The Whiteboard: Essential picks and predictions for the 2024-25 NBA season

The 2024-25 NBA season is just a day away and our expert NBA team is here to share their picks and predictions for all the biggest questions. If you like what you read here, be sure to subscribe to The Whiteboard, our daily NBA email newsletter, and get updates from Ian Levy, Wes Goldberg, Chris Kline, Lior Lampert and Quinn Everts delivered to your inbox every morning.

Who wins the scoring title this season?

Lior Lampert: Picking anyone other than Luka Doncic feels like a losing battle. The Dallas Mavericks superstar averaged 33.9 points per game, 3.5 more than the next-closest scorer (Giannis Antetokounmpo). With the additional room to operate created by the spacing offseason addition Klay Thompson provides, his output may somehow increase.

Quinn Everts: I feel a gargantuan Giannis year incoming, so give me the Greek Freak to lead the league in scoring. He’s posted two straight seasons of more than 30 points per game and I think he’ll be on a quest to quiet Bucks disbelievers this season, meaning lots of huge performances. 

Chris Kline: Tempted to throw a curveball and say Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but … Luka Doncic feels like the obvious choice for a reason. Giannis definitely has a path and Joel Embiid would be the prime candidate if not for his recent back-to-backs mandate. I am concerned about Dallas’ ability to follow up on last season’s success, but regardless of what the team accomplishes, Luka should get his. 

Which NBA team improves their win-loss record most this season?

Lior Lampert: Give me the Memphis Grizzlies. I recently wrote about how they’re primed to reclaim their stake among the Western Conference elites and am essentially doubling down on my stance here.

Ian Levy: Spurs? Maybe I’m just drinking too much of the Victor Wembanyama Kool-Aid (in France, they just call it Cabernet Sauvignon) but they finished five wins behind the Grizzlies last season and might finish ahead of them in the standings this year.

Wes Goldberg: The right answer is the Grizzlies – but it’s also the easy one. I’ll toss some love to the Charlotte Hornets. If they can get a healthy season from LeMelo Ball, new coach Charles Lee has them looking like a professional outfit built around Ball, Brandon Miller and Miles Bridges. They could win 40-plus games and sneak into the play-in mix.

Who wins NBA MVP this season?

Quinn Everts: Shai Gilegeous-Alexander is taking it home. After finishing second last year behind Nikola Jokic, SGA is now in prime position to win his first MVP. Oklahoma City will be one of the best teams in the NBA, and there’s no reason for Shai’s scoring or defense to regress. If anything, he might be more efficient this season with more reinforcements — Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein — joining him in OKC.

Chris Kline: This is a tough one, if only because there is so much quality talent in the league right now. Nikola Jokic remains the best player in the world and Denver has actively tanked the roster around him. The question is, will that help or hurt his candidacy in the end? If this thin Nuggets team is a top-four seed in the end, it may be hard to go against Jokic. That said, OKC has the best all-around roster in the NBA outside of Boston, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is due for his moment in the sun. My head leans Jokic, my heart leans Shai. I’ll go with Jokic. 

Ian Levy: Luka Doncic. I don’t like it but the fact that he hasn’t even finished in top-two yet in his career is looking increasingly off-putting. To be clear, I think the Thunder finished ahead of the Mavericks in the regular season standings but Luka gets credit for succeeding with a far inferior supporting cast.

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Who finishes in the ninth seed in the Western Conference?

Ian Levy: The Los Angeles Lakers. JJ Redick doing the Michael Scott lip bite during their Play-In loss to the Spurs wins a Webby for Meme of the Year.

Wes Goldberg: The Kings. With the Clippers falling out and the Lakers (in my estimation) being just a smidge enough better to get the sixth playoff spot, it comes down to two of the Warriors, Pelicans and Kings for the 7-8 matchup. I think the Warriors, with better vibes, should sneak in. If the Pelicans make a move to add a center before the deadline, that should give them enough. It feels like the Kings might have plateaued.

Who finishes with the best regular-season record in the league?

Lior Lampert: Despite losing prized free-agent acquisition Isaiah Hartenstein for five to six weeks, the Oklahoma City Thunder could win 60-plus regular-season games. Considering they didn’t have him last season and went 57-25, it’s like nothing ever happened (and when he returns, it’ll be a massive boost). Moreover, we can't overlook the upgrade from Josh Giddey to Alex Caruso in their rotation from fit and defensive standpoints.

Ian Levy: The Boston Celtics are defending champions but also seem to have a weird chip on their shoulder. I see them going way harder than they need to in the regular season, trying to prove a point that they can’t clearly articulate and we don’t totally understand.

Who wins Rookie of the Year?

Lior Lampert: If the preseason was any indication, the Grizzlies have big plans for rookie center Zach Edey out of the gate. FanSided’s Christopher Kline perfectly outlined why the 7-foot-4 Canadian will set the basketball world on fire in Year 1.

Quinn Everts: Things are going to be brutal in Portland again this year, but Donovan Clingan winning ROY will ease the pain a little bit for Blazers fans. In a wide-open race, Clingan will stand out in part because Portland will play him a ton, but also because of his NBA-ready rim protection and defense. As he gets more comfortable offensively throughout the year, the NBA world will take notice and the UConn star will take some hardware back to the PNW.

