5 teams that are likely saying ‘This is our year’ in 2025

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You hear it annually, the braggadocios boast from several places proclaiming: This is our year.

The calendar has officially flipped. It’s 2025. It’s time the serious contenders for the next NBA championship begin revealing themselves.

The official roll-call won’t occur for a few more months, but the separation from the pretenders is now in progress. You see it in the standings and nightly. The signs are just too evident — impeccable won-loss record, ability to take control of games in the moment of truth, an in-house MVP candidate and an air of authority.

Which means this is the right time to pinpoint the five teams who have every reason to believe This Is Their Year.

Oklahoma City Thunder

The best team in the NBA from a record standpoint is also the hottest. That’s a solid combination for the Thunder, who are not only rolling up wins in the very competitive West, but they’re doing it without their shotgun rider, Chet Holmgren.

Which means, they even have room to grow.

They don’t have a bad loss — unless you feel a stumble against the San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama qualifies. Yes, they did lose to the Milwaukee Bucks in the Emirates NBA Cup Championship, which doesn’t count against their regular season record, which is their only real “failure” this season. Otherwise, they’ve owned the NBA.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander could be the next MVP and remains efficient in getting to his spots on the floor. Jalen Williams is angling for the All-Star team, Lu Dort for an All-Defensive nod and Isaiah Hartenstein’s worth will be even greater once he and Holmgren are side-by-side. You can nit-pick about rebounding — for now — otherwise, OKC has balance.

Four upcoming games — two with the Knicks, plus the Celtics and Cavaliers — starting Friday will tell us more about OKC (if you’re not convinced by now).

Boston Celtics

The defending champions are cruising right along. Do they own the best record in the NBA? Are they leading the East? Have they been wrinkle-free this season? No, no and no.

And there’s one more no — no-body in Boston is worried.

The Celtics have shown enough to claim the ability to beat anyone, anywhere and at any time. Jayson Tatum is your Kia MVP candidate but as Boston showed last June, it goes well beyond him. This team is seven deep, maybe eight, and is without a serious weakness or player dealing with a serious injury issue.

Among other things, the Celtics are bringing 3-point heat, even more than their championship season. The green light stays on and most of the players in the rotation, especially Payton Pritchard off the bench, are taking advantage.

The Celtics know, for them, there’s nothing to prove in the regular season, and yet they’re on pace for 50-plus wins. This team remains built for a deep playoff run. But that’s a subject for another time.

Cleveland Cavaliers

There was some grumbling when the Cavaliers made a surprising coaching change last summer but it’s all quiet now with Kenny Atkinson. He’s proving to be the right fit, not only with Donovan Mitchell, but players who are showing growth under his direction.

Evan Mobley is rebounding into a solid, borderline All-Star who’s only getting better at both ends. Darius Garland has struck a balance with Mitchell and the Cavs’ starting backcourt is dangerous. There is depth and chemistry and, from the outside looking in, happiness.

The Cavs have been the (somewhat) surprising East leader for much of the season. That’s also due to a few other factors — good health. Also, until this week, they hadn’t played the good teams out West or embarked on a long road trip. This month they have a pair against OKC and Houston Rockets along with the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks.

If the Cavs are still occupying the penthouse in the East after the All-Star break, they might never leave. Should they enter the postseason as a No. 1 seed, anything’s possible.

Dallas Mavericks

They might play the next three or even four weeks without Luka Dončić which would be an obvious setback for a club that relies on his playmaking. If you remove another team’s MVP candidate, any of them would suffer.

But there’s a pair of comforts: Dallas still has Kyrie Irving at the controls, and Dončić’s injury isn’t too serious. Therefore, even if the Mavericks’ win rate takes a slower turn between now and February, this team remains built for the playoffs, much like last season when they went to the NBA Finals.

The addition of Klay Thompson has been rather mild to this point (he’s shooting 41% from the field and sometimes disappears). Such is the case when a player is adapting to a new system. His value and worth will be determined in the postseason and what he does with the open looks he gets.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks will flex their size advantage (Daniel Gafford, PJ Washington and Dereck Lively II) over most teams and await Dončić’s return. There’s no guarantee of a Finals return but the Mavs deserve the benefit of the doubt, until further notice, over the other winning teams in the West outside of OKC.

New York Knicks

There’s a sense of positivity surging in Manhattan about the Knicks. They’re 12-2 in December and are starting to hit their stride thanks to a pair of newcomers.

Karl-Anthony Towns is a Kia MVP candidate and exactly what the Knicks needed: an efficient scoring big man whose elite rebounding level comes as a tremendous bonus. Speaking of rebounding, Mikal Bridges is doing that after a slow start that initially raised concerns about the swingman. His scoring and defending have jumped.

The ball still belongs to Jalen Brunson, fresh off a 50-piece, and his passing and playmaking have improved. That’s important, because Brunson no longer needs to take the most shots for this team to win, not with Towns, Bridges and even OG Anunoby.

The trick for the Knicks is to elevate over the Celtics and the hot-starting Cavaliers between now and season’s end. Even if they don’t, it won’t strip them of contender status.

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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.

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