it’s his greatest opportunity in nearly a decade to compete for the Larry O’Brien trophy, the one that just narrowly eluded him when his Toronto Raptors won it in his first year off the team, in 2019. Fox and Sabonis have pretty much done all they could individually and as a pair to make the Kings a winner. It’s time for them to institute a legit third piece to go head-to-head with the stars out West.
“The D” is something they might never address, but their three D’s (De’Aaron, Domantas, and DeMar) will be even tougher to ignore.
10. Here’s Paul George
On the flip side, an All-Star leaving their hometown California for the Eastern Conference is Paul George. The wing-heavy Clippers decided they couldn’t let James Harden walk, so they opted to re-sign him and let George enter free agency. The Philadelphia 76ers eagerly inked George to a massive four-year, $212 million contact.
The Sixers had just lost a battle-tested First Round series to the rival Knicks, after succumbing to the East’s 7-seed due to Joel Embiid missing the most games since his rookie year. They were desperate to add a third star beside Tyrese Maxey to relieve their MVP of the stress of playing a whole regular season. They couldn’t do much better than George’s 22.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
Philly’s front office has been hunting stars to solve their issues for some time now, thinking back to their $109 million gamble on Al Horford for 2020 and their early-season trade for Jimmy Butler the year prior. Embiid’s recurring lower-half injuries provide enough reason to continue these efforts, except George has battled injuries himself in recent years. Since leaving Oklahoma City, George has had seasons playing just 48, 54, 31, and 56 games.
Last year was a step in the right direction as PG-13 suited up for 74 contests as Clipper, his most games played since 2019 when he finished third in MVP voting. There’s optimism in Philadelphia and throughout the league that we will see a lot of the three stars sharing the court together, something that will give them a much better chance in a potential rematch against New York and lots of other matchups in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Although…I don’t know if George is the piece Philadelphia has been missing and if he’s a $212 million band-aid to their real issues. The team will clearly benefit from another elite shot creator, maker, and defender, but will George be a difference maker come playoff time? He was forced to miss both the 2022 Play-in Tournament and 2023 playoffs, and when his Clippers needed their max player most in the 2024 playoffs, George was the fourth-leading scorer in the series and most underperforming All-Star, outclassed by Luka, Irving, and shockingly Harden too.
2025 will prove if George can be the stealthiest third option in the NBA or if he’s what I’ve for a while believed him to be – someone that doesn’t move the needle. He was brought in to be exactly that after Tobias Harris proved he wasn’t.
9. Chance of Thunder
A team nobody is worried about heading into 2025 is the league’s second-likeliest team to win the title according to most sportsbooks: the Oklahoma City Thunder. The youngest roster in the NBA won a West-best 57 games in 2024 and lost a razor-thin Semi-Final series to the eventual Conference Champion Mavericks.
The flag-barer in MVP runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, one of the most gifted interior finishers the league has ever seen from a guard and a nightmare matchup for opposing perimeter players. He did everything a team could ask out of its best player but was bested in the MVP race by the magnificent production of Nikola Jokic. The ceiling can’t get much higher for a 26-year-old coming off a 30.1 points, 6.2 assists, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game campaign.
The Thunder are pulsating with young talent and 2025 is an important season for his co-stars to develop. His No. 2 in command is “J-Dub” Jalen Williams, a beautifully-efficient scorer who’s being challenged to round out his game. The 6’5” pride of Santa Clara had already surprised many with a runner-up finish to the Rooke of the Year award and raising his scoring average to 19.1 points per game on stellar efficiency (54.0% overall, 42.7% 3-point) in just his second season.
Shai’s most promising asset is Chet Holmgren, the second overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. After missing out on his entire first season due to a hip injury, Holmgren was superb as a rookie averaging 16.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game. He set durability questions aside by playing all 82 and threw questions about his frail stature into the trash, proving himself to be an elite rim protector and agile center in the half-court, even stepping back for three-pointers on a 37.0% clip.
