Narrowing down the real championship contenders in the 2022-2023 NBA season
Fans celebrate outside The Fiserv Forum stadium as the Milwaukee Bucks win their first NBA Championship since 1971 on July 20, 2021. Photo from Chad Davis via Flickr.
By Jon Donohue, editor
The 2022-2023 NBA season has been exhilarating to say the least. The Western Conference has been tighter than ever before, with the 4th seeded Phoenix Suns (38-33) to the 12th seeded New Orleans Pelicans (35-37) only having three and a half games separate them as of March 21. The Denver Nuggets (48-24), the Sacramento Kings (43-29), and the Memphis Grizzlies (44-27) have also separated themselves from the rest of the conference. In the Eastern Conference, The 1st seeded Milwaukee Bucks (51-20), 2nd seeded Boston Celtics (50-23), and the 3rd seeded Philadelphia 76ers (48-23) have separated from the rest. Out of 16 teams that will make the playoffs, I believe that only five teams are real championship contenders, and that one of these five will walk away with the championship in June. I’ll give three honorable mentions to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Sacramento Kings, but they just don’t quite make the list for me this season. Additionally, there is one team that due to their road struggles and defensive issues, I simply can’t consider them a true contender. But I can say that the Golden State Warriors, when fully healthy, will always be a threat in the playoffs to defend their title from last year and continue their reign of terror in the NBA. However, for now, the teams that are in the real race for the title in June are the Nuggets, Bucks, Celtics, 76ers, and Suns.
Out of these incredibly talented five teams, I believe that the Milwaukee Bucks have the greatest ability to win a championship in June. Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is dominating as he usually does, but the major leaps that Jrue Holiday and Brook Lopez have made this season have been incredible. Holiday made his second all-star appearance this year, and at first I did not understand it. But he has been the second best player to the best team in the NBA, and his ability to play defense and also step up offensively has been crucial in the regular season for games that Antetokounmpo sat out. Lopez, currently first in the race for the Defensive Player of the Year award, has been one of the best stretch fives in the league. His ability to play lockdown defense, protect the rim, and shoot threes has brought another threat to their arsenal. Khris Middleton started off the season slow, but has gotten better and better each game, and with time he will return to his usual self. He has been getting more minutes and has started a few games as of late and I think will help lift up the Bucks offense, their only clear weakness that I see come playoff time. But I don’t see their offense as something to hold them back, because at the end of the day, defense wins championships.
The next team that I think is ready for another run to the NBA finals is the Boston Celtics. Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown are arguably the best duo in the league and will continue to come playoff time. I see the Celtics hungry for redemption from last year, and they have that motivation of recently going to the finals the year before against the defending champion Warriors. However, their weaknesses were exposed, as the Celtics went up 2-1 to lose their next three games and lose in six games. Also, Tatum has had cold stretches throughout the season, some nights putting up horrible efficiency. Marcus Smart has returned from injury, and Derrick White has stepped up big-time in crucial games without Tatum and Brown. Al Horford has continued to be a reliable center for the Celtics, and once Robert Williams III returns from injury, the paint presence will only get bigger for the Celtics. I think that even with recent losses, the Celtics are championship contenders again and have the firepower and recent experience to get the title this season.
Rounding out the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia 76ers have had a solid season. While they started off the season with three straight losses in last place in the East, they turned it around and now sit 3rd in the conference. Joel Embiid has been on a scoring rampage as of late, in the last 10 games, he has averaged 36.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game, shooting 61.3% from the field and 42.3% from three. Embiid has been in the MVP race for two seasons now, and last year in the 2021-2022 season, he received the second most votes behind Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets just snapped a 4 game-losing streak, bumping Embiid up to first in the MVP race in the latest race to the MVP ladder on the official website for the NBA. The 76ers also have the return of rising star Tyrese Maxey in the mix, which only increases their chances of winning the title. They just had a eight game winning streak snapped in double overtime versus the Chicago Bulls, but in that eight game stretch, six of those were on the road. Performance on the road will be crucial come playoff time, and it would not surprise me to see the 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals and maybe even representing the East in the NBA finals.
Next up, the Denver Nuggets who currently hold the one seed in the west, and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic is on his way to a third straight MVP, which would be the first time since Larry Bird in 1986. Jokic has been a triple-double machine, and the Nuggets are 26-2 when Jokic gets a triple-double, with those two losses happening on March 10 and 12. Jamal Murray has returned and been strong offensively, and helped the Nuggets rise to the top of the west. Aaron Gordon and MichealPorter Jr. have also been great additions to racking up wins across the league.
The next squad, which is honestly scary when you add Kevin Durant into the starting lineup, is the Phoenix Suns. A starting lineup that has Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Deandre Ayton is absurd. Paul does not have to shoot the ball as much, which is a good thing because he hasn’t been great offensively this season and can solely focus on playmaking, Booker and KD can do their thing with scoring, and Ayton can have a massive paint presence. It's a near-perfect lineup for blowout victories and a shot for a title in June. The Suns are 3-0 with Kevin Durant, and he has scored 26.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game on 69% field goal percentage and 53.8% from three, and 88.2% from the free throw line. Those are absurd stat lines. To top that off, Booker scored 37 points, 35 points, and 36 points in those three games, with Durant on good efficiency. This team is straight up dangerous, but recently Durant got injured going for a layup in a pre-game warm-up, and likely won’t return until the playoffs. However, I don’t see that as a major concern because the team looked deadly on the court together and if you look at last year, Stephen Curry didn’t play again till the playoffs and the Warriors figured it out. Now the Suns are certainly not the Warriors, but I think this team can figure out dynamics and make a solid run.
One team that I simply can’t count out, but is not in the real title race is the Golden State Warriors. Any time Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green are healthy in the playoffs is a scary time for the entire league. However, their road issues and defensive issues are holding them back significantly from a title push in June. They just snapped one of the longest road losing streaks in franchise history at 11 straight losses. Bringing back Gary Payton II and Andrew Wiggins will be crucial to improving the Warriors defense and their chances at repeating their championship from last season. Jordan Poole has been inconsistent, but when he plays well, he is deadly and brings a lot to the table. He was crucial to their title last season, and he can up his play and consistently dominate like he did last playoffs the warriors have a shot at repeating. But just to be safe, I think at all home games the Chase Center should make sure there are multiple “baddies” sitting courtside so that Poole has some motivation to make the highlight reels the next day.
There is one team that holds the 6th best record in the league that won’t win the title is the “dynasty,” that is the Memphis Grizzlies. They have a young core that is showing lots of promise with Ja Morant, the greatest shooter of all time, and when I say that, I am not referring to basketball, Jaren Jackson Jr, elite rim protector and potential Defensive Player of the Year, and Desmond Bane who has performed great offensively. One player on the Grizzlies that is not hated is the giant Steven Adams, who is a reliable veteran center. And that’s it. Those are all the valuable players to the Grizzlies. And then there is Dillon Brooks, the most hated player in the NBA, known for his trash-talking and poor efficiency stats. Draymond Green perfectly described Brooks on The Draymond Green show when he said, “If you ever wondered why the Memphis Grizzlies are not ready to compete for a championship, look no further than this idiot right here. They’re actually depending on this guy to win a championship.”
So that’s: (In no particular order)
Milwaukee Bucks
Boston Celtics
Phoenix Suns *with a healthy Kevin Durant
Philadelphia 76ers
Denver Nuggets
The 2022-2023 NBA season has been entertaining to say the least, and among the great teams with superstar firepower on their lineups, I believe that between the five that I mentioned, it is going to be a dogfight for the Larry O’Brien Trophy this June.