Does anybody pose a threat to the Celtics?

We are now in the final stretch of the 2024-2025 NBA regular season. In a bit over two weeks, playoff basketball will start, and we’ll finally get to see what we’ve all been waiting for: if any team has the chops to dethrone the reigning champs, or if the Boston Celtics will go back-to-back and secure Banner 19.

The Celtics seem to be the only playoff team who is just about locked in to their final overall seed, likely to finish second in the East while holding the third best overall record. As for the rest of the league, there’s still a lot of room for movement, particularly in the West.

Here’s a look at a general picture of the state of the league, along with how they might fare against the Celtics:

*Records and standings as of March 25, 2025*

Top Threats:

Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Oklahoma City Thunder – 1^st in West (60-12, 2-0 vs Cs): The Thunder won both of their matchups against Boston, and did so while shorthanded, too. Not only that, but it felt like they were clearly playing better than the Celtics. That’s been the case for OKC with just about every team this season. Their coaching is immaculate, they have an MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and they have incredible depth with a real “next man up” mentality. They play incredibly physically, and are, more often than not, rewarded for it.

We’ve been hearing that they’re too young, and that they don’t have the experience to make it to the Finals, let alone win it. That may be a possibility. It’s also possible that Shai requests a trade to the Celtics this offseason. Not all possibilities are worth entertaining. This team is legit, as they’ve shown all season long. Behind the reigning champs, OKC is the team to beat.

Cleveland Cavaliers – 1^st in East (58-14 || 2-2 vs Cs): The Cavs have been a beacon of consistency for most of the season. They had a four-game skid recently, but still sit firmly at first in the East. The only thing they have left to play for is first overall, but OKC would have to start losing games for that to happen. Cleveland was already great between Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen, and they’ve gotten even better by adding De’Andre Hunter into the mix.

They could potentially end up taking home three regular season awards between Coach of the Year for Kenny Atkinson, Sixth Man of the Year for Ty Jerome, and Defensive Player of the Year for Mobley. It just goes to show how well rounded they are, and just how much of a threat they can really be. With elite play on both ends of the court, there’s no way you can’t consider them one of the favorites to win it all. In terms of facing Boston, Mitchell usually has his way, though their wings will have a hard time limiting Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. This could very well end up being a good ol’ slugfest if the two teams match up.

Indiana Pacers – 4th in East (42-29 || 2-1 vs Cs): I may not be looking at Indiana as true contenders just yet, but they are one of the teams most capable of sending Boston home early. Despite being the only team that the Celtics swept in the playoffs last year, the Pacers gave Boston their toughest battle. Tyrese Haliburton had a weak start to the season, but he’s playing like a star again, while Pascal Siakam has continued to excel as well. Indy plays fast and loose, with an incredibly potent offense that can change the complexion of games in the blink of an eye. They’re not a team that will go down easily, to Boston or anyone else.

Other potential challengers:

Denver Nuggets – 3^rd in West (45-28 || 0-2 vs Cs): The Nuggets seemed like they may have been slipping down early in the season, but they’ve worked through the kinks, and gotten themselves right back near the top of the West. Jamal Murray has returned to his usual self, a huge catalyst for the turnaround. We’re seeing yet another MVP-worthy season from Nikola Jokic on top of that. This Denver core has already won a championship together, so they can easily make their way back there now. The biggest thing slowing them down is health, especially since their depth isn’t what it was when they won it all. We’ll have to see if they can go into the playoffs at full-strength and maintain it.

Houston Rockets – 2^nd in West (47-26 || 1-1 vs Cs): Houston has already over-achieved in my eyes, though I don’t think anyone believes they’re satisfied. They’ve been super scrappy all year long, and have one of the league’s best defenses. They don’t feel particularly scary from an offensive standpoint, but they’ve been getting the job done regardless. I don’t know if I’d truly consider them contenders, but they’ve earned their spot in this category with their outstanding record, good for fourth best in the league right now. Whoever has to see Houston is going to be very sore and tired at the end of it.

