Say what you want about the Celtics, but there’s no denying that they steamrolled through the regular season and playoffs en route to banner no. 18.
While that should make the Celtics the favorites to repeat in 2025, the gap between them and the challengers may shrink. Some of the teams behind them have avenues to get better and championship hangover can be a real thing. No team has successfully defended its title since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018.
Who are those challengers nipping at Boston’s heels? Here are the teams that it will have to look out for.
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6. Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee had a cursed season, getting an injury to Giannis Antetokounmpo at the worst time. That led to a disappointing first-round exit to Indiana. That shouldn’t repeat next year.
Antetokounmpo is always going to be an MVP candidate that should have the Bucks near the top of the East. And Damian Lillard never really seemed to click in Milwaukee. The Celtics have had years to gel. Lillard had bits and pieces of one season. Those two will build better chemistry with more time.
Let’s not forget that the Bucks were one of the biggest challengers to the Celtics this past season. They split the season series 2-2, but the Bucks outscored the Celtics by 39 points.
5. Minnesota Timberwolves
The Wolves’ No. 1 defense was no fluke this year. They will remain elite in that area, which should keep their record near the top of the West again.
Anthony Edwards will be better next season. He’s already an electric scorer and a great one-on-one defender. His passing reads weren’t at the level of some of the other stars of the game, and that will get better with repetition.
The Wolves are not in a good financial situation. They will be a second apron team, limiting the improvements that they can make in the offseason. A Karl-Anthony Towns trade is the only big shakeup that they could pursue — could players like Darius Garland, Cameron Johnson or Zach LaVine be options?
Even if the Timberwolves don’t make a big shakeup, they’re not in danger of losing any of their key rotation players. They should be contenders again.
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4. Dallas Mavericks
Can the Mavs get back to the Finals next year? They made it through a minefield with an injured Luka Doncic. If he has better health, then that is an easy avenue for them to get even better.
Their role players were probably above their true level for those earlier rounds, though, and they got exposed in the Finals against the Celtics.
The team clearly needs more shooting. Tim Hardaway Jr. had the third-highest salary on the roster this season but couldn’t stay on the floor. They will need to pursue an upgrade or hope that he regains his touch in the last year of his contract.
Moving Dereck Lively II into the starting rotation should lead to improvement. Jason Kidd did not want to disrupt the chemistry that the team built with Daniel Gafford at the end of the year, but Lively was the better player and is going to get even better next season.
It’s tough to have Dallas this low given all of those reasons, but the West is going to be a murderer’s row again and it doesn’t have the depth of the teams ahead.
3. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder were the No. 1 seed coming into the playoffs, but they looked outclassed by the Mavericks in the second round.
Gaining that playoff experience should obviously make them a tougher out in 2025. Plus, their entire team should improve as they get closer to their primes. But the biggest reason that the Thunder are this high is because they can improve more than any team on this list.
Oklahoma City is one of the few contending teams with cap space, allowing it to potentially add a starter like Klay Thompson or Isaiah Hartenstein this summer. OKC could even find itself in the Paul George sweepstakes.
The Thunder have more future draft picks than they know what to do with, allowing them to swing for a big trade if they so choose. And they can add a quality player at No. 12 this year.
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2. Denver Nuggets
NBA fans were robbed of the matchup that was predicted all season. The Nuggets faced the team that was built perfectly to beat them in the Wolves and failed to meet the Celtics in the Finals. They had bad luck with Jamal Murray’s calf injury, and Michael Porter Jr. completely disappeared from that series.
The Nuggets should be favorites to come out of the West next season. They still have the best player in basketball in Nikola Jokic, and Murray can hopefully regain his health with more time to rest during this offseason.
There aren’t a ton of ways for the Nuggets to improve, though. The easiest way would be to explore Porter trades to improve their depth. That was their death blow last season — their bench let them down.
Denver is going to have to bring back Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at all costs. It can also add an outside free agent with its $5.1 million taxpayer mid-level exception.
Even if the Nuggets only add an end-of-rotation role player with that money, they’re the best team on paper in the West. They have some young players like Christian Braun and Julian Strawther who should improve, and Jokic is so good at the end of games that they will be the favorite in any series next season outside of Boston.
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1. Boston Celtics
The Celtics were the best team in the league this year in large part because of how well all of their pieces fit together. They all have extremely high feel, great shooting and plus defense.
Their entire top eight is locked in for next year, and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are hitting their primes. Jrue Holiday could fall off a bit at the age of 34, and at age 38, Al Horford isn’t always going to stay ahead of Father Time. Still, there shouldn’t be much age-related decline.
There are some other avenues for this team to get better, although the upgrades probably won’t be massive. They don’t have cap space this summer, but they do have the 30th and 54th picks in this draft, along with two future first-rounders to trade.
The Celtics don’t really need to add any talent. They’re built to be a potential dynasty, and they should return to at least the Finals given the edge that they have over the rest of the Eastern Conference.