NBA Central

The 2023-24 season didn't exactly go to plan for the Milwaukee Bucks.

After trading for Damian Lillard in the offseason and racing to a 30-13 start, the team fired head coach Adrian Griffin. Doc Rivers was eventually hired as his successor but went just 17-19 down the stretch, as the Bucks limped into the playoffs as the No. 3 seed.

It only got worse from there, as the Bucks were eliminated in six games by the Indiana Pacers in the first round, beset by injuries during the series to Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Bucks went from being one of the top contenders heading into the season to one of the bigger disappointments by the end of it. The hope in for the 2024-25 campaign, however, is that that a bit of continuity leads to more success in year two of both the Lillard-Antetokounmpo pairing and the Rivers' era.

Everybody in the Eastern Conference is chasing the defending champion Boston Celtics. At least on paper, the Bucks look like one of the teams with a shot at catching them. Below, we'll break down the schedule they'll face as they look to do so.

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2024-25 Bucks Schedule Details

Season Opener: at Philadelphia 76ers, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m. ET

Championship Odds: +1300 (bet $100 to win $1,300), per FanDuel

Full Schedule: The full schedule is available on NBA.com.

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Top Matchups

Boston Celtics

No team has a better starting lineup in basketball than the Celtics, with Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porziņģis, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White making up a perfectly complementary—and highly talented—unit.

The Bucks aren't perfectly built to deal with Boston's wing-heavy, versatile lineup, but the Celtics don't exactly have an answer for the Greek Freak, either. The Celtics have a lot of defenders they can throw Lillard's way, however, making this a tough matchup for Milwaukee.

The regular season matchups between these teams very well could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals, though a few more teams may have a say in that.

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Philadelphia 76ers

With respect to the New York Knicks, the Philadelphia 76ers are probably the No. 2 contender in the East at the moment, health permitting.

The Sixers had an excellent offseason, adding Paul George, Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon in free agency, re-signing Kelly Oubre and Kyle Lowry and drafting Jared McCain.

The big three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and George perfectly complement one another, giving the Sixers excellent scorers at guard, on the wing and at center. Philly's upside is potentially capped by the health of Embiid and George, however, as both have struggled to stay on the court in the past.

But the Bucks very well could be racing with the Sixers throughout the season to secure a top-two seed, which may be necessary to avoid the Celtics before the conference finals. With the Knicks in that fray as well, the chase for the top seed in the East should be fascinating.

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Season Forecast

It's hard to know what Milwaukee's upside truly is.

On paper, any team with Giannis, Dame and Khris Middleton should be very, very good. And the Bucks have an assortment of talented role players around them, including Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis, Gary Trent Jr. and Pat Connaughton, among others.

But there are still questions about the fit between Antetokounmpo and Lillard. Middleton has struggled to stay on the court in the past two seasons. Lopez is 36 years old. Rivers did not acquit himself well in his 42 total games between the regular season and playoffs. The Bucks don't have the sort of talented wings needed to match what teams like the Celtics, Sixers and Knicks offer in that department.

Few teams are harder to project. If everything clicks this season, they could steamroll through the regular season. Rivers has traditionally been a very good regular season coach.

But what happens if it doesn't click? If Middleton struggles with injuries again? If Lopez becomes less of a factor? If Giannis and Dame never quite jell? If Rivers loses the locker room?

The Bucks are going to be a playoff team. It's just hard to know if they're a true contender.

Record Prediction: 52-30

Optimism is high for the Cleveland Cavaliers going into the 2024-25 season after getting Donovan Mitchell to sign a contract extension during the summer.

Mitchell ended any trade speculation when he signed a three-year, $150.3 million deal that could keep him in Cleveland through the 2027-28 campaign.

The Cavs also made a coaching change in the offseason, hiring Kenny Atkinson to replace J.B. Bickerstaff after the organization lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Boston Celtics.

Atkinson spent the past three seasons as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors. He was previously head coach for the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-20, posting a 118-190 record with one playoff appearance.

There have been questions about how Mitchell and Darius Garland fit together in the backcourt and the pairing of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley in the frontcourt.

In an improving Eastern Conference, the Cavaliers are in a bit of an unusual spot. They've proven themselves to be a playoff team, but their ceiling in the postseason has been limited with this group thus far.

Cleveland will be counting on Atkinson to maximize the dynamic core that has been assembled over the past two years but has struggled in postseason settings.

2024-25 Cavaliers Schedule Details

Season Opener: at Toronto Raptors, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m. ET

Championship Odds: +5000 (bet $100 to win $5,000), per FanDuel

Full Schedule: The full schedule is available on NBA.com.