Los Angeles Lakers – 5^th in West (43-28 || 1-1 vs Cs): The Lakers had a superstar fall into their laps once again, and it brought new life into this organization. Pairing Luka and LeBron seems like potentially conflicting playstyles, but both players are so smart and savvy, that they can make it work. The only thing missing from this roster is a solid true-center, but Doncic and James are more than capable of elevating their current rotation enough to make it work. There’s also been a fresh injection of defense into this group, something that was missing earlier in the season. They have the makings of a team that can be the top of the top, or a shiny new thing that crashes and burns early. Neither would surprise me.

Golden State Warriors – 6^th in West (41-31 || 1-1 vs Cs): The Warriors could definitely be bumped down a category, but they’ve earned the right to be here thanks to their history. Steph Curry is still one of the scariest players to go up against, and adding in a guy who is known for over-achieving in Jimmy Butler is quite a combo for the playoffs. Things have been clicking for Golden State since putting the two together, and they also recently got Jonathon Kuminga back from injury to keep them on an upward trajectory. It’s hard to bet against their stars and their culture, so they get the benefit of the doubt for now.

Wouldn’t bet on ‘em, but won’t count ‘em out just yet:

New York Knicks – 3^rd in East (45-26 || 0-3 vs Cs): The Knicks are in an interesting spot. Talent-wise, it feels like they have enough to beat anybody. The problem is that they haven’t proven it. They’re 1-8 against teams with a better record than them, the one win coming against Houston. They very well could make a deep run again this year, but they haven’t given me any reason to believe that they’ll make it out of the conference yet, let alone win the Finals. They could very well be in the category above, but if the end goal is beating the Celtics or coming out of the East, they’re going to have to show me more before I buy in.

Milwaukee Bucks – 4^th in East (40-31 || 0-3 vs Cs): Milwaukee got some tough news recently – their star point guard, Damian Lillard, learning of a blood clot in his calf. He’s currently listed as out indefinitely, but blood clots are nothing to mess around with, so it’s entirely possible, and maybe even likely, that he’ll be shut down for the season. They’re 4-6 over their last 10 games, and feel just a bit too inconsistent right now. They’ll be getting Bobby Portis back from his suspension heading into the playoffs, but without Dame, Giannis is still going to have his hands even more full than usual. He’s a top-five player in this league, so I won’t count him out, but it’s going to be a tough fight.

Memphis Grizzlies – 4^th in West (44-28 || 1-0 vs Cs): To be quite honest, Memphis just doesn’t seem like they have the juice to be great this year, despite their very solid record. They just lost Brandon Clarke for the season (again,) and they’ve been consistently cycling key players in and out of the lineup due to various injuries. They looked like they were primed to make a splash before the deadline, but it feels like they ultimately took a step back – for this year and the future. If they can end the season with relatively good health and a decent stretch of wins, I may change my tune, but as of now, I’m not a big believer.

Detroit Pistons – 6^th in East (41-32 || 1-3 vs Cs): Look at us. Who would have thought? Not me. Detroit has officially let the dog out of the cage. They’re playing with a serious chip on their shoulder, and have a well-rounded roster that’s headed by their star player, Cade Cunningham. Detroit has a chance to earn home-court advantage in the first round, which is just an incredible turnaround from where they were last year. I don’t think they have the experience to go too far, but they could still be a fun Cinderella story for a bit. Regardless, they should be very proud of the season they’ve put together, and they have something great to build off of.

Playoff hopefuls:

Minnesota Timberwolves – 8^th in West (41-32 || 0-2 vs Cs): Anthony Edwards is playing outstanding basketball, and the Wolves did a surprisingly good job of staying competitive despite Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, and Donte DiVincenzo all missing significant time. They don’t quite have the pop that they had last year, but they’ve won 9 of their last 12, and are definitely trending up. They’ve put together a very respectable season, and should make for a competitive playoff opponent despite not sitting very high in the West.

Los Angeles Clippers – 7^th in West (40-31 || 0-2 vs Cs): The Clippers are one of the hardest teams for me to judge. When I look at the roster, I’m not necessarily wowed, but they have a lot of guys who are willing to do the dirty work, and they all play to win. They’re built around a solid defense, and their offense seems to be improving too with the return of Norman Powell, and the gradual improvement of Kawhi Leanord as he works his way back into being the player we all know him as. They feel like a team that can get things clicking at the right time to bring on an upset, so I’d keep an eye on them, but wouldn’t be surprised with a first-round exit either.

