NBA League Pass Rankings for the 2023-24 Season
3. Boston Celtics
The Celtics have the greatest collection of one-through-six talent the league has seen in years, particularly on the defensive side, where all of their players except Jaylen Brown could have had an All-Defensive Team argument last season (and Brown’s no slouch!).
Porzingis is an accurate and rangy gunner who has mixed in improved post play and playmaking. His mere presence opens up the floor for Brown and Jayson Tatum to drive, but he’s capable of much more, as he’s shown in the preseason.
Derrick White and Jrue Holiday ensure there is always a top-flight point-of-attack defender on the floor at any given moment (and basketball gods help offenses who have to face them both together).
This is still Jayson Tatum’s team, and he’s looking to make the leap from top-10 player in the NBA to top-five. The talent around him has never been better, and the stakes have never been higher.
Plus, I’m a sucker for Celtic green.
2. Denver Nuggets
For everything I just said about Boston, I’d still take Denver in a series. The fivesome of Nikola Jokic/Jamal Murray/Aaron Gordon/Michael Porter Jr./Kentavious Caldwell-Pope isn’t quite as talented as Boston’s, but they fit together like shards of pottery from the vase my toddler just knocked over as I was typing this sentence.
Murray transforms into a superhero every postseason; this feels like the year he finally wears his cape in the winter and spring, too. The emergence of reliable bench pieces will be a fascinating subplot.
Jokic is the most aesthetically pleasing player in the NBA. He has absurd post moves for old-school basketball lovers, an unstoppable, leaning fadeaway for 90’s fiends, and the passing flair that younger fans obsess over. But it’s not all flash: Jokic is also one of the league’s best screeners and most voracious rebounders, and his defense is far better than Instagram-highlight-watchers would have you believe.
Jokic is a must-watch every time he takes the court (even if he can’t wait to get off it), and if that can’t get you to a top-three ranking, I’m not sure what can.
1. Milwaukee Bucks
Newness matters in League Pass rankings, and despite my love for Jokic’s game, the fresh pairing of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard is the number-one storyline in the league.
Antetokounmpo should have more room for his bruising drives, but his emergence as a roll man intrigues. Lillard is an underrated passer and supreme shotmaker; no distance is too far for the premier deep-shot artist in the league. Want a 41′ pull-up three-pointer with 15 seconds left on the shot clock? Sure, why not.
Lillard will greatly relieve the burden not just on Giannis but on Khris Middleton, too, who finally found his offensive footing in the playoffs last year after an uneven return from injury.
The Bucks have two of the league’s best and a thin but capable supporting cast. It’s rare to find superstars who complement each other so well on offense, and the Bucks’ habitual woes in the halfcourt seem solved overnight. We’ll see how much they give back on defense, but my guess is that the offense’s playoff-readiness is far more important than being a slightly less dominant defense.
The NBA has never been more watchable and more exciting, but the Bucks are the League Pass team I’ll be turning on most consistently when the season begins.