The NBA offseason is officially over. Players have been drafted, signed, traded and waived. Training camps were conducted, media days were covered and holdouts begun and ended. The preseason games have all been played and premature champions crowned. Now it’s time for basketball to begin.
The NBA’s 75th Anniversary season tips off on Tuesday night when the Milwaukee Bucks host the Brooklyn Nets on ring night. The nightcap will see Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors take on LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA nailed its opening night slate.
The NBA tips off on Tuesday night, and to get you ready we have the latest edition of the NBA Power Rankings.
With all of the knowledge of the preseason and all of the uncertainty of not having seen actual basketball games that count yet, we have once again ranked all 30 teams from worst to first. While last week we were reluctant to adjust too much for preseason results, this week we allowed the totality of the preseason to inform how teams shifted up and down.
In addition, we got out our Sharpie and wrote down a bold prediction for every team in the league. How we do bold predictions is to stay within the realm of reality, and use the predictions to highlight belief or skepticism in players and teams. Believing in Darius Garland of the Cleveland Cavaliers as a breakout player will mean pitching him for an All-Star team, not as an MVP candidate or the Cavs as a title contender. Let’s not get crazy.
In our final Power Rankings before the actual season begins, let’s go through every team. As always, we start in central Florida.