Bold predictions for each NBA team in 2024-25: Jalen Brunson MVP? All-NBA Zion Williamson?

The New York Knicks have a new star in the Big Apple after trading for four-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns. But don’t be surprised if their steady hand in the backcourt — point guard Jalen Brunson — leads the race for the NBA’s top individual honor.

That’s just one of The Athletic NBA staff’s bold predictions for the 2024-25 season. Check out the rest:

Atlantic Division

Boston Celtics

Baylor Scheierman will contribute: The Celtics, who return 13 players from a championship team, don’t have much space in their rotation and are not in a place to prioritize the development of young players. Scheierman, the team’s first-round pick, will still find his way onto the floor. His sharpshooting might draw the headlines, but his quick thinking and smart play will turn him into a helpful complementary piece immediately. After putting on 10-15 pounds over the offseason to handle NBA physicality, his defense won’t be bad enough to stop him from landing opportunities to play. — Jay King

Brooklyn Nets

Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith will be traded: There’s not a lot of suspense with the Nets. They are still in search of a clear-cut franchise cornerstone, and they will likely search for that in the 2025 draft after a season at the bottom of the standings. The logical play is to move Johnson and Finney-Smith to teams that will give up quality draft assets and young players with buried upside. The Nets are a bit of a blank canvas with all the room to give developmental projects a chance to grow, so they can count on Johnson and Finney-Smith to help establish a positive culture before eventually sending them to winning opportunities. The Nets got their pick back from the Houston Rockets this summer, so they can gear up for the Cooper Flagg tankathon, but they have two more first-rounders incoming. They can get creative in how they manage their assets, whether they want to position for a massive trade in the next 24 months or just move up in the draft. — Jared Weiss

New York Knicks

Jalen Brunson will win MVP: Brunson has gotten better every season. He averaged 28.7 points last season on good efficiency with sometimes bad spacing, and now he has the best spacing lineup he’s ever had. Until I stop seeing him improve, I’m expecting him to take another jump. New York will be good. The offense should be one of the best in the league. Brunson is the team’s best offensive player. All of that very well could add up to an MVP award. — James L. Edwards III

GO DEEPER

In New York, this is Jalen Brunson’s world — the one he created

Philadelphia 76ers

Ricky Council IV will start by midseason: The Sixers had an extensive makeover this summer to load the roster with veteran perimeter players, opening up a series of lineups Nick Nurse can fill in around newcomer Paul George and the team’s two incumbent stars. Kelly Oubre is coming off a season in which he showed some defensive improvement and found a viable offensive role. Caleb Martin arrives from Miami with the ability to slot in anywhere, but he tends to go through ebbs and flows. With all the offensive talent in the starting lineup, Council’s defensive prowess could give him a chance to break through and send one of Martin and Oubre to the bench. Philadelphia needs someone to be tenacious at the point of attack, and George, Philadelphia’s best perimeter defender aside from Council, will get overworked if it’s all on him. Council shot 42 percent from 3-point range during summer league, showing he could be a viable option to space the floor and then dominate on the other end. — Jared Weiss

Toronto Raptors

Raptors will finish bottom four in the East: Everyone has penciled in the Nets, Bulls, Hornets, Pistons and Wizards as the bottom five of the Eastern Conference. However, the Raptors badly need some cost-controlled talent to add to Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley. It wouldn’t take much — maybe a trade of Jakob Poeltl — for the Raptors to lose their defensive foundation and, therefore, a lot of games. I expect they’ll find a way. Believe. — Eric Koreen

Central Division

Chicago Bulls

Bulls will make the Play-In: For the third straight season, the Bulls will challenge for the playoffs but fall short. They’ll exceed expectations, while spooking their loyal but long-suffering fan base into believing the top-10 protected pick owed to San Antonio will be forfeited. But fear not. The Bulls will retain their selection. But they’ll do all they can to make it interesting. — Darnell Mayberry

Cleveland Cavaliers

Cavs will trade one of their ‘core four’: And it won’t be Donovan Mitchell. Look, the Cavs are entering this season with their rotation pieces entirely unchanged. This is a good team and an expensive one, but there is ample evidence the pieces do not fit together for greatness. Perhaps new coach Kenny Atkinson makes them fit better, but if he can’t, a trade will materialize to move either Jarrett Allen or Darius Garland to give Cleveland a different, perhaps more dynamic, look heading into the playoffs. — Joe Vardon