OKC has a long list of tools throughout their rotation like the “Dorture Chamber” Lu Dort (who just posted a career-best 39.4% mark from 3-point range), a pair of perimeter threats in Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe, and a tenacious reserve point guard in Cason Wallace. They packed Josh Giddey’s bags and threw him out the door for the much more revered Pitbull-like defender Alex Caruso. And management used its very crucial cap space to address its rebounding department and stole Isaiah Hartenstein away from the New York Knicks.
The forecast is in for 2025 and there’s an overwhelming chance of Thunder caving in the West, a force so loud offensively and so strong defensively.
8. Broken State Warriors
My hot topic this past summer was how on Earth did the Golden State Warriors let Klay Thompson leave, and why did they let him go on his own accord? The greatest dynasty in the social media age is cracking apart and the end is near.
After losing a closely contested, star-driven Semi-Final series to LeBron’s Lakers in 2023, Warriors management took a long look in the mirror and began to shift their priorities last summer. They recognized their need for a veteran to replace Andre Iguodala, so they buried the hatchet and traded for Chris Paul, sending away the young scorer Jordan Poole. They also recognized their aging stars and their need to develop young talent, so they invested heavy minutes molding Brandin Podziemski, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and most notably Jonathan Kuminga.
But 2024 proved unsuccessful for “Dub Nation” with Draymond Green suspended for repeated on-court offenses, Chris Paul looking uncomfortable beside Steph Curry, and their old defense failing to protect the perimeter, as they let up the 6th-most attempts throughout the league. They beat up on the bottom of the West and pitiful East enough to finish 10 games over .500, and then they got blasted by the vengeful Kings in the first Play-in Tournament game.
This summer, alarms sounded throughout the new Chase Center when Klay Thompson exited for brighter pastures on the Dallas Mavericks. They outright waived Chris Paul before free agency and replaced the two Hall-of-Famers with a group made up of journeymen such as Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson, and De’Anthony Melton…yuck.
This could have been the offseason that put the dagger in the great Golden State Warriors. They do still have Steph Curry playing at an All-NBA level however Draymond Green’s best days are well behind him and Andrew Wiggins appears to have robbed them blind after a brilliant title run two years ago. The Warriors are top-10 in team salary with only one player capable of making the All-Star team, and even he’s going to be 37-years-old this upcoming March.
Will these new-look Warriors come out to play?
7. Klay Rides with Dallas
Years after we fantasized about it, we finally got Klay Thompson onto his own team! One of the best 3-point shooters of all-time and the most legendary heat check in basketball history is at long last unleashed away from Steph Curry. He’s now going to be an offensive weapon beside two of the greatest off-dribble shot creators in the world today and operate merely as a catch-and-shoot floor spacer after two devastating season-ending leg injuries…hooray?
Well, I’m so excited to see it for whatever it’s going to be. Klay Thompson has been attached to the best shooter in NBA history ever since he debuted Christmas Day 2011, and we’ve always wondered what he could contribute and how he would develop in his own playing environment. The now 34-year-old Thompson is out of his prime and far from the player he used to be given his near-catastrophic injuries, but this is a chance for the future Hall-of-Famer to grow as a teammate – it’s a challenge for him as a collaborator and a challenge for him as a performer.
Can Klay Thompson even be successful away from Steph Curry? How much was he benefitting from playing off his Splash Brother, and vice versa? How does he shoot without the greatest forward facilitator in league history Draymond Green setting things up? Is he as effective without Steve Kerr’s system? All these questions will be answered in 2025.
And this isn’t some spin-of-the-wheel, most-money-wins sort of landing spot – this is the Western Conference Champion Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs crave a player like Thompson to play beside their star backcourt of Luka and Kyrie, someone who will space the floor even further and provide three-point baskets at an elite level. Dallas clawed their way through the Western playoffs and finally erupted in the final stage against Minnesota, but Boston absolutely blitzed them with an arsenal of knockdown shooters and playmakers 1-5.
The necessary progressions were made starting players like Josh Richardson, Reggie Bullock, Josh Green, and Derrick Jones Jr. at small forward beside Luka and another guard. Thompson should be the best of the bunch so far with legitimate marksmanship from the three-point line and down-to-the-wire shot-making. So, so much of the Mavericks’ offensive output has fallen on Luka’s shoulders, and fortunately Kyrie softened the blow as the competition intensified throughout the playoffs, but now Thompson is set to alleviate enough more pressure for the backcourt to perform at a championship level.