Top Matchups

Boston Celtics

Every team in the Eastern Conference right now is measuring themselves against the Boston Celtics.

The reigning NBA champs are coming off one of the best seasons in league history. They capped it off with a dominant postseason run in which they went 16-3 en route to winning the 18th title in franchise history.

Cleveland was one of the teams the Celtics defeated in the playoffs. The Eastern Conference semifinals wasn't wholly representative of what the Cavs could be because Allen missed the entire series due to a rib injury and Mitchell sat out the final two games with a strained calf.

No one would argue that even a fully healthy Cavaliers team was better than Boston, but perhaps the series would have been closer. The Celtics' four wins were by an average of 15 points.

There's no reason to think the Celtics won't continue to be a dominant team. Even with Kristaps Porziņģis potentially out until January after having leg surgery soon after the NBA Finals, they didn't lose any notable contributor from the 2023-24 squad.

If the Cavaliers want to think of themselves as a championship contender, they need to prove they can compete with the team that will likely be favored to win the title.

Orlando Magic

If the Celtics are a measuring stick game for where the Cavs stand in the Eastern Conference, the Orlando Magic will be a matchup to determine how much progress they have made since last season.

While no one with the Cavaliers would openly admit it, they were roundly criticized for roster shenanigans on the final day of the 2023-24 regular season in order to secure the No. 4 seed and a first-round playoff matchup with Orlando.

The move nearly backfired in spectacular fashion because the Magic took them to seven games. The Cavs trailed by as many as 18 points at home in Game 7 before storming back in the second half.

Orlando, which already had a promising young nucleus, got better in the offseason by adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency.

If the Magic continue to ascend and the Cavs have plateaued as presently constructed, they could find themselves dropping from the No. 4 seed they've occupied in each of the past two seasons to fighting to stay out of the play-in tournament.

Season Forecast

Given how things ended with Bickerstaff and the lack of major moves on the roster, Atkinson's hiring is the biggest addition to the Cavaliers.

Atkinson earned high marks for his work with the Nets, particularly during the 2018-19 season when they were a surprise playoff team with a roster led by D'Angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie.

Brooklyn's entire outlook changed in the summer of 2019 when Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant signed with the team in free agency. Atkinson's style and personality did not mesh well with the superstar players, leading to a parting of ways between the Nets and their coach in March 2020.

Atkinson coached Allen on the Nets, so their familiarity with each other should help for a quick transition into a new system.

Ultimately, though, the success of the 2024-25 Cavaliers will come down to how well Atkinson is able to make the duos of Mitchell-Garland and Allen-Mobley fit together.

Cleveland's primary downfall in the past two seasons has been the overlapping skill set between its two best players in the backcourt and two best players in the frontcourt. The lack of spacing and shooting makes this team very one-dimensional against playoff competition.

It could take a trade involving at least one of those players to shake things up, but for now Atkinson will have to piece it all together.

There is still too much talent for this group not to be a playoff contender, albeit one with a limited ceiling.

Record Prediction: 46-36

The Indiana Pacers' deepest playoff run in a decade ended in May with a shorthanded Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Boston Celtics.

Can the Pacers build on that run to make it back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2000?

The Pacers' hopes of a title bid hinge on All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, whose absence the team was unable to overcome when facing the Boston Celtics last postseason.

Here's a look ahead at the biggest matchups of the season as the Pacers look to find out if they have added enough pieces around Haliburton to make this team a title contender next spring.

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2024-25 Pacers Schedule Details

Season Opener: at Pistons on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. ET

Championship Odds: +5500 (bet $100 to win $5,500), per FanDuel

Full Schedule: The full schedule is available on NBA.com.

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Top Matchups

New York Knicks

Haliburton wore a sweatshirt that referenced the 1990's playoff rivalry between these two teams after the Pacers ruined the Knicks' hopes of a trip to the conference finals with their Game 7 conference semifinals victory. Is that a sign this rivalry is about to heat back up?

The Pacers made playoff history with their shooting percentage while defeating a Knicks team that was missing top defenders like OG Anunoby. Another meetup between these two teams with their star players back in the fold will give a better idea of how well the young Pacers are able to match up against a consensus title contender.

Boston Celtics

The Celtics' defense proved superior to the Pacers' quick-moving offense as the reigning NBA champions eliminated Indiana from the conference finals in four games.

