With the new NBA season approaching, there are going to be teams that overperform expectations and some that underperform.
Last season we saw a lot surprising teams overperform - for example the Oklahoma City Thunder, who before the 2023/2024 NBA season were predicted by fans and teams to be around the eight to six seed, and ended up being the one seed.
So, here are the teams you should watch out for and could surprise this upcoming NBA season.
After an excellent season making the NBA finals last year, the Dallas Mavericks have made the off season moves to show they are looking to be back there again.
In Free agency they picked up one of the Splash brothers in Klay Thompson, who is a great addition and could fit the teams style perfectly.
They have also brought in role players such as Naji Marshall, Quentin Grimes and Spencer Dinwiddie but in return, they lost some of there role players in Derik Jones Jr, Josh Green and Tim Hardaway Jr.
But the biggest thing that the Mavs have is their star Luka Doncic who has seemed to get better every year, and entering his prime years this is time to win and coming off the back of a MVP-caliber season and a Finals run he will be looking to go all the way.
They also have kept players like Kyrie Irving, PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford who were great in their run to the NBA Finals
But one of the most exciting things about this team is the progress and the development of Derek Lively II, who was one of the best rookies in the regular season last year and was incredible in the playoffs.
In the finals we saw him score a three which was his first attempt of the season and if he can develop that part of his game he could be one the best big men in the league.
After having a surprising last season you would not put it past them to surprise again, with the off season they have had obtaining Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, a two time championship winner and a big part why the Denver Nuggets have a championship to their name.
“This is the first team that I’ve been on where everybody likes to defend,” Pope said [h/t Sportskeeda]. “That’s exciting for me. It makes me want to compete even more on that end. I’m just looking forward to being that team that’s going to be hard to score on. That (says a lot) in this league. A team that gets stops wins games.” said Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
They got to the playoffs last season for the second time in 13 years where they were beaten by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round, but there are positives to take out of it, with the young team they have and the experience that Caldwell-Pope brings you could see them step up and become a top four seed in the east this season.
The problem they seemed to have last season and that they may have again this season is there heavy reliance on Paolo Banchero, who is an excellent young player to count on but if he is having an off night you need to see more people step up to carry the team which is why they have looked for experience.
Another problem they had last season was their shooting which Caldwell-Pope also helps with but he does not fix the problem on his own and they should look for another shooter to get for their team.
After a move not many people were expecting in the offseason, Paul George in free agency joined the 76ers which shows the ambition for the Championship the 76ers have.
The team has had a busy offseason offloading players in Tobias Harris, Buddy Hield and Nicolas Batum.
The people they got through the door are Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, Reggie Jackson and Caleb Martin, as well as drafting Jared McCain out of Duke with the 16th pick.
With the moves they have made and the players they already have they have a really good chance to win the championship this year but there future could heavily rely on the health and performance of Joel Embiid in the playoffs.
As he has just come of the back of a major injury where he missed most of the regular season and was not fully fit when he played in the playoffs and when he has played fit in the playoffs he has underperformed to his regular season standards, so they will need him to make the playoff jump.
A player that had an excellent season last year was Tyrese Maxey who got the most improved player award in the 2023/2024 NBA season and was their best performing player in the playoffs that season.
If Maxey can either repeat his success or improve again they will be really good in the backcourt and the rest of their roster looks really good with good role players and good starters.
So if they can keep the key stars in the team fit in Paul George, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, they will have a very good chance at winning the Championship, but will have to get by the Boston Celtics who are looking to defend their championship and are the probable favourites.
