Five Teams That Can Actually Win The 2025 NBA Finals | Deadspin.com

Although the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks are on the brightest stage in the NBA this week, there are teams lurking in the shadows who could be closer to this moment than most expect.

Some of those teams made some serious noise this postseason, while others failed to even come close to reaching the expectations set for them back on Opening Night.

We know Boston and Dallas have yet to play a minute of this year’s Finals, but who’s stopping us from jumping the gun and taking a look at who could be duking it out for a title next June?

Here are five teams that might end up making a trip to the Finals in 2025:

1) Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota lands at No. 1 on this list for a reason.

After sweeping the Phoenix Suns in a first-round playoff series, the Timberwolves dethroned the defending champion Denver Nuggets in seven games before falling to the Mavericks in the Western Conference finals.

Talent wasn’t the issue. Lack of experience, however, was.

But if any rising star has earned “dawg” status — and spelling is important here — it’s Anthony Edwards. And scary thing is, he’s only going to get better.

2) Milwaukee Bucks

Aside from the Celtics, Milwaukee probably went into the season with the highest expectations in the Eastern Conference after trading for star guard Damian Lillard in September.

When it came time to live up to those expectations, that’s where the Bucks went off course.

While Boston was marching its way to the Finals, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez were being spotted on roller coasters at Disney World. It sounds like a diss, but that actually happened. There’s photographic evidence to back it up.

There’s just no way vacation can come as early as it did this year for Milwaukee in 2025, though. The Lillard-Antetokounmpo duo is far too good not to contend for a championship, but the Bucks will have to fill in the right role players around it.

3) Oklahoma City Thunder

One of the youngest teams in the league, Oklahoma City caught everyone’s attention by finishing atop the Western Conference at 57-25 this season.

And with a seemingly unfathomable number of draft picks, Thunder general manager Sam Presti has the assets at his disposal to make a move or two that would turn this team into an absolute titan.

We can’t turn a blind eye to the fact that Oklahoma City does have some of the corniest postgame interview antics ever, but any hate toward those should be rescinded if the Thunder end up making a deep playoff run.

4) New Orleans Pelicans

New Orleans is quickly becoming a “what if” story considering someone always seems to get injured just as the Pelicans are picking up steam.

You’d struggle to stay healthy, too, if you were within walking distance of Bourbon Street.

However, if Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and CJ McCollum can all stay healthy for a full season, New Orleans could emerge as a dangerous team out West.

5) Orlando Magic

Let’s get wild to end this list. Really wild.

Paolo Banchero’s ceiling is going to continue to rise, and Orlando has an absolutely killer theme song that it rips after every win.

Everyone should be a little bit of a Magic fan next season — just for fun. Try it out, see how you like it. Outside of Boston and Milwaukee, there’s about six or seven teams that’ll be jostling for position in the East next season, and the Magic will certainly have a seat at that table.