Oklahoma City Thunder, favorites to repeat as champions according to NBA survey
The annual NBA.com survey, conducted among the league’s 30 offices, has identified the Oklahoma City Thunder as the team to beat for the upcoming season. The Thunder, who were already favorites in a similar survey during the summer, lead the preferences of NBA general managers, with a resounding 80% of the votes in their favor.
If the Thunder win the championship, it would be the first time since the Golden State Warriors achieved it in 2018 that a team repeats as champion.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Denver Nuggets also received some votes, while the Houston Rockets and the New York Knicks each got a selection.
The survey, which is sent to the 30 teams and prohibits them from voting for themselves or players on their own team, also predicts Oklahoma City and Cleveland as the top favorites to win their respective conferences. The Thunder led with 87% of the first-place votes.
In the Western Conference, after the Thunder, were the Nuggets (10% of the first-place votes) and the Rockets.
- Minnesota Timberwolves
- Warriors
- LA Clippers
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Dallas Mavericks
- San Antonio Spurs
In the Eastern Conference, Cleveland and New York were unanimously selected to occupy the top three positions, with the Cavaliers obtaining 63% of the votes for first place.
The Knicks received 30% of the votes.
The only other team that received votes for first place was the Orlando Magic (7%).
- Atlanta Hawks
- Detroit Pistons
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Boston Celtics
As for individual awards, Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets was the clear favorite to win the Most Valuable Player award, with 67% of the votes. Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs star, was chosen by general managers as the player they would choose to start a franchise, winning this category for the second year in a row with 83% of the votes.
Amen Thompson of the Rockets received 30% of the votes in the “most likely to have a breakout season” category.
Regarding the best players by position, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jokic were chosen. The only position with less than 70% of the votes was the forward position, where Doncic obtained 40% of the votes.
In the offseason superlatives section, the Hawks were the best choice to have the best offseason (53%), followed by the Rockets (27%) and the Nuggets (10%).
The Rockets’ transfer for Kevin Durant was chosen as the offseason’s most impactful move.
The Magic were chosen as the team with the most improvement (47%) and also for having made the most underestimated move by signing guard Desmond Bane.
The Thunder were chosen as the league’s best defensive team (83%).
Cooper Flagg, the number 1 pick in the June NBA draft, was the heavy favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award and be the best rookie in five years, while Kasparas Jakucionis of the Miami Heat was chosen as the biggest steal of this year’s draft.
In the individual superlatives, Wembanyama (80%) was chosen as the best defensive player in the league; Erik Spoelstra (52%) was chosen as the best coach for the sixth consecutive season; Jokic (80%) was chosen as the best passer and player with the greatest court intelligence, while Antetokounmpo and Wembanyama tied, with 30% of the votes each, for the honor of being the most versatile player in the league, and Stephen Curry was the winner, with 47% of the votes, for being the player with whom one would take a shot with the game on the line.
