NBA: Ranking the top 10 teams heading into the 2019-20 season

1. Milwaukee Bucks

Khris Middleton for five more years and a reigning MVP (and DPOY candidate, not to mention) is enough to put the Milwaukee Bucks in the conversation of top 5. What propels them to the top of the list is their success last season and their incredibly high ceiling for the future. Milwaukee finished with 60 wins last year and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

If it wasn’t for Kawhi Leonard’s magical one-year run with the Raptors, the Bucks would’ve made their first NBA Finals since 1974. The Bucks have generational talent in Giannis Antetokounmpo and have built one of the best systems in the league around him acquiring defensive specialists like Eric Bledsoe who made the First-Team All-Defensive team last year. The Bucks also re-signed Brook Lopez and grabbed his twin brother Robin while they were at it essentially doubling the skillset they saw help their team facilitate offense the season prior.

Losing Malcolm Brogdon to the Indiana Pacers is tough but the 26-year-old guard hasn’t had a break-out season and wasn’t worth the money Indiana was offering him. Wesley Matthews is a serviceable wing replacement with a lot of experience in the league. Hopefully, he’ll be able to mesh well with Giannis and help the team finally reach the promised land.

The Bucks are the only contender from last season to not have had any drastic changes in their roster thus keeping them among the league’s elite in the East and making them my favorites to win it all. We’re looking at a team with a plethora of talent that’s hungry and itching to make it back to the Conference Finals and make sure it goes their way this time around.