The NBA offseason is shorter than most, but it still feels like some considerable time since we’ve seen a great NBA game. That can change in a hurry as the 2024-25 NBA season officially tips off Tuesday night with a fine opening week slate planned.
As soon as Tuesday night, you can start betting on 3-point field goals, watching your most anticipated rookies, figuring out when Kawhi Leonard is coming back from injury, and how the 76ers are going to come up short this year with Paul George in the mix.
The NBA is truly back. But what are the main storylines to watch for? Who looks like a good bet this season? Is the Boston repeat inevitable?
We have five of the top NBA storylines this season for you to follow. We also went through the NBA odds at top-rated sportsbooks to find our favorite bets for the award races and NBA futures. We also are going to finish with our picks for the 2025 NBA Finals.
Table of Contents
Will Victor Wembanyama Lift the Spurs to the Playoffs in Year 2?
Victor Wembanyama was the most hyped NBA prospect since LeBron James when he entered the league in 2023. If the first season is any indication, he might live up to the hype. The man they call Wemby won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award with a truly unique stat line of 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and a league-best 3.6 blocks per game. Those are numbers only the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (twice) achieved in a season before Wemby did it as a rookie.
We also watched Wemby lead a spirited run by France’s national team in the 2024 Paris Olympics, losing out on a gold medal because Steph Curry went insane from beyond the arc.
Expectations are going to be higher for the 7’4” phenom as he enters his second season in San Anotnio. But despite Wemby’s greatness last year, the Spurs still finished with the same 22-60 record they had the year before.
They still have Gregg Popovich, one of the best coaches to ever do it, and they added a veteran in Chris Paul. But it’s largely going to be on Wembanyama taking a massive leap forward, and they still have young players who maybe haven’t reached their full potential such as Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell, and Keldon Johnson.
Wemby has been a favorite bet for MVP (+2000 at FanDuel), but you have to keep in mind you usually have to win at least 46 games and make the playoffs to win that award. Winning over 50 games is more realistic to get MVP attention.
The Spurs, despite their higher expectations, are still only +360 at FanDuel to make the playoffs in the Western Conference. So, Wemby is going to be must-see TV again this year, but it still may not be a complete enough roster around him yet to think about MVPs and playoff runs in San Antonio.
Even LeBron James needed a third season before he made the playoffs with the Cavaliers. Just give it some time.
LeBron & Son Try to Salvage the Lakers
That title was a little Sanford & Son/junk collector reference, in case you missed it. We don’t have to sugarcoat it. The Los Angeles Lakers are only +4000 at FanDuel to win the championship, meaning there are at least a dozen teams with equal or better odds to win the NBA Finals this year. The Lakers are no longer an elite franchise, and it’s possible they take a step back with rookie coach JJ Redick, the controversial hire this offseason.
But you have to appreciate and witness the history we are about to see this season. LeBron James will turn 40 years old on December 30, and the NBA’s all-time scoring king is still one of the best active players in the league. He has averaged at least 25.0 points per game in 20 straight seasons, something we’ll likely never see again.
This year, we are also going to see something once and only once in our lives. James is going to play with his 20-year-old son Bronny James on the same team after the Lakers drafted him with the No. 55 pick.
We also don’t have to pretend Bronny is going to be a good pro, or believe he’s going to see significant playing time this year, or even buy that he’d be drafted at all if his father wasn’t LeBron. But he did at least show some improvement in his final preseason game, and you know LeBron is going to get his way this year with this move. They’ll likely spend some minutes together on the court in a real game that counts just for the spectacle of it all.
But don’t you dare go betting real money on Bronny for NBA Rookie of the Year (+50000 at FanDuel). That would be absurd. Save that for Dalton Knecht (+1600), the Lakers’ first-round pick who actually has a shot at it.
But I’m going to appreciate LeBron while he’s still playing, pray that Anthony Davis stays healthy, and maybe we’ll see the Lakers give it a go in the playoffs for one last LeBron run at a championship.
Will Timberwolves or Thunder Build on Last Year’s Success in the West?
There is still a reasonable belief in the NBA that a young team has to experience some losing in the NBA playoffs before reaching the NBA Finals and winning a championship.
Last season was a great learning curve for teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves. They battled it out for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference behind their young stars, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards.
SGA has averaged over 30.0 points per game in consecutive seasons and is a top MVP candidate again after he led a surprising Thunder team to that No. 1 seed. But they were humbled by the Mavericks in the semifinals.
The Timberwolves finished 56-26, just one game behind the Thunder, and had an even better playoff run behind that great defense and timely buckets from Edwards. In the semifinals, they stunned the defending champs in Denver after coming back from a 20-point deficit in Game 7.
But the Timberwolves just kept coming up short to the Mavericks in the Conference Finals. They fell behind 3-0 even though every game was winnable for them in the final minutes. They eventually lost 4-1.
No one has been able to come out of the West in consecutive years since Golden State’s 5-year run in 2015-19. So, if you’re looking for the latest contender in this conference to unseat the Mavericks, the Thunder and Timberwolves are pretty logical choices after coming close last year.