The Pacers took on that series without Haliburton to match Jrue Holiday, but the Celtics' overall dominance raised questions about how far this team will be able to get without improving on defense. This Eastern Conference Finals rematch will show how much the Pacers have developed since the sweep.

Sacramento Kings

It may have been two years since the trade that brought Haliburton to Indiana and sent Domantas Sabonas to the Sacramento Kings, but that connection between these two quick-moving offensive teams makes this matchup a perennially interesting one.

Now that the Kings have signed DeMar DeRozan, adding to an offense already made dangerous by Sabonas and De'Aaron Fox, this will be a more challenging matchup than ever as the two teams meet again this fall.

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Season Forecast

Pascal Siakam and Obi Toppin will return to Indiana after signing extensions this offseason. Toppin is looking to build on a career season during which he averaged a personal-best 10.3 points per game, while Siakam will continue to drive the Pacers' offense after putting up more than 21 points per game in both the regular season and playoffs.

It is likely Ben Sheppard will play a bigger role for the Pacers next season as Indiana looks for a replacement for Buddy Hield, the veteran floor-spacer dealt to the Philadelphia 76ers in March. The 2023 first-rounder made it into the team's playoff rotation and seems likely to get more opportunities to compete with Andrew Nembhard for playing time next season.

While anticipating the next step in Sheppard's development, the Pacers will also be looking for improved rebounding next season after only Siakam, Myles Turner and Jalen Smith topped five rebounds per game in 2023-24. The team as a whole pulled down 41.5 per game last season, good for 30th in the NBA.

The Pacers have other improvements to target this offseason while shoring up the team's defense. Bennedict Mathurin, the 2022 No. 6 pick who is expected to fully recover from shoulder surgery before the start of the season, will continue developing his shooting off the bench.

The Pacers still have some uncertainties surrounding their young roster, but further improvements from bench players like Toppin, Sheppard and Mathurin, steps forward from starters like Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith, and a healthy season from Haliburton could go a long way toward solving the problems that led to the Celtics' sweep of the 2024 conference finals.

Look for Indiana to make the playoffs again next spring, although how far they go from there could depend largely on Haliburton's health. A full season from the two-time All-Star will be crucial to the Pacers' posteason hopes.

Record Prediction: 48-34

Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks may have Christmas off this year.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported on Thursday that the 2024 Christmas matchups would feature the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns.

This does not include Antetokounmpo's Bucks, which is something he seemed to be surprised by:

No Christmas game?! 😂😂

— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) August 9, 2024

The Bucks are the only team that has won an NBA Championship since 2020 to not be playing on Christmas this year. The franchise has played on Christmas in every season since 2018-19.

Milwaukee went 49-33 and finished third in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks were unable to advance past the opening round, however, as they fell to the Indiana Pacers in six games while Giannis battled a calf injury.

It was the second consecutive season that Milwaukee failed to advance out of the first round.

The Cleveland Cavaliers' extension of Jarrett Allen doesn't necessarily mean he'll be with the team long term.

NBA insider Marc Stein reported Allen was "essentially obligated" to sign his three-year, $91 million contract extension by Aug. 6 so the Cavaliers could still potentially trade him before the 2024-25 deadline. Allen will be eligible to be traded Feb. 2, 2025, exactly six months after signing his new deal.

Rival teams have long viewed the duo of Allen and Evan Mobley as an awkward fit over the long term. Mobley is a more natural center in the modern game, and Allen can only play center given his size and lack of ability to stretch the floor.

Allen's current deal will pay him just $20 million per season for each of the next two years. It's a deal that is well below market value, and even Allen's extension will come in at around 16 percent of the salary cap from 2026-27 to 2028-29. The contract takes Allen through his 30th birthday and through the likely end of his prime given the way players with his skill profile typically age.

The Cavaliers have been steadfast in keeping their core together despite some critics believing they'd be better off making trades for fit. Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell both play best with the ball in their hand, and Garland has spent the last two seasons regressing from All-Star status playing next to Mitchell.

When Mitchell signed his own extension in Cleveland this offseason, there was some thought that Garland could look for an out. Garland quickly shut down those rumors, and the Cavs' front office seems determined to play things out for at least one more season.

"I don't want to be traded," Garland told Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. "Those are just rumors."

Still, if the Cavs struggle to get out of the gate in 2024-25, don't be surprised if the rumor mill kicks in again.

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo revealed the significance of carrying the Greek flag during the opening ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

"It's something [where] I might win another championship [in the NBA]," Antetokounmpo said, via Sam Amick of The Athletic. "I might win another MVP. Who knows? But I might never carry the flag again. So I tried, for those 45 minutes, to soak it in as much as I can."