At least for regular season purposes, Luka-Kyrie-Klay should be tons of fun…let’s ride!
6. Luka Tragic
BUT…if we want a juicy topic without all the pomp and circumstance, it’s that Luka Doncic was vilified the last time we saw him on an NBA court. The Boston Celtics blew the doors open on his Mavericks in what turned out to be a less competitive championship round than the forgettable one the year prior (it was the Nuggets and Heat in the Finals, remember?!?!), and “El Matador” was the center of attention.
As the series shifted to Dallas with the Mavericks facing an 0-2 deficit, Luka appeared to be more focused on getting his way with the referees than getting his way with the Celtics. He was leaping into perimeter defenders hunting shooting fouls, reacting frustrated rather than pleased when he finally got the whistle, and was literally stumbling over trying to commit offensive fouls on his opponents. And according to Brian Windhorst, his defensive effort was even worse, and he was hunted routinely by the Celtics’ top scorers.
When a star player as young and talented as the 24-year-old Luka reaches their first NBA Finals, it’s always an overwhelming positive in that it could shape his legacy as an all-time great (as it did for Dwyane Wade) or that it could help his development into a future champion (as it did for LeBron James). The blowout loss could be a tremendous learning experience for Luka, only if he allows it to be.
We have seen so many great players in recent memory fail to win the big one because of their inability to adapt and address their flaws. It’s what separates the Steph Curry’s, the Giannis Antetokounmpo’s, and the Nikola Jokic’s from the James Harden’s, Russell Westbrook’s, and Chris Paul’s. Luka is young but he’s on the second list for the time being, and what troubles me is that, in my eyes, he’s going to be the greatest of all the greats (if he not already is) to not win the big one.
Doncic will need to give it his absolute all on the defensive end if he wants to raise the Larry O’Brien, and that will come at the unpleasant cost of giving up his usage of the basketball. He’ll need to set by example on the defensive end and be a more successful catch-and-release shooter on the offensive end. And most of all, he’ll need to win out on the court and bury his quandary with the officials, who are so very tired of his criticism and antics.
It would be a great tragedy for Michael Jordan’s favorite player to let his emotions bring out the very worst in him instead of the very best.
5. Ballmer’s House
When former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion in 2014, the NBA universe knew a drastic change was about to unfold. Ten years later they still don’t have an NBA title, but they do have their first Conference Finals appearance, have eight playoff berths in ten years, and were able to recruit more All-NBA talents. Now, they’re about to unveil a new $2 billion arena.
The Intuit Dome is a state-of-the-art, technology-charged playhouse that gives the Clippers a permanent home away from their far more successful older brother. The Clippers have tried so hard to get out of the Lakers’ shadow that they’ve more commonly referred to their home city as “LA” and left the majestic “Los Angeles” for their glorious rivals. The sentiments have worked, illustrated by LA’s 11-game win streak against Los Angeles over a three-year period.
The bright lights of LA are a staple of the new complex with an enormous “Halo board” hanging above the court, featuring stats and player profiles and interactive elements connected directly to each of the fans’ seats. Not only is the board visible for all fans in attendance but each fan has a real opportunity at catching a t-shirt from the rafters. The arena designed to give each fan a “VIP experience” was also designed to attract VIP talents.
If pride is what Steve Ballmer wants to institute in his Clipper team, there will be plenty of pride thanks to their massive collection of jerseys. Not jerseys of all the greats in Clippers history (because frankly, there aren’t many), jerseys of every single boys and girls high school team in the state of California. Where Crypto.com arena could be viewed as the showcase of legends and lounge of celebrities, the Intuit Dome could be viewed as city hall and a place for California kids to dream freely.
Ballmer’s favorite part however has got to be “The Wall”, a dedicated section reserved for the rowdiest and most passionate Clipper fans. Whenever opponents step up to the free throw line in the second half, they’ll be frightened by a roaring crowd of noisemakers, screams, and jeers. Front and center more often than not will be Ballmer.
