Yet another NBA season is dawning upon us, which means it’s time for me to sit here and incorrectly predict the standings next year. I don’t even want to talk about last year, it was embarrassing, but I guess we all get second chances right? I will be predicting each conferences’ top 8 seeds with my eastern and western conference champions, and finally guess my team to take home the Larry O’ Brien come next summer. Here we go. 

Eastern Conference

• Milwaukee Bucks

• Brooklyn Nets

• Atlanta Hawks

• Boston Celtics

• Miami Heat

• Chicago Bulls

• New York Knicks

• Philadelphia 76ers

The defending champions from the Cream city have come locked and loaded looking for a repeat, and I buy into it for at least the regular season. Look out for the new-look Chicago Bulls, as I believe that new additions Lonzo Ball and Demar Derozan can join an established star in Nikola Vucevic to form a formidable big 3 in the eastern conference. 

Western Conference

• Denver Nuggets

• Los Angeles Lakers

• Golden State Warriors

• Phoenix Suns

• Utah Jazz

• Dallas Mavericks

• Los Angeles Clippers

• Minnesota Timberwolves

Alright now here is where it starts to get a little weird. The Lakers pick up star point guard Russell Westbrook and they’re the surefire number one seed right? Wrong. The MVP Nikola Jokic and a healthy Jamal Murray have something to say about that. I also bank on things clicking in Minnesota, where Karl-Anthony Towns finally reaches the playoffs alongside young talent in D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards.

Conference Champions

Nets, Warriors

NBA Champion

Nets

What a story this would be. Klay Thompson comes back around Christmas and starts shooting the lights out again, Andrew Wiggins figures it all out, James Wiseman turns into the dominant big man the Warriors thought they got at 2, and of course Steph Curry does Steph Curry things. But on the other side, you’ve got Kevin Durant and that Nets big three. The former Warrior champion will beat Golden State alongside James Harden and Kyrie Irving (who actually play together this year) and the city of Brooklyn will enjoy an NBA Championship.