Atlanta Hawks – 7^th in East (35-37 || 2-1 vs Cs): Atlanta seemed like they were headed in the right direction with the additions of Dyson Daniels and rookie Zaccharie Risacher, along with the breakouts of De’Andre Hunter and Jalen Johnson, but things quickly took a turn when Johnson was ruled out for the season with a torn labrum. Since then, the Hawks sent out De’Andre Hunter for Georges Niang and Caris LeVert, both who are decent role players to increase their depth, but not enough to push the needle. They’re a very streaky team, who seems to love playing in the play-in. I can’t see them giving any of the teams above them any real issues, and I don’t think Hawks fans will like where the team goes from here.

Orlando Magic – 8^th in East (35-38 || 1-1 vs Cs): Orlando has had a tough season injury wise, with each of their top-three players missing significant time. Jalen Suggs has been ruled out for the remainder of the season, as has their sixth-man, Moritz Wagner. They had a couple of skids due to the slew of injuries, but they’re looking to pick the pace back up now.

They’re just about locked in to the play-in tournament, but their final placement is to be determined, and it is still possible for them to be eliminated. They have underdog potential in the first round thanks to their defense, but I can’t see their offense taking them very far, especially since they’ll be facing either Cleveland or Boston if they do make it.

Phoenix Suns – 10^th in West (35-37): Phoenix has had a rollercoaster of a season. They started off scorching hot, but quickly cooled off once injuries started popping up. The road has been rocky since then, but they’ve recently shown hope to at least make the playoffs, winning five of their last six games. In that period, they have the 2^nd best offensive rating, the 11^th best defensive rating, and the 5^th best net-rating in the league.

That’s thanks in big part due to the recent involvement of Collin Gillespie and rookies Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro in the lineup. It may also be in part because Bradley Beal and Mason Plumlee have been less involved, the only two players on the roster with a negative +/- in that period. We’ll see if Phoenix can maintain this push enough to work their way through the play-in

Sacramento Kings – 9^th in West (35-37 || 1-1 vs Cs): The Kings are in a tricky spot. There’s certainly a lot of talent on this roster between Malik Monk, Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and Zach Lavine. Keon Ellis and Devin Carter have also stepped up to fill in Fox’s role, and Jonas Valanciunas, Jake LaRavia, and Markelle Fultz have all come in to bolster up the overall depth of the Kings. They feel like they have a competitive roster, but they’re in an incredibly difficult position in the West, so they could very well end up being the odd man out. They’re currently on a four-game losing streak, which won’t cut it at this point in the season.

Chicago Bulls – 9^th in East (32-40 || 1-3 vs Cs): Here we go again, Chicago. This is the fourth time in five years that the Bulls are poised to finish in the 9-11 range. It feels like they finally took a shift towards a proper rebuild, but still have another step or two to take before they’re fully there. At this point they’re like a factory for guards, putting out lineups with Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu (while he was healthy), Josh Giddey, Tre Jones, Lonzo Ball, and Kevin Huerter. All of them have earned their minutes, but at some point something’s gotta give. Their wing depth is where they’re really lacking, and if they do manage to sneak their way into the playoffs, it’ll likely be a huge limiting factor. Best to focus on next year at this point.

Miami Heat – 10^th in East (31-41 || 0-3 vs Cs): Things haven’t been looking good in Miami this season. It was already bad while Jimmy was still on the roster, and it’s gotten even worse since his departure. Miami actually got a decent return, too, adding in Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, and Kyle Anderson. The door isn’t shut yet on a playoff run, but it’s going to be a big uphill battle to get there, though that’s certainly not unfamiliar territory for the Heat. Pat Riley’s wishes to remain competitive likely won’t come to fruition this year, but it’s not all bad for the future.