Not a bad ten-year anniversary gift.
4. Ant-Man Ascension
There were many big winners in the 2024 season from Jalen Brunson to Tyrese Haliburton to Kyrie Irving to Paolo Banchero, but perhaps the biggest winner was the NBA for realizing the ascension of Anthony Edwards. The Ant-Man emerged into a mega-star with a fantastic regular season and postseason run that put Minnesota on the map.
Edwards became a real leader with more playmaking responsibility and late-game heroics. He bought in to Chris Finch’s scheme with the kind of game-wrecking effort to head the top defensive unit in the league. Running for rebounds, chasing down blocks, picking pockets for thunderous fastbreak dunks, they made Edwards an MVP candidate and helped the Timberwolves win 56 games, good enough for the West’s No. 3 seed.
Their First Round matchup against the loaded Phoenix Suns appeared to set up another quick postseason exit, yet that was far from the case as the Wolves led by the Ant-Man’s 31.0 points per game trounced Kevin Durant and the rest of the Phoenix Suns in a crisp four-game sweep right out the playoffs. They were surely going to get humbled by the defending champion Nuggets, and their towering MVP Nikola Jokic, but Minnesota battled wire to wire and came out ahead in the seven-game classic, with Edwards hitting many of the series’ most important shots.
Their magic ran out against the Mavericks who had the length and defensive strength to mitigate the Wolves and also two offensive juggernauts whereas the Wolves only had the one. Ant was excellent in the Conference showdown averaging nearly 8 assists per game as the primary ball-handler and drilling 40.6% of his three-point attempts.
When people ask who the next face of the league will be, an obvious candidate comes to mind in Anthony Edwards. He’s had the charisma, confidence, and crazy athleticism to draw crowds and sell sponsorships and be a role model for young fans. The only missing ingredient would be performing at his best on the biggest stage, and Edwards emphatically proved he could in 2024, and that more playoff wins were in his future.
He has more room to grow in 2025 with the exit of fan-favorite Karl-Anthony Towns.
3. JB’s Move
If you told an NBA fan before the season that the Celtics would cruise past their opponent in a four-game Conference Finals and then go on to parade past their opponent in a five-game NBA Finals, then they likely would have predicted a Jayson Tatum-infused explosion. If they learned that wasn’t exactly the case, then they might have anticipated a Kristaps Porzingis return to prominence or believed all the hype about Derrick White’s underlying statistics. They wouldn’t have imagined Jaylen Brown would be the best player on the court, but that’s what happened.
Two years removed from an atrocious NBA Finals performance where he was exposed on a global stage, for not being able to dribble with his left, Brown emerged as both the Larry Bird Eastern Conference Finals MVP and the Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP. He played better through each round of the Eastern playoffs, being practically unstoppable against the Cavaliers in the Semi-Finals and leading the charge on both ends against the Pacers in the Conference Finals.
He might not have been the one to seal the deal in the series-clinching Game 5 against Dallas, though he had done enough to impact the series and steal away the prior games. Brown had chaotic defensive effort against the top Maverick guards and three-level offensive outbursts against the stout Maverick front. He looked every part the alpha dog that he was drafted to be and erased any sense of doubt that the Celtics should think about shopping him.
Brown isn’t going anywhere, proving he’s worth the jaw-dropping 5-year, $285 million deal that at one point made him the most expensive asset in the NBA. The only question now is where does he go from here? He is not the limitless scorer that his co-star Tatum is and he’s far from capable acting as the primary ball-handler, but he is building his reputation as one of the best two-way players in the world and should return to All-NBA status.
If the Celtics want to address a soft spot because there really is no weakness, then they could try to bridge the gap offensively between their co-stars Brown and Tatum. JT has had countless off-shooting nights, especially in last year’s playoffs, and at times it feels like the Celtics only have faith in him closing out games. JB getting more opportunity to be the leading man could improve his 3-point shot into a true weapon, his playmaking ability as a primary facilitator, and the Celtics’ chances of eliminating Tatum’s bad habit of shooting until his arms fall off.
Having two elite individual playmakers would give the Celtics a chance at another dynasty.