In fact, the Thunder (+310 at FanDuel) have the best odds of winning the Western Conference this season followed by the Timberwolves (+500), Nuggets (+500), and Mavericks (+550).
The Thunder have that young core around SGA that can certainly get better. The Timberwolves made that shocking trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks, and they now have Julius Randle to go with Edwards and Rudy Gobert.
Can We Just Get One Healthy Postseason for the NBA’s Stars?
Look, the 2024-25 NBA regular season could be the weakest in years, and I wouldn’t care if it meant a fantastic playoffs where the star players are actually healthy and we get to see the best take on the best.
That hasn’t been happening for a steady decade now. Last year was really bad as star players like Jimmy Butler (Heat), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks), Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers), Kawhi Leonard (Clippers), and others like Tyrese Haliburton (Pacers) and Jalen Brunson (Knicks) were significantly hurt during the playoffs. Some we missed in key games, and some of those players didn’t play a single second of postseason action for their teams.
Like, it’d be easier to take a Boston repeat at face value if we saw them beat Miami with Butler, who upset them in 2023, or take down the Bucks with Giannis, an elite playoff performer when he’s healthy.
But it just seems like every April, someone is either severely hurt right in time for the playoffs, and it’s just led to a lot of disappointing series. You’ve probably seen the tweets and social media posts about the 2024 WNBA Finals being better than any NBA Finals since 2017. Maybe they have a point there.
Injuries weren’t always this bad either as many of the stars of the past rarely missed playoff games. We just may be in an era where a lot of top players are a little more older and injury prone, including Leonard, Kevin Durant, and Joel Embiid.
But let’s hope we see some positive regression to the mean and that 2025 can be the healthiest postseason in many years. I especially would like to see Antetokounmpo get another shot with Damian Lillard and hopefully a more stable coaching situation in Milwaukee this year.
Someone needs to give Boston a tougher road in the East.
Are the Boston Celtics Inevitable?
The NBA is no stranger to teams repeating, but the Boston Celtics this year are more likely to do it than most teams in recent years. For that matter, they had +400 odds before the season started last year to win the NBA Finals, and they are +310 right now at FanDuel.
That would be the highest preseason NBA odds for a champion since the 2017-18 Warriors were -187. Yes, that really happened. Those teams with Kevin Durant were that great.
The Celtics cruised to a 64-18 record last year. Their win total is 58.5 games this year, the highest in the league. They have retained virtually their whole core minus Al Horford, who retired after winning his first championship. Jayson Tatum has expressed his desire to win an MVP, but the fact is this team can win without him shooting efficiently or scoring much, which you need to do to win MVP at that position.
But with the likes of Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Derrick White backing him up, Tatum has all the help he needs to repeat. He also has a locked-in coach in Joe Mazzulla, who is an amusing guy to say the least. Just watch this video:
Yeah, it won’t be the end of Mazzulla’s world if the Celtics don’t inevitably repeat this season. But that’s what the expectations are, and after what happened with the rest of the conference last year, it’s safe to assume they might actually face a tougher path this season. They may not have the same drive after finally getting over the hump after years of being close to a ring in the Brown and Tatum era too.
So, we’ll see how it plays out, but the Celtics are a worthy favorite for sure. No one has really tried to construct a super team to take them down, and the one team you can argue that did that (76ers), they’re already starting the season with Paul George having hyperextended his knee last week.
NBA 2024-25 Player Awards: Best Bets
In the next sections, I’m going to offer my favorite pick for the NBA player awards going into the start of the 2024-25 season.
Most Valuable Player: Luka Doncic, Mavericks (+330 at FanDuel)
Most people recognize now that Nikola Jokic should have won four straight MVP awards these last four seasons. Blame it on voter fatigue or Joel Embiid’s whining, but they gave Embiid one of those awards instead. Jokic just had to settle for Finals MVP in 2023.
However, it’s time to pick someone new for MVP in 2024-25. Jokic is awesome, but he can’t keep doing this.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was close last year, but the Thunder may not have that argument of a No. 1 seed again this season. It might also be hard for him to top that individual season effort as he’ll be looking for his teammates to step up to take that team further this year.
Hate to start with picking the outright betting favorite, but Luka Doncic is my choice (+350 at FanDuel). I think the NBA Finals loss is going to really motivate him to raise his game, be in better shape after people criticized his defense and conditioning, and he’ll play another stellar season. He’s already an annual first-team All-NBA player, and he’s one of the most accomplished players for his age in NBA history.
But the MVP is not something on his resume yet, and I think Doncic takes care of that this year with some dazzling performances, a high number of triple-doubles, and 50-plus wins for Dallas as a title contender again.
Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, Spurs (-155 at FanDuel)
This one is crazy as Wemby (-155 at FanDuel) is already better than even money for it. The next closest contenders are Chet Holmgren and Bam Adebayo at +1100.
I think this is another case of voter fatigue and maybe even regret. Rudy Gobert won the award for a fourth time last year after a great regular season for the Minnesota defense. But in the playoffs, people were reminded of his limitations in guarding outside of the paint, and that led to a lot of fans saying he didn’t deserve the award.
