NBA Rumors: ESPN insider predicts surprise East team could make NBA Finals
NBA Rumors: With the start of training camps around the corner, an ESPN insider predicts the New York Knicks will make a run to the NBA Finals.
It’s not necessarily the time of the year when we see many headlining predictions take place but as we continue to navigate through the dog days of the NBA offseason, it’s only natural to begin looking ahead with not much going on in the basketball world. It makes even more sense considering many of the bigger offseason moves are fresh in the minds of everyone.
Objectively speaking, the 2023-24 NBA season could provide some intense theater. Specifically in the Eastern Conference where it seems like nothing is guaranteed. You can argue that the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics will be title favorites heading into the season but after watching the run that the Miami Heat just went on en route to the NBA Finals, you can make the case that the East is as wide open as it’s been in a very long time.
That could open the door for another dark horse team to emerge this season. And according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, he believes that that will indeed happen this upcoming season. Marks predicts that the New York Knicks could represent the East in the NBA Finals this season.
Where the New York Knicks stack up in the Eastern Conference
On one hand, it wouldn’t be that outlandish if the Knicks made a run to the NBA Finals. Looking at the East’s landscape, it is pretty wide open. Especially with everything that the Philadelphia 76ers are going through with James Harden and the fact that it doesn’t look like the Miami Heat is going to land Damian Lillard anytime soon.
There’s a pathway to the Knicks finishing as a top 3 seed in the East. And once the playoffs begin, as we saw this past season in the East, anything can happen. The biggest question for the Knicks is whether the likes of RJ Barrett, Quentin Grimes, Immanuel Quickley, and Mitchell Robinson will continue to develop to the point where the team’s lack of a splash move this offseason won’t matter.
At least for now, it’s impossible to predict whether that will be the case, You’d hope that they would make strides in their respective games that would help the Knicks take a big step forward this season, but that’s far from a guarantee.
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Either way, this upcoming season will certainly be interesting to watch unfold. And the Knicks will certainly be one of the more intriguing teams to keep an eye on.