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These are the NBA teams facing the most pressure this season.
Not every team can realistically dream about winning the NBA championship entering the new season, but some organizations are feeling more pressure than others. A year ago, the Boston Celtics went ‘all-in’ after a string of playoff failures by acquiring Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. They responded with a 80-21 campaign for the ages, capturing the franchise’s first championship since 2008, and proving Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Joe Mazzulla had the goods all along.
The Celtics brought everyone back, and come into this year as a heavy favorite atop the league’s title picture. Of course, no team won back-to-back championships since the Kevin Durant-era Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. Ever since, the NBA has had a different champion each of the last six years, with the Raptors, Lakers, Bucks, Warriors, Nuggets, and Celtics all winning rings.
In the NBA, desperation is measured by windows and timelines. The Oklahoma City Thunder, for example, simply have too many outs to make a list like this. Here are the six most desperate teams entering the season, ranked by how badly they need to win this season.
6. New York Knicks
The Knicks were by far the most aggressive team of the 2024 offseason, starting the summer with an absurdly bold trade for Mikal Bridges (five first-round picks!) and closing it with their shocking deal for Karl-Anthony Towns. The Knicks have made it clear they want to win the championship right now, but in reality this is just the start of New York’s window. The Knicks won’t surpass the second apron this year, and they should be able to avoid it next year, too. There are still some moving parts to be taken care of (namely Mikal Bridges’ extension), but New York is looking at multi-year championship contention where all of its key pieces are currently in the prime of their careers.
At the same time, you never really know when your window is going to close in the NBA. Jalen Brunson is 28 years old, and as a smaller guard who has played heavy minutes under head coach Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks need to be careful not to wear him down. It feels like New York might need a year for the starters to gel and the depth to improve, but this roster was put together to bring the franchise its first title since 1973, and anything less will ultimately be deemed a failure.
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5. Miami Heat
The Heat are one of only two franchises to make multiple NBA Finals runs during the 2020s, but they still haven’t won a championship since LeBron James left town. It feels like this iteration of the team is at a crossroads entering the season. Jimmy Butler is in the final year of his contract at 35 years old, and hasn’t shown he can be durable through the regular season lately. Tyler Herro hasn’t been able to stay healthy either, and his development has stagnated a little bit because of it. Miami has also lost a ton of depth over the years, and replenishing it hasn’t been as easy as many believe even for the best developmental organization in the league. By the way, Pat Riley turns 80 years old in March.
Miami still has a strong foundation moving forward with Bam Adebayo and head coach Erik Spoelstra entrenched, but it might be time for a soft reset soon. As the Celtics, Knicks, 76ers, and Bucks have loaded up in the East, the Heat have swung and missed on adding marquee talents to keep up in the conference arms race. This feels like their last chance with this group to show they can still make a deep playoff run.
4. Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets won the 2023 championship, and having that ring on their finger obviously alleviates some pressure moving forward. At the same time, Nikola Jokic deserves to have more than one championship on his resume. Jokic turns 30 in February and remains the best player in the world, but the roster around him keeps getting worse. The Nuggets have lost several key contributors since their title run, with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Bruce Brown, and Jeff Green all leaving via free agency. Denver’s plan is to replace them with younger and cheaper players, but so far that group (Christian Braun, Peyton Watson, Julian Strawther, etc) hasn’t been ready for primetime. One of the young guns needs to pop this year, but that still isn’t the biggest issue facing the organization.
Jamal Murray just didn’t look like himself in the playoffs or the Olympics, but Denver still rewarded him with a $208 million extension. Murray proved he could be the second best player on a title team at the top of his form, but it’s fair to wonder if can still be that player now as someone who has never been an All-Star. The Nuggets know they have a chance every season that Jokic is in his prime, but it’s a shame the arrow seems to trending down on this team ever since lifting their first banner.
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3. Milwaukee Bucks
Like the Nuggets, the Bucks are led by a generational superstar in the prime of his career who already has an NBA championship to his name. Milwaukee made a bold move to extend its title window ahead of last season when it swapped out Jrue Holiday for Damian Lillard, but the early results (a first round playoff exit) were incredibly disappointing. Now Milwaukee’s core around Giannis Antetokounmpo is another year older, with Lillard (34 years old), Khris Middleton (33), and Brook Lopez (36) needing to stay healthy and consistently play at a high level for this team to reach its potential. The biggest problem for the Bucks lately has been Giannis’ own inability to stay healthy for the playoffs, with injuries interrupting his 2023 run and wiping out his availability last season.
The Bucks are still holding a little bit of championship equity entering the new season, but it’s hard to find someone to believes they can achieve that much. Middleton’s multiple offseason surgeries are an obvious hurdle, but the Milwaukee’s real ceiling is determined by how Antetokounmpo and Lillard mesh in their second season together. The downside here is really scary: the Bucks are capped out, completely devoid of future draft picks, and don’t seem to have many moves left for reshaping the core around Giannis. This might be their best chance left.
2. Philadelphia 76ers
The 76ers nailed the hardest part of building a championship roster a decade ago when it drafted Joel Embiid out of Kansas. Embiid has developed into an MVP winner and one of the game’s truly elite players, but the Sixers have never been able to perfect the supporting cast around him. After years of dealing with drama from his co-stars, Philly finally built a team that actually wants to be together. The Sixers were one of the big winners of the offseason after signing Paul George in free agency. With Tyrese Maxey ascending as one of the best young guards in the league, Philly now has a tailor-made ‘big three’ to compete in the East. Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond, Guerschon Yabusele, and Reggie Jackson were quality depth signings, and the Sixers have the assets to acquire another pretty big salary before the trade deadline with K.J. Martin’s balloon contract and available draft compensation.
There’s a pathway for the Sixers to reach the NBA Finals and win the whole thing, but it requires something we’ve never seen to this point: a signature Embiid playoff run. The star big man always seems to sustain a bizarre injury or two during the playoffs, and now the long-term health of his knees have to be a major concern after he tore his left meniscus last season. Embiid and George both have playoff demons to overcome, but there’s no denying this team is set up to compete at the very top of the league.
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1. Phoenix Suns
The Suns have the highest payroll in the NBA entering the year at $219 million, with its three stars — Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal — combining to make more than $150 million. They looked nowhere close to a championship team in their first year together last season: Phoenix won 49 games but only earned the No. 6 seed in the West, and were promptly swept out of the first round by the Timberwolves. The Suns’ biggest move of the offseason was replacing head coach Frank Vogel with Mike Budenholzer. Vogel is a solid coach, but Budenholzer deserves to be recognized as one of the league’s very best for consistently engineering elite regular seasons with the Bucks and leading them to a championship. Phoenix also added Tre Jones and Monte Morris to alleviate some of the playmaking burden from Durant and Booker, and signed Mason Plumblee as a backup center.
The Suns are good, but it still feels like they’re falling behind in the West. Durant is 36 years old and remains spectacular at his best, but he’s going to feel the impact of father time eventually. Booker showed how versatile his game can be in the Olympics, and could be tasked with doing more dirty work than he normally does under coach Bud. Then there’s Beal, who in addition to constantly fighting injuries, also has always offered of a duplicative skill set with his superior co-stars more than a complementary one. Phoenix just doesn’t have a lot inside, either — count me as a 2024 Jusuf Nurkic skeptic — and lacks a certain athletic punch even if Bud fixes their shot profile. It’s going to be harder to justify keeping an ultra expensive roster like this together without a much deeper playoff run this time around. With all their future draft assets out of the door, the Suns know it’s now or never to make this iteration of the team work.
