We are just a couple of weeks away from the start of the 2024-25 season, so House of Highlights decided it was time to get some predictions for the upcoming campaign.
Devin Booker , Shaquille O'Neal , Duke Dennis, Jake Paul, and Dwight Howard were asked for their picks for MVP, Finals matchup, and NBA champion, and here's what they had to say.
Devin Booker : "KD (Kevin Durant). Suns, Celtics. Suns."
Shaquille O'Neal : "Dam already let me look at rosters first lol."
Duke Dennis : "MVP Giannis (Antetokounmpo). Finals Matchup: Lakers-Bucks. NBA Champs Lakers."
Jake Paul : "NBA MVP = Luka Doncic. Finals = Mavericks vs. Celtics. Mavericks champ."
Dwight Howard : "NBA MVP (Joel) Embiid. Finals matchup Boston Denver. Boston repeat. (Jaylen) Brown Finals MVP."
Let's take a look at these one by one.
Booker, 27, was unsurprisingly very biased there. As great as Kevin Durant is, he isn't going to win MVP in 2025 at the age of 36. Durant hasn't finished in the top five in voting in any season since he left the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016 and I don't see that changing.
As for Booker's Phoenix Suns , well, I think they are better than they were last season, but the absolute farthest this team could go is the Conference Finals. The Boston Celtics, meanwhile, have a great chance at making it back to the big stage and that was certainly the best prediction of the lot from Booker.
While Booker at least gave his picks, O'Neal wasn't ready to give his ones just yet. We'll probably have to wait for the first episode of Inside the NBA to get his predictions.
YouTuber Duke Dennis went with a lot more realistic MVP pick than Booker with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis has finished in the top five in MVP voting in each of the last six seasons and if he can lead the Milwaukee Bucks to the top of the standings in the East, he could well win MVP.
For the Finals picks, Dennis chose the Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers, with the Lakers being the champions. I would give the Bucks a shot at making it to the Finals but I can't see the Lakers, as presently constructed, making it there.
Social media star Jake Paul reckons we'll see the same teams make the Finals next year, as he went with the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics, and that's not a bad prediction. Paul isn't backing the Celtics to repeat, though.
He also has Luka Doncic as his pick for MVP and it wouldn't surprise me if he does win the award. Doncic finished third in voting last season and is one of the favorites for the award for 2025.
Lastly, we get to Dwight Howard's predictions and he thinks his former teammate Joel Embiid will win his second MVP award. I think it's going to be hard for Embiid to win, though, as he is going to have to share the ball with Tyrese Maxey and Paul George.
While Howard thinks Embiid will win the award, he doesn't think the big man will be able to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to the Finals. He went with the Celtics and the Denver Nuggets, the last two teams to win the title, and that's a solid prediction. Howard reckons the Celtics would come out on top in that titanic clash.
Those were some interesting predictions. As for who I think made the best ones, it's between Paul and Howard, and I might just give the edge to the former.
Related: 2024-25 Early NBA Award Predictions
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