Projecting the five best NBA lineups for the 2023-24 season

1. Boston Celtics: Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis

"Unseating the defending Champions is never easy, but the Boston Celtics managed to do it by going for it in the offseason," is a line Celtics fans hope to read in July 2024. In the meantime, they’ll just have to settle for the most dangerous five-man unit in the entire league. 

Last season, the five-man unit of Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford produced the fourth-best net rating of any five-man lineup to play over 300 minutes. Their plus-10.5 net rating, 126.2 offensive rating, and 115.6 defensive rating in 432 minutes was the backbone of their league-best plus-6.5 net rating, and they went out and made it even better. 

Marcus Smart may have been the heart and soul of the Celtics, but Jrue Holiday is on a completely different level as a player. His defense is just as good, possibly even better, and he is a massive offensive upgrade. Over the past three seasons, Smart produced a solid plus-2.3 on-off net rating, while Holiday came in at a whopping plus-11.5. Smart is a good player, but Holiday is legitimately great. 

Al Horford has reinvented himself in Boston as a stretch five, but Kristaps Porzingis is nicknamed “the Unicorn” for a reason. Porzingis may not have the defensive versatility of Horford, but he became one of the best pure rim protectors in the league last season, and his offensive package is far more deadly. Horford can hit open 3s, but Porzingis demands you guard him beyond the arc. His plus-5.2 on-off net rating in 82 games in Washington suggests Porzingis has finally made good on the hype that engulfed him early in his career in New York. 

Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Kristaps Porzingis is lineup construction heaven. Everyone can space the floor and take advantage of that space, and it is a devastating defensive unit. The Celtics won’t switch one through five as they have in the past, but putting Porzingis at the rim and switching one through four should make for an even stouter regular-season defense. While I would probably give the edge to Denver and Milwaukee in a playoff series due to sheer star power, the Celtics are the only team that I can reasonably expect to win 60 games, and their five-man death lineup is why.