Meanwhile, Wemby led the league in blocks, and with his size, he has a good shot to keep doing that. The Spurs are still going to have to win significantly more than 22 games this year for him to truly clinch this, but I think he’s worth throwing in an awards parlay with some of these other choices right now.
Sixth Man of the Year: Donte DiVincenzo, Timberwolves (+1500 at FanDuel)
I’m going away from the usual suspects for the newest Minnesota player in Donte DiVincenzo. Yes, his odds (+1500 at FanDuel) are worse than that of teammate Naz Reid (+1200), who just won this award last year. Can you win it two years in a row for the same team? Yes, Lou Williams did so for the Clippers in 2018 and 2019.
But I think DiVincenzo could put up even better numbers on what should be one of the best teams in the league. He hit a career-high 40.1% of his 3-point shots last year for the Knicks and looks fully healthy again.
The Timberwolves still have Mike Conley as a starting guard, and he shot very efficiently last year, though he will be 37 this season. They could need to rest him a little more this year, and they need to make up for the loss of scoring and 3-point shooting from Karl-Anthony Towns.
So, I believe DiVincenzo can take this one from Reid, but still keeping the Sixth Man of the Year award in Minnesota for another year.
Rookie of the Year: Zach Edey, Grizzlies (+290 at FanDuel)
Another favorite by the odds, Zach Edey is going to a great spot with Memphis. He’ll get to play with Ja Morant, who is hopefully done getting into trouble off the court. He’ll have a gifted passer setting him up for easy buckets.
Edey is also just more polished than some of the “high-potential prospects” that went high in this 2024 draft class. We saw him play four years at Purdue where he was very productive, including 25.2 points and 12.2 rebounds per game in his final season.
He’s not sniffing those numbers in the NBA this year, but in a draft class with no Wembanyama type of player, Edey should be a solid choice for top rookie.
NBA Finals Prediction
Finally, it’s time to predict the NBA Finals matchup for next June. If you’re afraid I’m going to do the boring, predictable thing, then you were right to be worried.
But the NBA is often boring and predictable like that. We watched the Warriors and Cavaliers meet in the NBA Finals four years in a row in 2015-18, and that was after two straight years of LeBron’s Miami team against the Spurs. The 1980s were largely dominated by the Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry. Even The Last Dance season for the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan ended with a rematch against the Utah Jazz.
Rematches are just a big part of NBA playoff history. In the East, the path to another Boston appearance in the NBA Finals is far clearer. They are +150 to win the conference at FanDuel. Are you going to trust the Knicks to get it done? They didn’t play Boston well last year, and for as much as I appreciate Jalen Brunson’s abilities, I don’t think adding Karl-Anthony Towns is the playoff performer he needs to take down the most balanced and talented roster in the league.
We know the 76ers haven’t reached the Eastern Conference Finals since Allen Iverson took them to the NBA Finals in 2001, which was eons ago. I don’t trust Embiid in the playoffs, and adding Paul George doesn’t make them any more trustworthy.
I would give Giannis and the Bucks a real shot, but I’d sooner trust Doc Rivers to blow a 3-1 lead than beat Boston in the postseason.
If the Celtics’ top players stay healthy, which they usually do, then that’s still clearly the team to beat. Then in the Western Conference, you have plenty of avenues to explore:
- If the Suns ever got their trio healthy of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, then maybe there’s something there with a new proven coach in Mike Budenholzer.
- You always have to give Nikola Jokic a fighting shot, though I’m not convinced adding Russell Westbrook is the help he needs to finally beat a team with more than 50 wins in the postseason for the first time.
- The Timberwolves should be good in the regular season, but do they get exposed again defensively in the playoffs, and can they win the high-scoring games?
- Can the Thunder be the latest new team to reach the Finals if Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren step up for SGA? They also added a glue guy in Alex Caruso, and they’re paying Isaiah Hartenstein big bucks to improve their rebounding.
The Thunder are a solid choice from the Western Conference, but my MVP pick was a preview to my Finals pick as I do think Doncic is going to run it back and be better this year. We know few players can turn it on like he has, and he’s won a Game 7 on the road before in Phoenix. He’s been to multiple Western Conference Finals already.
He understands what it’s like to play with Kyrie Irving, and they could get more out of center Derek Lively this year. Klay Thompson may not have much left in the tank at all, but you never know what a change of scenery could do for one of the best shooters ever.
The Mavericks are my pick, but unfortunately, I don’t think they have the roster to make the outcome any different against Boston, which has insanely deep 3-point shooting and defends at a high level. The 2024 Finals may have been more lopsided if Porzingis didn’t get hurt for Boston.
Hopefully a rematch would be more entertaining than that and closer this time around, but I do believe the Celtics will repeat in the end. If I’m wrong, then in the words of Joe Mazzulla, it’s not the end of the world, and you won’t be invited to my funeral.
Scott’s NBA Pick: 2025 NBA Finals Matchup – Boston Celtics vs. Dallas Mavericks (+1500 at FanDuel)
Scott’s NBA Pick: 2025 NBA Finals Winner – Boston Celtics (+310 at FanDuel)
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