ESPN has their Summer Forecast panel that makes predictions and answers questions about the upcoming NBA season. In an article posted on Friday, they were asked for their choices as to who will be the representatives in the Eastern and Western Conferences to reach the NBA Finals, as well as who will win it all. Each ‘expert’ gave their top-three choices with a first-place vote receiving five points, second-place three, and third-place one. Here are the results for each conference winner, and winner of the NBA Finals.
ESPN Predicts NBA Finalists And Finals Winner For 2024-25
Eastern Conference Winner – Boston Celtics (97 Points)
Others receiving votes – Philadelphia 76ers (39), New York Knicks (38), Milwaukee Bucks (13), Cleveland Cavaliers (2)
While the 76ers (Paul George) and Knicks (Mikal Bridges) both made a substantial acquisition in the offseason in hopes of catching Boston, ESPN’s Summer Forecast clearly believes it won’t be enough. The Celtics are coming off a regular season where they finished with the best offensive rating in NBA history and cruised to a championship with a 16-3 postseason record. Boston hasn’t lost a single key piece from last season’s title-winning team, and that continuity should be huge for them.
All in all, just five teams received any type of vote. The Indiana Pacers, who reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season, did not receive any.
Western Conference Winner – Oklahoma City Thunder (83 Points)
Others receiving votes – Minnesota Timberwolves (48), Dallas Mavericks (29), Denver Nuggets (18), Phoenix Suns (8), Los Angeles Lakers (2)
The Thunder were the surprising top-seed in the Western Conference Playoffs last season. They lost in the Western Conference Semifinals to the Mavericks, who went on to reach the NBA Finals. Oklahoma City has been lauded almost universally for adding Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein to their young team this offseason.
What’s interesting here is that two people picked the Lakers as their third-most likely Western Conference winner. This is despite them finishing 11th in ESPN’s Summer Forecast predictions for the standings out West, which would leave them outside even the Play-In Tournament. The Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies, and Houston Rockets are all projected to finish ahead of the Lakers in the standings, but none of those four teams received a vote here.
NBA Champions – Boston Celtics (82 points)
Others receiving votes – Oklahoma City Thunder (37), Philadelphia 76ers (18), Denver Nuggets (13), Milwaukee Bucks (9), New York Knicks (6), Dallas Mavericks (6)
The last team to repeat as NBA champions are the Warriors in 2017 and 2018. ESPN’s Summer Forecast is anticipating the Celtics to become the next team to do so as they have more than twice as many points as any other team. That’s in line with the oddsmakers. Boston is listed at +295 favorites to win it all on DraftKings Sportsbook with Oklahoma City next at +700.
While voters are somewhat high on Minnesota to possibly come out of the West (second-most points), clearly those voters aren’t believers in them finishing the job as they did not receive one vote. The Nuggets have the second-most points here for teams in the West, even though they have just the fourth-most in the Western Conference winner category.
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