8. Miami Heat
Jimmy Butler told NBA reporters at media day that the Miami Heat will win the 2024 championship. The Heat lost to the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 Finals in five games. Miami has reached two Finals in the Butler era, which began in 2019-20, but the team is 0-2.
7. L.A. Clippers
It only took one week into the 2023-24 NBA season for the championship odds to get a major shakeup with the report James Harden will be traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Los Angeles Clippers.The Clippers will receive Harden, P.J. Tucker and Filip Petrusev from the 76ers for Marcus Morris Sr., Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum,+ they have good defense KJ Martin plus a package of four draft picks and a 2029 pick swap.
6. Denver Nuggets
Denver still has Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the rest of what has been an elite starting lineup (plus-11.8 points per 100 possessions over 1,082 total minutes last season). And that’s enough to give them a good chance to repeat.
5. L.A. Lakers
Is the Lakers a strong team?
The Lakers have a franchise winning percentage of . 619, the best in the Association and the best in any of the four major American professional sports leagues. They have 440 playoff wins, per Basketball-Reference, 96 more than any other team.+ they have a bunch of amazing players on there team they have a bunch of units.
4. Phoenix Suns
Phoenix possesses the offensive firepower to make a title run with Durant, Booker and Beal as the top three options. That should open more opportunities for new center Jusuf Nurkic, who might be somewhat of a downgrade from Deandre Ayton
3. Golden State Warriors
The reasons they are on the list is because they are not the best defense team but they are a super good offense team and they all are buckets. They have key, curry, and cp3 and some more units. They all are super competitive and determined and have good awareness on the floor.
2. Boston Celtics
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have hit their prime and now have a ridiculous amount of talent around them in the likes of Kristaps Porzingis, Jeru Holiday, Derrick White, and Al Horford. Boston possesses an absurd Top 6 that has to be the envy of the rest of the league.
1. The Milwaukee Bucks
key is that the Bucks find their identity on defense, find some coverages they can go to in late game situations that work, and be sharp enough with their communication that they can seamlessly transition from one style to another possession by possession