"And going through the Eiffel Tower, and it was raining, which made it even more dramatic, seeing my mom with her phone, always, and videotaping me, it was a great experience I will never forget in my life," he added.

Antetokounmpo helped the Greek team earn a 77-71 win over Australia on Friday, representing the country's first Olympic men's basketball victory in 16 years.

The eight-time All-Star revealed that he almost passed on the role of Greek's flag-bearer and offered it to men's basketball teammate Kostas Papanikolaou instead, as he spent more time with the national team. However, Papanikolaou refused and let Antetokounmpo carry the flag.

"But he was like 'No, we want you to do it because you represent everything that sports represents, the way you carry yourself on the court and off the court. We would love you to do it.' I said 'Great. It would be an honor for me to do it,'" Antetokounmpo explained, per Amick.

Greece's spot in the Olympics was far from guaranteed, as the team needed to win a FIBA qualifying tournament final matchup against Croatia in order to secure a trip to Paris. The Greek team won, marking the country's first men's basketball Olympic appearance since 2008.

Giannis emotional after qualifying for Olympics 🥹💙

He leads Greece to their first Olympics since 2008 🇬🇷

(via @FIBA)pic.twitter.com/eM31ZxPoL2

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 7, 2024

While Antetokounmpo led the Greek team to a 1-2 record in group play, he racked up several impressive individual performances. He averaged 27.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game throughout three contests while shooting 68.9 percent from the field.

With Friday's win, Greece still has a chance to advance to the knockout round. Due to the team's point differential, Serbia will need to defeat South Sudan by at least three points on Saturday in order for Antetokounmpo and his teammates to advance.

The Cleveland Cavaliers decided to keep one of the best backline defenders in the NBA in their frontcourt for the foreseeable future.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Cavs signed center Jarrett Allen to a new three-year, $91 million contract extension on Wednesday.

Allen had two years remaining on the five-year, $100 million deal he signed with the team in 2021, and he was set to make $20 million in 2024-25. Wednesday's deal now means he'll be guaranteed $131 million over the next five years, per Wojnarowski.

Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen has agreed on a three-year, $91 million maximum extension that’ll now guarantee him $131 million over the next five years, his agent Derrick Powell tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/vmOcgrKsmP

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 31, 2024

The Cavaliers had a $191.3 million salary cap entering the 2024-25 season before Allen's extension, per Spotrac.

Allen had been one of the most coveted players on the trade market this season, but Cleveland didn't move him. NBA insider Marc Stein reported on May 19 that "numerous" rival teams remained interested in acquiring him "despite the whispers of frustration circulating in Cleveland surrounding Allen's apparent reluctance to take a pain-killing injection to address a rib injury that sidelined him for the Cavaliers' final eight playoff games."

In the end, Cleveland decided he was too valuable to deal away in a trade.

An All-Star in 2022, Allen had a slow start to the 2023-24 season before eventually finding his footing. Through 77 games, he averaged a career-high 16.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks. He shot 63.4 percent from the field and maintained his status as a reliable rim protector.

Unfortunately, Allen suffered a rib injury in the playoffs that forced him to miss the entire Eastern Conference Semifinals, where the Cavs lost to the Boston Celtics in five games. He had a strong start to the postseason with averages of 17.0 points and 13.8 rebounds in four first-round games against the Orlando Magic.

Allen helped the Cavs finish seventh in the NBA in scoring defense this season, holding opponents to 110.2 points per game. He will continue to be the anchor on a team that has the pieces to be a top contender in the East.

Retaining Allen is a step in the right direction for Cleveland as it gears up for another run to the playoffs next season.

The Detroit Pistons have been trudging through a rebuild for the past few years, and at least one league executive believes their selection of swingman Ron Holland II with the No. 5 pick in this year's NBA draft was a backward step.

Per ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo, there are some questions about how Holland fits on a roster that sorely lacks perimeter shooting. The exec said the addition of Holland won't do much to benefit rising star point guard Cade Cunningham, whom Detroit selected with the No. 1 pick in 2021.

"I feel bad for Cade Cunningham," the exec explained. "They've been rebuilding for years even though they never planned on it, and this pick signals they might need to blow up the roster and start over again. I just don't see how [Holland] plays with Ausar Thompson, Jaden Ivey and all their other young guys. That situation is a mess. Even when Holland was scoring in Vegas, it was so ugly to watch."

