As the NBA season kicks off Tuesday, The Post’s top hoops writers — Stefan Bondy, Brian Lewis and Mike Vaccaro — ask and answer the biggest questions.
1. The biggest storyline of the NBA season will be ______
BONDY: The fate of Giannis Antetokounmpo. If the Bucks struggle — I think that’s likely — the league will be on Giannis Watch until the Feb. 5 trade deadline. And if Antetokounmpo stays with the Bucks, we’ll see the guard restart in the summer.
LEWIS: Giannis Antetokounmpo. Again. Stop us if you’ve heard this before. Yes, he opens the season in Milwaukee, but if the Bucks start slowly (quite possible, even in the weak East), then what? This story is resurfacing and — barring a LeBron James retirement — is the biggest in the league until the deadline, if not into the summer.
VACCARO: How the Lakers transition from LeBron’s team to Luka’s team.
2. This team will be better than expected
BONDY: The Spurs. Victor Wembanyama is back and ready to resume his rise to megastardom. De’Aaron Fox is expected to return from his hamstring injury. Stephon Castle looks legit. If healthy, the Spurs will return to the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
LEWIS: Golden State is expected to be solid, with an over/under win total of 47.5 by FanDuel and 45.5 by BetMGM. But few seem to realize how good they were with Jimmy Butler last season, when they won at a rate of 76.7 percent with him in the lineup. That amounts to 63-19.
VACCARO: The Celtics. They are not elite without Jayson Tatum. But there’s still enough to be much better than people think.
3. This team will be worse than expected
BONDY: The Rockets. They weren’t title contenders – despite the hype – even before Fred VanVleet’s season-ending injury. Now they are without a point guard and will miss the defensive presence of Dillon Brooks. Kevin Durant is 37 and has won a total of two playoff series since leaving the Warriors.
LEWIS: The 76ers. While the Kings are more likely to underperform, the 76ers are more likely to completely implode compared to expectations. Ten percent of GMs in the league picked them for fourth in the East and BetMGM put their over/under win total at 42.5, but considering Joel Embiid had only played 19 games last season and 39 the year before, this could be a sideways trend.
VACCARO: The Rockets. And yes, losing Fred VanVleet hurts to begin with. But at some point, Kevin Durant will decline as well. Maybe this year.
4. This player is going to show up this season
BONDY: Zion Williamson. He’s finally legitimately slimmed down, looks slim, and is only 25 years old. He’s earmarked for greatness and he’s achieving that this season, even though the Pelicans still have a terrible roster.
LEWIS: Amen Thompson. Fred VanVleet’s injury will hurt Houston, but the uber-athletic Thompson is the odds-on favorite for Most Improved Player and is also favored by the league’s General Managers.
VACCARO: Ausar Thompson, Pistons. What we saw in the playoffs last year was enticing. Is he ready to take a big step forward for Detroit?
5. If I were this coach, I would be concerned about my job security
BONDY: There are several obvious candidates for the chopping block, including Milwaukee’s Doc Rivers, Philadelphia’s Nick Nurse, Washington’s Brian Keefe, Toronto’s Darko Rajakovic and New Orleans’ Willie Green. But this league is full of surprise firings — no one thought Mike Malone, Mike Brown and Taylor Jenkins would be fired midway through last season — so let’s go with the less obvious Orlando’s Jamahl Mosley, who is burdened by high expectations for an unproven roster.
LEWIS: Doc Rivers doesn’t have much room for error in Milwaukee. He couldn’t get the Bucks back right away when he had Damian Lillard, and now needs to win enough to satisfy both his buyers and Antetokounmpo.
VACCARO: Nick Nurse, 76ers. Man, he looked miserable every day last year. Could he survive a slow start – and would he even want to survive?
6. The Biggest Name to Move Before the Trade Deadline Is ______
BONDY: The easy answer is Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will be the subject of rumors until February 5. But I’m willing to bet he doesn’t get traded during the season, so let’s go with Lauri Markkanen, the Finnish former All-Star languishing in Utah.
LEWIS: Lauri Markkanen. Utah turned down an offer for the summer of 2024 from the Warriors, expecting better ones to come along. They never got them. Rest assured, if they can get the 28-year-old star this time, they’ll jump for it.
VACCARO: Lauri Markkanen because it doesn’t seem like his timeline and the Jazz’s will ever match up.
7. Word association for these players this season – one word each to describe what this player’s season will be like:
Le Bron James
BONDY: Elderly; LEWIS: King; VACCARO: Stubborn
Victor Wembanyama
BONDY: Incomparable; LEWIS: Problem; VACCARO: Wonderful
Kevin Durant
BONDY: Unhappy; LEWIS: Bargain(?); VACCARO: Sad
Luka Doncic
BONDY: Buckets; LEWIS: Motivated; VACCARO: Ascendant
Cooper Flagg
BONDY: Justified; LEWIS: Consistent; VACCARO: Spectacular
8. This season’s MVP will be ______
BONDY: Nikola Jokic. He is still the best player in the NBA and the Nuggets will improve from last season, paving the way for Jokic’s fourth MVP.
LEWIS: Nikola Jokic. He takes back his crown from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
VACCARO: Nikola Jokic. He has a team good enough to win it all again. He will be great every game.
9. The game and winner of the NBA Finals are ______
BONDY: Oklahoma City over Cleveland. Not exactly tested against last season’s top two records, but the age of the rosters suggests both teams are just getting started.
LEWIS: Oklahoma City over Orlando. As good as the loaded Western Conference is, the rolling Thunder cruise to the finals and defend their title to begin a 1990s Bulls-esque run.
VACCARO: Nuggets about the Knicks. The Knicks won’t have any answers for Nikola Jokic, a six-game losing streak, and they won’t for the rest of the year as one of the league’s great careers reaches its true peak.
10. My only bold prediction for the season is ______
BONDY: The Warriors will miss the playoffs. Father Time catches up with everyone, and this is when it hits Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green.
LEWIS: This is the year the Magic take a huge step forward and win the Eastern Conference. The Knicks are going through growing pains with a new coach and the Cavs are dealing with injuries, while Orlando is simply making it through the conference with a dominant defense and an offense that is finally just good enough.
VACCARO: Joel Embiid will play well enough to win Comeback Player of the Year.
#Posts #experts #NBA #preview #Trade #rumors #coaching #hotseat #predictions