The start of a new NBA season is always accompanied by predictions, uncertainty, and surprises. In today’s NBA there is no such thing as a take that is too outlandish. Why? Because the NBA has now properly established the disincentives for the formation of what are known as “super teams,” with the now two-year-old collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the league and the players union.
For context, any basketball fan from the 2010s remembers one thing: seemingly every NBA Finals was a showdown between Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors and Lebron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers — and they’re not wrong to believe that. This matchup appeared four years in a row from 2015-2018. However, since 2019, a notable shift has been seen, with no consecutive champions. That is six years without a single repeat champion.
As alluded to, that is in part due to the new CBA which prevents the formation
of “super teams.” One key aspect is the introduction of a “second apron” — or penalty zone — that states “any team spending roughly $17.5 million above the tax limit will face spending limits on acquiring free agents and also potential draft pick penalties into the bottom of the first round…” Because of this, the Denver Nuggets lost two key players in the past two years — Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldewell-Pope — to free agency. Signing role players to lucrative deals is not worth it anymore.
With all this in mind, understanding the parity that now exists in the league, there is no knowing who will win this year’s championship, not to mention MVP or the rankings in each respective conference (East and West). Could the Celtics be the first team in 6 years to win back-to-back championships? Will Nikola Jokic win another MVP? Who is coming out on top in the West? There are too many questions! Therefore, the conditions are especially optimal for a few interesting takes, and what better audience to ask than Morris Knolls’ very own students?
For this, a 10-question survey was conducted with questions ranging from who will win this year’s MVP to who will win the Championship. Though a limited number of responses were received, some interesting and unorthodox takes were noticed along with some possible biases.
The first question: Who will win the MVP? The responses were interesting, which was expected considering the uncertainty surrounding the award this year. This is because Nikola Jokic — despite being widely considered the best player in the world — will unlikely win the award, due to voter fatigue — with him winning 3 of the last 4 years. Two things stand out most from the responses: the same amount of people believe that Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson will win MVP. This is interesting considering Luka, in the betting odds, is most favored to win, while Brunson is only 10th favored to win. This may be because many people in NJ are fans of the New York Knicks, and therefore favor their star player. This must be taken into consideration as a potential bias. Next, the amount of votes for Anthony Edwards, who is only 23 years old, is astonishing. This would make him one of the youngest players in NBA history to win the award, a token of his immense abilities at such a young age.
The following three questions were concerning the winners of the 2025 NBA championship. The respondents were asked to give their opinions on who will win the Eastern and Western Conference finals, and then who will win the championship. In the Eastern Conference, the answers were primarily limited to either the Boston Celtics or the New York Knicks. This is no surprise, as the Celtics won the Championship in 2024, and the Knicks made many moves — chiefly trading for Mikal Bridges and Karl Anthony Towns — over the summer to even further improve upon their second-seed standing last year. One interesting take was the Orlando Magic as the winners of the Eastern Conference, led by 21-year-old Paolo Banchero. When looking at the response for the winner of the Western Conference Finals, one immediately notices the sheer amount of uncertainty that exists for the West compared to the East. Despite most people answering either the Thunder or the Timberwolves, some think the Mavericks will go back to the finals a second year in a row that the Durant and Booker-led Suns have a shot, or even that Lebron can carry the Lakers to a finals appearance at the age of 39, nearing 40. It was surprising not to see the Denver Nuggets as a response, considering they are the latest Western Conference team to win an NBA championship. This uncertainty is even more amplified when looking at the responses for who will win the NBA championship. Eastern Conference teams, primarily the Knicks and Celtics, are seen as the favorites to win the finals by the respondents. The Knicks are given a significant edge over the Celtics here, but not so in the betting markets. The betting markets have the Celtics ahead by a wide margin, with the Knicks only having the 4th best odds to win. The parity in the league mentioned earlier in the article is made clearest here, in the responses given by Morris Knolls students.
Even with the limited data received, about 20 responses in total, a wide range of different opinions were expressed on what is sure to be an NBA season full of surprises and variability. This will certainly make for a fun and interesting 2025 NBA season.