Ron Holland was MUST SEE TV during the NBA Summer League! 🔥 #NBASummer

The @detroitpistons rookie averaged a team-leading 18.8 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and 2.3 APG. He was also fourth among all rookies in scoring. pic.twitter.com/qhh3Gz8rJ1

— NBA G League (@nbagleague) July 28, 2024

Holland bypassed college to play for G League Ignite last season. He appeared in 14 games before undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured tendon in his right thumb and averaged 20.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. However, his efficiency left much to be desired, as he shot 44.3 percent from the field and an abysmal 24.0 percent from beyond the arc.

In a poll conducted by Givony and Woo on who was the biggest reach of this year's draft, Holland was tied for the most votes (four) with AJ Johnson of the Milwaukee Bucks. However, Johnson was selected with the 23rd pick, while the Pistons appear to have taken a big swing when they should have landed a sure thing with the fifth pick.

It appears that the 2024-25 campaign could be another lost season for Detroit, which hasn't made the playoffs since 2018-19.

Before DeMar DeRozan became a member of the Sacramento Kings in a sign-and-trade deal, the Chicago Bulls didn't make a strong push to keep him.

Per ESPN's Jamal Collier, DeRozan and the Bulls "never got close" to a new contract.

DeRozan landed with the Kings on a three-year, $74 million deal that saw the Bulls receive Chris Duarte and two second-round draft picks in the three-team sign-and-trade. Harrison Barnes went from Sacramento to the San Antonio Spurs.

The Bulls have been a puzzling organization to figure out. Their brief stretch early in the 2021-22 season when Lonzo Ball was healthy showed tremendous promise. They were tied for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with 12 games remaining in the regular season.

Since that time, though, the Bulls have compiled a record of 86-100. They made the play-in tournament in each of the past two seasons but were unable to make the playoff field.

Despite their struggles last season, Chicago's front office opted to stand pat at the trade deadline rather than try to begin a rebuild.

The approach seemed to change this offseason, though the results have been underwhelming to this point. Alex Caruso was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Josh Giddey in a one-for-one move that was generally criticized on Chicago's end.

Losing DeRozan this offseason for a package built around future second-round picks is better than nothing, but doesn't add a lot of long-term value to the Bulls.

Even though DeRozan will turn 35 on Aug. 7, he is still an effective offensive player. The six-time All-Star averaged 25.5 points on 49.6 percent shooting in 299 games over three seasons with the Bulls.

DeRozan will bring his scoring ability to Sacramento for a team that has won a total of 94 games over the past two seasons but missed the postseason last season after losing to the New Orleans Pelicans in the play-in tournament.

The Bulls will go into 2024-25 with a nucleus of Giddey, Coby White, Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams and Nikola Vučević. Giddey, White and Williams are a promising young group to build around, but the ceiling for this team looks to be very low without an obvious potential long-term path to contention.

The level of unease between the Chicago Bulls and star guard Zach LaVine "has been growing over the past year," according to ESPN's Jamal Collier.

Collier detailed the numerous factors that have created the discord, which include LaVine's frustration with the Bulls' performance and the organization being upset he had season-ending foot surgery last year rather than rehabbing and potentially suiting up again.

LaVine and head coach Billy Donovan "have not been on the same page in recent seasons," per Collier, though they've largely kept that out of the public view. Collier provided a full breakdown:

"LaVine has also felt singled out during film sessions and feels like he has taken too much blame for the team's losing during his tenure — which has produced one playoff appearance in seven years — despite other roster failings, sources told ESPN. Donovan, meanwhile, believes he's been trying to get LaVine to buy in to a more team-friendly playing style, according to sources, emphasizing the way the Bulls competed in LaVine's absence last year as evidence for the team's potential if LaVine fits within the system."

Everyone seems to know the lay of the land with LaVine and Chicago.

NBA insider Marc Stein reported last Friday the Bulls are "resigned to fact that they will likely be forced to start the new season with LaVine on the roster."

That's a rather damning way to describe continuing to employ a two-time All-Star who has average 24.2 points on 47.1 percent shooting over the past seven seasons. But it reflects the dilemma in which Chicago finds itself.

LaVine doesn't fit into the Bulls' long-term plans as they're leaning more into an overdue rebuild but he's a net-negative asset right now thanks to his cumbersome contract. For at least the last year, a trade market has reportedly been nonexistent.

Collier noted how LaVine and the team are incentivized to make things work as best they can. Should the 29-year-old stay healthy and perform well, it could entice a team to pursue a trade.

However, the issues cited in Collier's report raise questions over whether the two sides can even remain diplomatic long enough for that to happen.