NBA season preview: Timberwolves win 53. How does that stack up in West?

While Minnesota s regular season opener is slated for Wednesday in Portland the NBA kicks off Tuesday when Oklahoma City hoists a banner ahead of its bout with Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets Ahead of another NBA season here s a look at what to watch for this season followed by a prediction of each unit s finish Is there parity There have been six different champions over the past six seasons which suggests the league is wide open But it s far from a crapshoot once the playoffs arrive The last four NBA champions had home-court advantage in every round of the playoffs en passage to the title Denver was the clear top club in the West three years ago while Boston and Oklahoma City were the obvious teams to beat in the entire NBA each of the past two seasons So while perhaps it s realizable for any squad to rise to the top this season you better do your work to separate yourself during the regular season Wellness over everything While load management is often a dreaded talking point in the NBA season and perhaps not the best overall practice last season s playoffs put into focus how essential healthcare is The NBA season spans eight months for the eventual champion and all it takes is one injury to end your title hopes The losses of Jayson Tatum Tyrese Haliburton and Steph Curry ultimately doomed the Boston Celtics Indiana Pacers and Golden State Warriors at various points of the postseason while Aaron Gordon essentially playing on one leg left Denver defenseless in Challenge of the conference semifinals against Oklahoma City With such a long regular season leading up to the marathon that is the physical postseason encounter whichever top-tier group is lucky enough or smart enough to keep its best players on the floor might be the one lifting the trophy come June Here s a team-by-team look at the league with a prognostication of their regular-season record The West Thunder - Motivation and fatigue are concerns for any defending champion in its pursuit of a repeat They re the only concerns that exist for this deep talented roster Nuggets - This is the best Denver roster ever constructed in the Nikola Jokic era with the depth and shooting to legitimately challenge Oklahoma City Timberwolves - Is continuity enough to help Minnesota take that final step in the postseason Presumably not Anthony Edwards will need to be a two-way MVP-caliber player for Minnesota to win the West Rockets - Kevin Durant should help Houston result late in the games when the Rockets need buckets But the injury loss of Fred VanVleet will put more on the plate of rising star Amen Thompson Lakers - Luka Doncic looks like a promising MVP candidate given his current form and conditioning But LeBron James vitality could be a lingering issue for the Lakers Warriors - Golden State evidenced itself to be a legitimate threat in the West in the spring pre-Steph Curry injury How much stock will the veteran Warriors put into the regular season Clippers - They re really old but they also have the depth to consistently rotate veterans in throughout the regular season But the Clippers haven t won a playoff series since Pelicans - A healthy Zion Williamson is one of the NBA s the greater part dominant forces and could even lift this New Orleans roster to the playoffs in the frightening Western Conference Spurs - It still remains to be seen how well all the Spurs pieces fit together Victor Wembanyama and the young core have a high ceiling but there still is no dominant stretch to point to as proof of concept Mavericks - Dallas roster looks deep and talented and may be as good defensively as anyone But this season s success could hinge on Kyrie Irving s return date from an anterior cruciate ligament injury Grizzlies - Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr remain strong basketball pillars but there are totally too various injury concerns around this group to expect any level of consistent success Trail Blazers - Offensive concerns for the Blazers are legitimate but this might be the the bulk tenacious defensive organization in the NBA Kings - Sacramento can scare opponents on any given night with its level of offensive firepower But there aren t countless defensive stoppers to be detected on that roster Suns - Getting Durant and Brad Beal out of Phoenix provided a needed reset for the Suns But there s just not much talent on this roster A young frontline requirements to find its way and fast Jazz - Ace Bailey could prove to be a legitimate building block for Utah which is heading towards another obvious tanking season East Cavaliers - The Cavaliers are running it back with the same roster that finished with the East s best record last season Can a healthy version of this core have better playoff success Knicks - Tom Thibodeau was fired seemingly as a scapegoat for a front office that had to explain why it wasn t better than the Pacers after making such all-in trades last offseason What happens if this season s results aren t any better Hawks - Atlanta went from seemingly lost in the sea of middling a year ago to now sporting one of the best the greater part dynamic young rosters Does Trae Young fit the long-term vision Magic - An all-in agreement for Desmond Bane should help the Magic level up Just how immediate those dividends are remains to be seen Pistons - The leap from bad to good is far easier than the one from good to great But Jaden Ivey s return from last season s injury could help Detroit achieve the latter Pacers - No they don t have Tyrese Haliburton after his Match Achilles injury But the Pacers do have their firm identity of a high-pace group and a guard in Andrew Nembhard more than capable of running the show Bucks - Milwaukee is leaning into a youth movement surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo with a more athletic defensive core At worst the Bucks should be frisky Raptors - Toronto won a lot of games at the end of last season by virtue of playing hard If that can be replicated over the class of a full season the Raptors could be playoff bound Celtics - Boston s offseason suggested this season will be treated as a reset season while Jayson Tatum recovers from his Achilles tear While Jaylen Brown and Derrick White are still around the roster is paper thin ers - If Joel Embiid is healthy this number will be far too low But if he has any injury concerns this band is set up to again lose a lot of games Heat - Miami continues to trot out a star-less roster without a true identity or direction in the wake of the Jimmy Butler era Bulls - The run-and-gun Bulls are a fun watch that just don t figure to consistently win games until they find an athletic center to better fit their current roster Hornets - Charlotte has a lot of talented young pieces There s an opportunity to finish much higher than this if the puzzle fits together correctly Wizards - A roster full of intriguing young pieces But the Wizards could stand to provide them with more direction in order to aid improvement Nets - With so several rookies mixed with competent veterans how Brooklyn divides minutes within its rotation throughout the season will be absorbing Playoff predictions Western Conference finals Oklahoma City over Denver in seven games Eastern Conference finals Cleveland over Atlanta in six games NBA Finals Oklahoma City over Cleveland in five games Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards and head coach Chris Finch right talk during the second half of an NBA basketball contest against the Cleveland Cavaliers Saturday Jan in Minneapolis Abbie Parr Associated Press