#5 Miami Heat – Last Season’s Record: 40-32
Key Offseason Additions: G Kyle Lowry, G/F Duncan Robinson, F P.J. Tucker, G Victor Oladipo, F Markieff Morris, C Dewayne Dedmon
Key Offseason Departures: G Goran Dragić, F/C Precious Achiuwa, G Kendrick Nunn, F Andre Iguodala, F Trevor Ariza
The Chicago Bulls were one of the “biggest winners” of the 2021 NBA Offseason, but the Miami Heat were THE “biggest winner” of the offseason. Miami finally has their new version of a “Big 3” with Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Kyle Lowry, but they also have a lot of reliable secondary options.
Duncan Robinson and Tyler Herro are two premier perimeter threats, P.J. Tucker is coming off of a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks and if he can ever stay healthy, Victor Oladipo will be the fourth scoring option on this team!
Oladipo is a former 2x All-Star and an All-NBA performer, so if he can come back during the second-half of the 2021-22 season and stay healthy, having him on a one-year, minimum contract could end up being one of the biggest steals of the offseason.
Erik Spoelstra is one of the most underrated coaches in the NBA and every single year, he is able to find success with his squad. Last year, they were not the most talented team in the league and dealt with a wide array of injuries, yet they still finished as the 6th best team in the Eastern Conference. That may not seem impressive, but Spoelstra knows how to coach a team to a championship and he could definitely do so again with this 2021-22 Miami Heat squad.
#4 Phoenix Suns – Last Season’s Record: 51-21
Key Offseason Additions: G Chris Paul, G Cam Payne, C JaVale McGee, G Landry Shamet, G Elfrid Payton
Key offseason Departures: F Torrey Craig, G Jevon Carter
Unless you just hate the state of Arizona for some reason, I do not see how you could not root for the Phoenix Suns last year. They are kind of like the “feel good story/team” in the NBA because of all the adversity those a part of this team have gone through. Other than Deandre Ayton, who was the No. 1 pick in 2018, everybody on their roster has been overlooked at some point in their careers, especially Chris Paul.
The 11x All-Star “Point God” is going to be a first ballot Hall-of-Famer when he retires, but people still like to pick on him since he has never won a championship. Even Devin Booker has been slept on early in his career, being left off of All-Star lists and All-NBA lists because his teams may not have been the best in the league.
Well, the Suns were one of the best in the league last year not only because they all play with a “chip on their shoulder,” but because Monty Williams is a fantastic head coach. Williams has overcome so much in his life both personal and basketball-wise, so to see him succeed at the highest level possible as a coach truly is a blessing.
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Phoenix basically returns everybody from last year’s Western Conference Championship team and they added JaVale McGee and Landry Shamet. Dario Saric will likely miss a vast majority of the season after suffering a torn ACL in the NBA Finals, but this young Suns team is only going to get better as time goes on. They have an average roster age of 27.1-years-old right now and over the last 10 years, the average roster age of an NBA championship team has been 28.35-years-old, so could the 2021-22 season be Phoenix’s year?
#3 Los Angeles Lakers – Last Season’s Record: 42-30
Key Offseason Additions: G Russell Westbrook, F Carmelo Anthony, C Dwight Howard, F Trevor Ariza, G/F Kent Bazemore, G Kendrick Nunn, G Malik Monk, G Wayne Ellington, G/F Talen Horton-Tucker, G Rajon Rondo
Key Offseason Departures: F Kyle Kuzma, C Montrezl Harell, G Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, G Dennis Schröder, G Alex Caruso, C Andre Drummond, F Markieff Morris, G Wesley Matthews*
(*Still a free agent)
The hierarchy of the Western Conference last year was the Jazz and the Suns, but the Los Angeles Lakers should once again take back their mantle as being the “team to beat” in the Western Conference. LeBron James and Co. reloaded in the offseason in a big way and they formed their own version of a “Big 3,” something James has become accustomed to in his year’s.
The Lakers were able to acquire Russell Westbrook from the Washington Wizards this offseason, giving them an All-NBA trio of Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. How all these ball-dominant players will gel together and play with one another is yet to be seen, but if all of these guys are willing to put aside their egos, then they truly could be one of the more special trios in NBA history given how skilled they each are.
