The 2018 NBA Finals are over, but who will be the next NBA champion? Can anyone challenge the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals?
The 2018 NBA Finals are dead, decaying and buried six feet under stupid takes like “The Golden State Warriors ruined basketball!” and “LeBron James isn’t a real champion!”
Despite the fact that at least two games out of the four-game sweep were extremely entertaining, and despite a plethora of intriguing takeaways spawning from the series, if it means we can move past all the overreactions, let me be the first to join those suffering from Warriors fatigue and say “good riddance” to this year’s Finals.
As always in the world of sports, the question turns to, “What’s next?” In the NBA’s case, it’s the 2018 NBA Draft, free agency, NBA Summer League, training camp and eventually, the start of a brand new season, but as is always the custom after a champion is crowned, the biggest question before looking to the offseason is: “Who will be the next champion?”
In this case, we’re more than likely heading toward a familiar answer. The Dubs look like an emerging dynasty after capping off the greatest four-year stretch in NBA history, and barring a next, next chapter for Kevin Durant this summer, they’re probably going to be looking at the greatest five-year stretch in NBA history about 12 months from now.
No team had ever won more than 251 regular season games in a 4-year span. The Warriors won 265.
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) June 9, 2018
They have now played 83 playoff games since 2015 — pretty much the same length as a regular season.
They are 63-20 in those playoff games, with a margin of +709. Pure silliness
With that being said, there’s a reason they play the games. Injury luck, the “disease of more” and a full offseason to reload for other contenders can quickly change the story. We don’t know who will be drafted where, or what star free agent will be signing with what team just yet, but in the interest of being thorough, let’s take a look at the five teams most likely to win the 2019 NBA Finals.
Honorable mentions:
- Toronto Raptors: Unless LeBron James joins his favorite team to torture, we’ve learned we can’t trust this team in the playoffs no matter what it does in the regular season.
- Cleveland Cavaliers: Only applies if LeBron re-signs, seems less and less likely every day.
- New Orleans Pelicans: A dark horse pick because Anthony Davis is a monster, but there are a lot of cards still up in the air here.
- Indiana Pacers: A plucky pick, but it’d take one hell of a summer to get the Pacers into the conversation.
- Utah Jazz: Consider the Jazz the Indiana Pacers of the West in this case.
- Oklahoma City Thunder: Sam Presti worked his magic last summer, but it’d take quite a bit more in 2018 to get OKC back on track.
- Minnesota Timberwolves: Karl-Anthony Towns and Jimmy Butler are great, but this team just oesn’t play efense. There’s no efense to be foun whatsoever. Literally none. Plus they’re going to have trouble fining someone to trae for Anrew Wiggins, who will nee to play much better alongsie Butler for the Wolves to conten.