Detroit Pistons

Pistons will make the Play-In: Hear me out … Yes, the Pistons have 31 combined wins over the last two seasons. And, yes, it is very, very rare for a team to make a 10-plus win jump in one season without major upgrades. However, the bottom of the East is going to be bad. Cade Cunningham had a solid season last season, and he’s now surrounded by spacing for the first time in his young career with the additions of Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr. If you tell me the Pistons are better than the Wizards, Bulls, Nets, Hornets, Raptors or even the Hawks, I wouldn’t be stunned. — James L. Edwards III

Indiana Pacers

Pacers will finish top four in the East: I don’t know how I feel about the Pacers in the postseason. I like Boston, New York and Philadelphia as the East’s top-three teams, but in the scrum for fourth, I’ll buy Indiana. Pascal Siakam is a great fit, Tyrese Haliburton continues to emerge as a top point guard (and player), they’ll be better with a healthy Bennedict Mathurin, and I like Andrew Nembhard with this team. Oh, and they still have Myles Turner. Their performance in the East finals as a wounded No. 6-seeded team was admirable. And this season, they’ll prove what we saw last spring was real. — Joe Vardon

Milwaukee Bucks

Another MVP for Giannis: Antetokounmpo was spectacular last season. He was the first player in NBA history to average at least 30 points and 10 rebounds per game while shooting over 60 percent from the field. If the Bucks manage to secure a top-two seed in a top-heavy East, the Bucks will have the team success needed to put Antetokounmpo in the MVP conversation, and he’ll almost certainly have the individual numbers to pull it off. — Eric Nehm

Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks

Jalen Johnson will average 20 points per game: With Dejounte Murray’s 26.6 percent usage rate gone and no incoming players capable of soaking up those extra possessions, Johnson is likely to have much more shot-creation responsibility than a season ago. Even with just a 19.1 usage rate, he averaged 16.0 points per game in his breakout third season. With Johnson, the closest thing the Hawks have to a second star next to Trae Young in the starting lineup, expect his workload to ramp up considerably … and expect him to be able to handle it. — John Hollinger

Charlotte Hornets

Hornets will win more than 30 games: It may not sound impressive, but you may not be familiar with the Hornets’ history. They’ve won 30-plus games just twice in the past five seasons. If they win 31, it would be a 10-win improvement on last season. The Hornets seem to be taking the right steps forward with a new head of basketball operations and a new head coach. They even brought back Kemba Walker (as an assistant coach). LaMelo Ball is healthy again, and Brandon Miller was the best rookie in the league under 7-feet last season. There certainly will be growing pains, but Charlotte could pack a little more sting than expected. — Mike Vorkunov

Miami Heat

Bam Adebayo will become a legitimate 3-point threat: Adebayo started showing last season how effective he can be once he steps outside of the 3-point line, and the Heat need more ways to open things up offensively. Adebayo has said he expects to attempt 100-plus 3-pointers this season, and his time with Erik Spoelstra at the Olympics proved to his head coach that Adebayo is ready to expand his game. If Adebayo starts knocking down those outside shots consistently, he may end up having the best offensive season of his career. That would open up the floor for a Miami team that has struggled to find some pop on offense, even when Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro have been healthy. — Will Guillory

Orlando Magic

The 3-point shooting will be better: Long-distance shooting was Orlando’s Achilles’ heel last season, especially in the playoffs when the team struggled to hit open 3s in its series against Cleveland. The addition of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was one of the league’s best offseason signings, and he’ll get a lot of open 3s from Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner drive-and-kicks. Rookie Tristan da Silva has a chance to become a key role player and floor spacer before playoff time. But will the additions be enough to propel the Magic beyond the playoffs’ first round, or even avoid the East’s Play-In? That will depend on Wagner bouncing back from a career-low 3-point percentage and on point guard Jalen Suggs solidifying his significant shooting gains from last season. — Josh Robbins

GO DEEPER

Developing his game and voice, Paolo Banchero seeks to dominate in Year 3

Washington Wizards

Jordan Poole’s counting stats will improve: In his first Wizards season, Poole struggled before the All-Star break, averaging 15.6 points per game on 40 percent shooting from the field. After the break, with the ball in his hands more often and playing less alongside Tyus Jones, he averaged 20.9 points on 43 percent shooting. This season, there’s no question Poole will be Washington’s primary initiator, and with Brian Keefe as coach, Washington will look to play at an even faster pace. That means more possessions, more shot attempts and more chances for assists. Whether Poole will be efficient is another story, but the counting stats will rise. — Josh Robbins