Aside from star-power, the Lakers have done a fantastic job of adding secondary talent and experienced talents to their roster, as Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, Kent Bazemore, Kendrick Nunn, Malik Monk, Rajon Rondo and Wayne Ellington are all joining Los Angeles this upcoming season.
Now the longest tenured Lakers player, LeBron James is on a quest for championship #5 during the 2021-22 season and if he, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook can remain healthy, there is no reason why they should not make it to the Western Conference Finals at the very least.
#2 Milwaukee Bucks – Last Season’s Record: 46-26
Key Offseason Additions: C Bobby Portis, G George Hill, G Grayson Allen, G/F Rodney Hood
Key Offseason Departures: F P.J. Tucker, G Bryn Forbes, G Jeff Teague
Fresh off their first championship in 50 years, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks should still be celebrating their recent championship. The performance Giannis had in the NBA Finals was near video game-like and to think that he did so just days after suffering what appeared to be a massive knee injury is just incredible.
The 26-year-old Antetokounmpo is the best player in the league right now and he proved that with his dominant showing in the postseason for Milwaukee. This offseason though, the Bucks were pretty quiet for the most part. Their “Big 3” of Holiday, Middleton and Antetokounmpo are all under contract for the 2021-22 season, so most of their attention turned to bringing back some role players and filling out their bench.
The Bucks were able to bring back energy guy Bobby Portis on a new two-year, $9M deal, but they lost P.J. Tucker to the Miami Heat. Overall though, Milwaukee does have a lot of young talent in development on their roster, including 2020 second-round pick Jordan Nwora, who will likely see an uptick in minutes given his great performances in Summer League.
Still though, to get to the NBA Finals in the Eastern Conference, you have to go through the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks and that is not going to be an easy thing to do. Giannis Antetokounmpo is getting better and better every single day and if he can put things together on his jump-shot during the 2021-22 season, there will be no way to stop him.
They may not be ranked #1 overall in these Power Rankings, but they are still the defending World Champions and they will be a tough team to beat once again.
#1 Brooklyn Nets – Last Season’s Record: 48-24
Key Offseason Additions: G Patty Mills, F Bruce Brown, F James Johnson, F/C Blake Griffin, G Cam Thomas, G Jevon Carter
Key Offseason Departures: G Spencer Dinwiddie, G Landry Shamet, F Jeff Green, G Mike James*, F Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot*
(*Still a free agent)
I just do not see how you can make an argument for any team other than the Brooklyn Nets to be #1 on this list right now. Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving make up arguably the great trio of talent ever assembled in the NBA and if they can remain healthy together on the court, they will win at least one title together.
All three guys are not only three of the greatest players at their respective positions league-wide, but they are three of the greatest players of this generation period. If their careers ended today, Kevin Durant and James Harden would be unanimous selections to be first-ballot Hall-of-Famers and Kyrie Irving would likely be right behind them.
Up-and-down this Nets’ roster, there really are no weaknesses. You can point to the fact that they are not that strong in the paint and do not have a true center, but Blake Griffin was fantastic for them last season after signing a minimum deal with them and Brooklyn is very high on what Nicolas Claxton can give them in his third season in the league.
Patty Mills and James Johnson are going to be the notable names that are mentioned in terms of the Nets adding more talent this offseason, but I look at rookie Cameron Thomas as potentially their best offseason acquisition. Thomas can flat out score the basketball and he led the 2021 NBA Summer League in scoring this year, averaging 27.0 PPG on 42.3% shooting from the floor in four games.
Being able to learn from guys like Durant, Harden and Irving is going to do tremendous things for the 19-year-old shooting guard from LSU and by midseason, he is going to be in discussion for All-Rookie First-Team coming off the bench for Brooklyn!
The 2022 NBA Championship is the Brooklyn Nets’ to lose at this point and while I would love to see a bunch of teams in the mix for the title, the Nets are the clear-cut favorites to win their first ever championship this upcoming season. If they stay healthy, I really do not see any team being able to stop them, but hey, we play a season for a reason and anything can happen in the NBA!