2. Bron & Bronny
I mean you knew this was coming…It’s a story nearly a decade in the making that LeBron James’ son, LeBron “Bronny” James Jr., will make his looooooooooong-awaited professional debut. The King has said for a while that his motivation to play into his late 30’s, beyond chasing Kareem’s scoring record, was sharing an NBA court with his son and that moment will come in 2025.
Bronny climbed the recruiting ranks as a member of the national powerhouse Sierra Canyon High School in California, and he set himself up for a dream collegiate season at the nearby University of Southern California. However, things quickly turned for the worst when Bronny collapsed at a summer practice and fell into cardiac arrest due to a congenital heart defect. Medical professionals would clear his return to the court some months later, and he made his highly-anticipated debut last December.
He shot poorly as a freshman coming off the bench but built his reputation as a playmaking defender. He obviously left after one season and declared for the NBA Draft, but only agreed to work out with the hometown Lakers and Kevin Durant’s Suns. But LeBron’s son wasn’t going to be drafted anywhere else, landing with Los Angeles and his father with the 55th overall pick.
Bronny is nowhere close to ready to compete at the NBA level, and both the Lakers and the NBA are taking extreme caution with the early parts of his career given the immense pressure he’s going to face. They’ll surely each get their cover shot of the two LeBron James-es sharing the court together before a more practical measure of sending Bronny to grow in the G League.
When Bron and Bronny share the NBA court, it will be the first time in league history that a father and son will do just that, and they get to do it wearing the same jersey. You could very well scream nepotism, especially since Bronny became the first second-round pick in NBA history to earn a four-year guaranteed contract before suiting up for his first game. But you should enjoy and celebrate this long-awaited moment for LeBron, who entered the NBA as the most hyped basketball prospect in the game’s history, while growing up fatherless, and now gets to be a father sharing an NBA court with his own son.
It’s the best story of the season and one of the best stories in the Association’s 70+ years.
- End of an Era
My top storyline for 2025 is the end of NBA on TNT. After over thirty years of the most entertaining and polarizing basketball coverage, Turner Sports has lost media broadcasting rights to the NBA, and it appears their Emmy-winning flagship show Inside the NBA will begin production for its final season.
The late-night special captured two generations of basketball fans with its cast of iconic characters, cutting-edge commentary, and celebratory atmosphere covering the best players on the planet. Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Shaquille O’Neal have created viral moment after viral moment and guided the NBA’s meteoric rise in viewership for nearly fifteen years together as a foursome, and for over twenty-five years altogether.
Inside the NBA changed sports television forever and sadly the NBA is cashing all its chips, selling their media broadcasting rights to ESPN, NBC, and Amazon for a multi-layer distribution channel. This decision will enable the NBA to reach more audiences around the world and use new revenue to invest into improving its product.
While the league will benefit greatly financially from their new partnerships, it’s hard to predict how much it could unravel spiritually. Inside the NBA and its four superstar components shape so much of the appeal of the NBA to young viewers, some of which dreamed of playing in the NBA themselves and are now guests of the show discussing their performance with their childhood idols. It’s highly unlikely that the group will reappear on another network together given how much money is being dished out to sports personalities nowadays, and even if a network does invest in the oft-controversial, Emmy Award-winning crew, it’s a long shot to be one of the three major players at the table.
The NBA’s deals with big corporate media should result in corporate-style basketball coverage with a lot less flare, humor, and mass appeal to the audiences driving so much of their viewership and social platforms. Commissioner Silver has signed off on three key elements: more complex broadcasting methods that could frustrate casual viewers, less familiar commentators that could struggle to keep frequent viewers, and less revered criticism that could struggle to retain loyal viewers like me. In simpler terms, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around staying up late on weeknights for basketball coverage, if I can even find what platform it’s on, to listen to generic conversations and basic skepticisms within the NBA from television personalities I can’t identify with as a young fan.
So enjoy every second of Inside the NBA while you still can, all of Ernie’s segments, Kenny’s breakdowns, Chuck’s critiques, and Shaq’s demands. It should be the best season in the history of the program and the last time we get authentic, heartfelt, and exemplary conversations about the NBA.
NBAL 