Northwest Division

Denver Nuggets

Michael Porter Jr. will make his first All-Star Game: The Nuggets have never needed more from Porter Jr. than they need now. Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray need to ease back their regular-season usage. Porter Jr. is bigger physically and more ready to handle the grind of the season. He’s starting to round into the prime of his career. My guess? He goes for 22 points a night, the Nuggets are a top-three team out west, and Jokić finally has his first all-star teammate. — Tony Jones

Minnesota Timberwolves

Wolves will have a better offense in 2024-25: One would assume trading Karl-Anthony Towns would make the offense worse. But as great individually as Towns is, it didn’t add up to a great offense last season. The Wolves were ranked 17th in offensive efficiency. Adding Donte DiVincenzo’s shooting and Julius Randle’s playmaking, and increasing the roles for Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid will help the Wolves climb higher as a collective offense this season. — Jon Krawczynski

Oklahoma City Thunder

Jalen Williams will win NBA Most Improved Player: Williams hit another stratosphere a season ago when not many were watching despite Oklahoma City’s run to the top of the West. Now he enters Year 3 — and should be entering All-Star conversations. Williams wasn’t just one of the NBA’s most efficient shooters last season; he also took over games with his playmaking, especially when coach Mark Daigneault would use him with the second unit. The passing improved throughout the season, as did Williams’ pick-and-roll smarts. The Thunder handed him increasingly ambitious defensive assignments. When they played the Spurs, it wasn’t Chet Holmgren guarding 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama; it was Williams. If he continues on this trajectory, an efficient 25-point average with top-notch defense and secondary playmaking will arrive eventually. Maybe that time is soon. — Fred Katz

Portland Trail Blazers

Shaedon Sharpe becomes a household name: In this third season, the 21-year-old shooting guard will win the slam dunk contest at All-Star Weekend (book it) and will lead the Blazers in scoring. Even with last week’s setback — the Blazers announced Sharpe will miss four-to-six weeks with a tear in his left shoulder — he should return in November and have plenty of season to display his shooting and leaping skills. Sharpe last season was starting to blossom in December, compiling consecutive games of 29, 25, 26, 24, and 27 points before developing an abductor strain that led to surgery in January and limited him to only 32 games. Even with high-volume shooters Anfernee Simons and Jerami Grant as teammates, the 6-foot-6 Sharpe has the talent to be the No. 1 option and is ready to pop onto the scene and validate why the Blazers took him seventh in the 2022 draft. — Jason Quick

Utah Jazz

Cody Williams will make a run at NBA Rookie of the Year: The Jazz are going to play their young guys this season. That much has been made clear. Williams is as talented as the day is long. He can shoot, pass and dribble. He can play and defend both wing positions. His skill set is going to get him on the floor. Utah’s desire to make a run for the top pick in the 2025 NBA Draft will get Williams the runway to be impactful. The talent will do the rest. — Tony Jones

Pacific Division

Golden State Warriors

They’ll make a significant trade: In a slightly upgraded form, the Warriors have the same problem as a season ago. They have plenty of rotation-level NBA talent but not enough top-end scoring or creation next to Stephen Curry. I imagine they’ll win enough games to stay in the playoff mix, tick off a couple of capable players who are buried in the rotation and then, once January or February nears, find a consolidation trade that better balances the roster and rotation.

They have the first-rounders, flexible contracts and young talent to get a deal done. They say they’ll be aggressive. Curry will exert some polite leverage if he knows there is an upgrade out there that is reasonably available. Another aspect to watch is Jonathan Kuminga’s contract talks. If he extends in October, collective bargaining agreement rules make him nearly impossible to trade until next summer. If he doesn’t (my current guess), he remains an obvious and appealing trade piece. — Anthony Slater

GO DEEPER

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LA Clippers

A starter will be traded: The Clippers can’t tank this season with their first-round pick being a possible swap with the Thunder. And they will never tank under Steve Ballmer, who is opening up a new arena this season. President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank is proud of the team’s 13-year streak of winning seasons, the longest active streak in the league. But he never goes a season without a trade, with his first massive one being the January 2018 Blake Griffin deal. Depending on what the Clippers look like at the turn of the calendar year, no one should be considered untouchable. That includes Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. — Law Murray

