Ranking NBA teams by tiers for the 2017-18 season

The Inevitable: Golden State Warriors

Maybe the 2018 NBA Playoffs will be more interesting than they were last year, when blowouts, predictable outcomes and one-sided results reigned supreme. Maybe the opening rounds will be more entertaining with a Western bloodbath and an Eastern mad scramble that feels wide open. Maybe the Thunder, Celtics, Spurs, Rockets and Cavs provide us with at least one or two high-stakes series.

But at the end of the day, a Golden State Warriors team with Kevin Durant feels as inevitable to claim the NBA crown as it did last year.

After winning 67 games and cruising to the championship with a nearly immaculate 16-1 playoff record, the Dubs somehow got better over the summer. They gave Stephen Curry the supermax extension he deserved, got a terrific Kevin Durant discount and also managed to retain Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, David West, Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee.

As if this wasn’t enough, the Warriors went out and signed excellent spot-up shooters in Omri Casspi and Nick Young to spread the floor off the bench. Throw in buying their way into the second round to draft Jordan Bell and another year of development for Patrick McCaw, and this dynasty isn’t going away anytime soon.

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Even without all the bench depth and complementary pieces, the Dubs would be head and shoulders above the rest of the pack simply because Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green have a full year under their belts together. The chemistry is only going to get better, and even if the Spurs, Rockets or Cavs put up a better fight in the playoffs, the Warriors are still in a stratosphere of their own.