The team that will be coming out the east this upcoming NBA season will be the Philadelphia 76ers. Now, this take might shock you but after the breakdown of the reasoning for this take, it will make sense. Last year the team that dealt with the most drama was the 76ers with the Ben Simmons situation. Ben not playing that season for them caused a lot of distractions for the team and were more focused on trading him than competing for a championship. Then at the tradeline, they finally made a deal with the Brooklyn Nets to acquire James Harden. This trade was the biggest move out of all, the different changes, and everyone expected James Harden and Joel Embiid to be the next Kobe and Shaq. However, in the end, they were a second-round exit team in the playoffs.
The reason for this was James Harden not being in the correct mental shape rather than physical shape. The rule change with the foul calls took a toll on him and struggled to adjust his game to the new rules. Also not being able to win a championship with the Nets while having Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving as his teammates. Now, this off-season he will have time to reflect on himself and get in proper mental state shape. They have made free agency moves such as getting PJ Tucker and Danuel House Jr. on their team who are both well 3-D players. With James Harden and Joel Embiid both being healthy mentally and physically they are going to make the NBA finals.
The team that will be coming out the west will be the Denver Nuggets. Nikola Jokic last season won back-to-back MVPs which makes him a 2x MVP winner. They lost in the first round against the world champions, Golden State Warriors, 4-1. You might be asking how will a first-round exit team make the finals? Jokic has been carrying his team with minimum help these past two seasons because of injuries. This season he did not have his second and third best players in Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr.
Jamal Murray has been out with a torn ACL for more than a year. Before he got injured, he was playing amazing basketball and being the 2nd option for the Nuggets. He had a career-high in points which was 60 in the same season he tore his ACL. Michael Poter Jr. had back surgery which took him out for the remainder of last season after only playing nine games. He has always had back problems throughout his basketball career but when he is on the court he provides a lot, especially in the scoring column. The last time Jokic, Porter, and Murray all played together in the playoffs was 2020 when they made the Western Conference Finals and came back down 3-1 in the first two rounds to get to that point. They ended up losing to the Lakers, 4-1 who went on to become the champions. Ever since 2020 they always lost to the team that made the finals and now with them all being reunited this upcoming season it will be their turn to make the NBA finals
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