Los Angeles Lakers

Anthony Davis will finish top five in MVP voting: Davis last finished in the top five in MVP voting in the 2017-18 season, when he placed third as a 24-year-old for the Pelicans. He is coming off arguably his best season as a Lakers player and a summer as the best big on the U.S. Olympic team. The buzz in Lakers training camp is that coach JJ Redick aims to use Davis as a playmaking hub around the elbows and above the 3-point arc. If Davis can stay healthy and the Lakers can build upon their 18-6 record with their starters — two notable ifs — Davis should be in the mix for both NBA MVP and Defensive Player of the Year (with the latter award more likely). — Jovan Buha

Phoenix Suns

Suns will finish top four in the West: The first season of Phoenix’s big three did not go well — 49 wins, first-round flameout, coaching change. But it’s a mistake to write off the Suns in Year 2. Kevin Durant and Devin Booker remain elite. Bradley Beal should be better. Point guard Tyus Jones is a perfect fit. New coach Mike Budenholzer doesn’t have a perfect roster — and health is always a concern — but he will maximize what he has and make Phoenix a contender. — Doug Haller

Sacramento Kings

Season will come down to crunchtime(s): A glut of teams in the West should land somewhere in the 44- to 50-win range. The top side of that will likely mean a playoff spot. The bottom side might be the 11th seed. A few swing results in clutch, tight conference games could be the difference between season success and massive failure. The Kings now employ De’Aaron Fox and DeMar DeRozan. Fox led the league in clutch points last season, and DeRozan finished second in clutch points the last two seasons. Part of the Kings’ belief in what could be a tricky DeRozan fit is a confidence that Fox and DeRozan will power them home in the midrange at the end of a handful of 50-50 games. Whether they are correct could define their season. — Anthony Slater

Southwest Division

Dallas Mavericks

Mavs finish outside the top four: The defending Western Conference champions finishing outside the top half of the conference? Maybe it’s not as crazy as it sounds. The West will be stacked; chaos is to be expected when it is packed so densely with good teams. Dallas was a great second-half team last season, but the Mavs still had just the fourth-best net rating after the All-Star break. Luka Dončić played the second-most games of his career last season. They added Klay Thompson, but he turns 35 in February. And aside from their own downside risks, there is always a team or two that surprises. Dallas could win 50 games again, but it may land it outside the top four once more. — Mike Vorkunov

Houston Rockets

Rockets will finish top six in the West: Call me crazy, but I don’t think the Rockets have even scratched the surface of their defensive ceiling under head coach Ime Udoka. Houston’s training camp focus has been cleaning up some of last season’s mistakes, and a stronger, quicker and more experienced Alperen Şengün — along with the addition of Steven Adams — might be the difference between a top-10 and top-three defensive unit. — Kelly Iko

Memphis Grizzlies

Scotty Pippen Jr. will be in the rotation: Pippen is the league’s only two-way player who has a meaningful chance of cracking his team’s full-strength top nine. The undrafted Vanderbilt product was arguably the best player in summer league after impressing in a late-season cameo that included the league’s second-highest steal rate (3.3 thefts per 100 possessions). He’s also the only point guard on the roster behind starters Ja Morant and Marcus Smart (who likely will guard elite wings). Pippen can be active for 50 games before Memphis has to upgrade him to a full roster spot, although it could do so sooner. — John Hollinger

New Orleans Pelicans

Zion Williamson will make an All-NBA team: All signs point to Williamson coming into this season in about as good a place mentally and physically as he’s been in his career. He ended the 2023-24 season playing the best basketball of his career before his unfortunate injury in the Play-In Tournament against the Lakers. We already know he’s a force on the offensive end. But if he focuses on playing with the same effort and tenacity on the defensive end that we saw from him in March and April, there’s no doubt he’ll be able to solidify himself as one of the top 15 players in the NBA. — Will Guillory

San Antonio Spurs

Wemby, CP3 lead way to Play-In: Victor Wembanyama’s stellar Olympic run ended in a bitter defeat to Team USA, a loss he will hold with him for a very long time. Consider it his origin story. He’s probably a shoo-in for NBA Most Improved Player, and the addition of Chris Paul, even at age 39, should reverse the Spurs’ dismal 13-28 record in clutch-time situations. Harrison Barnes will hold down the floor-spacing fort until Devin Vassell returns, and coach Gregg Popovich pulls one more magic trick out of his hat. — Kelly Iko

(Illustration by Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; top photos: Patrick Smith, Michael Reaves, Elsa / Getty Images)