Chris Kline: Zach Edey. He’s going to start on a winning team and produce with extreme efficiency out of the gate. Edey is going to profoundly benefit Ja Morant with his wide screens and oceanic catch radius around the basket. He’s still a walking mismatch, which should lead to plenty of post buckets. As for defense, Edey’s sheer size will change the geometry of the court — and he has Jaren Jackson Jr. roaming alongside him. The Grizzlies are in a great spot, and Edey has proven his mettle as the best player in college basketball for two years running. 

Where does Victor Wembanyama finish in the MVP voting?

Chris Kline: Let’s assume Jokic, Giannis, Luka, and Shai are top-five locks if all are healthy. Joel Embiid would be too if he plays 65 games, but that feels increasingly less likely. So, there’s an open top-five spot for somebody to claim. Jayson Tatum has been hovering in that range for a couple years and Boston is going to win a lot of games (again), so he’s an easy choice. But Wemby is going to lead DPOY boards all season, increase his offensive efficiency as an NBA sophomore, and potentially even start winning some games. The cutthroat West could limit the Spurs’ success — and thus impact Wemby’s candidacy — but he’s a top-10 MVP candidate by season’s end. 

Ian Levy: Third, right after Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Wes Goldberg: Third? Are the Spurs somehow winning 47 games? Voters will shower Wembanyama with praise and DPOY trophies, but they won’t vote for someone on a 30-win team for MVP. He won’t crack the top five.

Who wins the NBA In-Season Tournament and will anyone care?

Lior Lampert: Not that fans will (or should) care about the second annual NBA Cup, but the Minnesota Timberwolves have a clear path to winning it. They are the clear-cut best team in their group. Plus, it’s another opportunity to spotlight the budding superstar that is Anthony Edwards on a national scale.

Ian Levy: The Orlando Magic. And no, nobody cares. Not even Magic fans.

Wes Goldberg: Isn’t it called the NBA Cup now?

Who is the best player to be traded during the season?

Quinn Everts: At some point, the Bulls have to realize there’s no point in having Zach LaVine on the roster, and that point will come this season. The Bulls need to let this team be bad for a few years, get an asset or two from Los Angeles when the Lakers inevitably get desperate around January and see what the young guys like Coby White and Matas Buzelis can do.

Ian Levy: Right now, the likely trade pieces all appear deeply flawed with a dearth of likely suitors — Zach LaVine, Brandon Ingram, Deandre Ayton, etc. Some of those guys are going to get traded but I’m not sure any of them will actually matter. In terms of a player who actually affects the outcome of this season, give me Cam Johnson, even though he’s a modest role player.

Who represents the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals?

Chris Kline: I’d love to sit here and say my beloved Philadelphia 76ers, but I am committed to the truth. Unfortunately, Boston is the obvious and only pick. New York and Philly both have a path, and I can even get behind Milwaukee as an underdog, but the Celtics’ depth, cohesion, and discipline is tough to match. Joe Mazzulla has done an incredible job there.  

Ian Levy: Give me the Knicks or the Pacers in the Finals. At one time, this was one of the NBA’s best rivalries and it was built on repetition — they played six times in the postseason in an eight-year span from 1993 to 2000, with each team winning three series. Both teams have the talent to beat the Celtics as underdogs and I love the idea of them meeting in the ECF so much that I don’t even care if it’s probably the Knicks who advance to the Finals.

Wes Goldberg: It’s the Celtics’ title to lose and I can’t find a reason why they’d lose it. Yes, the East was bad last season. But also the Celtics won the conference by a 14-game margin and a net rating of a bajillion. Maybe the Bucks or 76ers can be the hammers that break the Celtics’ Swiss-movement mechanics, but that team is dialed in.

Who represents the Western Conference in the NBA Finals?

Lior Lampert: Let’s continue the Thunder hype train. Every other squad in the West feels like they have a caveat that may foreshadow their eventual downfall. Oklahoma City has as complete a roster as anyone in the Association, and they have an MVP-caliber floor general in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Quinn Everts: A lot of folks — myself included — were caught off guard by the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, but the more I think about the offensive boost Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo bring to Minnesota, the more convinced I become that the Timberwolves will win the West. Both guys bring reinforcements in areas that Minnesota’s late-game offense needed desperately last year, and rookie Rob Dillingham is going to produce more than folks realize this year. OKC’s reign might be coming soon, but not this year.     

Chris Kline: OKC, point blank. That roster is stacked, their coach is elite, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a bonafide MVP talent. Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams are both top-20 players by season’s end, and you will not find a more avid Alex Caruso fan than myself. OKC has absurd depth, perhaps the best star-level apparatus in the West, and fresh legs that should last deep into the postseason. The Thunder’s arrival is now.

Who wins it all?

Quinn Everts: Boston isn’t going anywhere, unfortunately. While teams around the league tried to make as many splashy moves as possible, Boston will run back pretty much the same team as last year. And why wouldn’t they? This is the best team in the NBA — the C’s are going back-to-back.

Ian Levy: The Thunder — it’s the ideal blend of a perfectly plausible pick that also happens to be the most fun outcome. 

Wes Goldberg: The Celtics become the first repeat NBA champion since 2018 and raise the sixth banner that anybody cares about since everything before the 1980s is ancient history.