Better luck next year:

Dallas Mavericks – 11^th in West (35-38 || 1-1 vs Cs): Mavs fans, I am legitimately so sorry for what happened to your team. What a disaster. Forget what Nico Harrison did to the roster; Dallas wasn’t hit with the injury bug – they were hit by an injury truck. They went from potentially looking at a return to the Finals, to not even being in the play-in. They also traded away two of their most promising players in Luka Doncic and Quentin Grimes (who are obviously of the same caliber.) If the Mavs can’t get healthy next year, this may be one of the worst self-inflicted collapses of a team I’ve ever seen.

Portland Trail Blazers – 12^th in West (32-41 || 0-2 vs Cs): I really like what Portland is building here. It feels like they accelerated their rebuild post-Dame quite a bit this year. They’ve found an identity in being a gritty, defensive-minded group, and they have a few guys who can be certified bucket getters in Anfernee Simons, Scoot Henderson, and Shaedon Sharpe. If they want to keep this momentum going, it feels like they need to move off of guys like Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams, and Jerami Grant to free up cap and bring in some new faces. I’m not sure they see it the same way, though, and even if they do, it may be easier said than done. Regardless, Portland has been quietly competing all season long, and I’m excited to see if they can take the next step next year.

New Orleans Pelicans – 14^th in West (20-53 || 0-2 vs Cs): New Orleans has to be cursed. Three of their starters fell to season-ending injuries this year, and there’s been a whole lot of missed time throughout the season from the rest of the group as well. All things considered, though, things still may be looking somewhat hopeful. Zion Williamson continues to show us that he’s an exceptional player when healthy. The Pels also added in a couple solid vets at the deadline in Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown. If they can somehow get and stay healthy next year, they’d have a pretty good shot at being competitive in my book.

Toronto Raptors – 11^th in East (25-47 || 1-3 vs Cs): Toronto has had some pretty shameless tanking late in the season, but I don’t blame them after seeing what Cooper Flagg can do. Brandon Ingram has had one of the longest recoveries from an ankle sprain I’ve seen in professional basketball, and we have yet to see what he can provide for this team. Additionally, guys like Gradey Dick, Jakob Poeltl, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett have all been missing time as of late. The roster construction is a bit questionable, but they do have several talented players going into next season. We’ll see if the ping pong balls fall in their favor to give them an extra boost.

San Antonio Spurs – 13^th in West (31-39|| 0-1 vs Cs): San Antonio’s season took an unexpected turn when Victor Wembanyama was found to have a blood clot in his shoulder. With him being shut down for the season, there wasn’t much more for the Spurs to play for, and now we’ve seen newly acquired star, De’Aaron Fox, get shut down for the season as well with a wrist injury. San Antonio had a shot to make the playoffs, and maybe even make some noise, but those plans will have to wait until next season now. If they make the right moves in the offseason and Wemby recovers well from his condition, then the Spurs should be pretty competitive next year.

Brooklyn Nets – 12^th in East (23-49 || 0-4 vs Cs): Brooklyn has been surprising in a lot of ways. They dumped a few of their vets for a decent return, but held on to the ones who I would have thought held the most value: Cam Johnson, Cam Thomas, and Nic Claxton. Jordi Fernandez has done an outstanding job coaching this team, and they’ve had a lot of different guys step up at different points. I can’t imagine they’ll be much better next year, but they do have a fun group of guys to invest in and see how they grow.

Utah Jazz – 15^th in West (16-57 || 0-2 vs Cs): I’m not sure what the vision is in Utah. They’ve been trying to feed rookies Kyle Filipowski and Isaiah Collier late in the season, and I’ve liked what I’ve seen from them. Outside of those two, there isn’t much to write home about here, though. Their season is just about over, so we’ll have to wait until the offseason to understand what direction they’ll be heading in next year. If they manage to get a favorable draft pick, that could clear things up very quickly.

Washington Wizards – 15^th in East (15-56 || 0-3 vs Cs): I can no longer speak ill of the Wizards now that they have Marcus Smart. For that reason, I won’t say much, but I will say that they’ve set their young guys up nicely to grow. They won’t be competitive for a while, but they may be able to start taking real steps in the right direction now.

Philadelphia 76ers – 13^th in East (23-49 || 1-3 vs Cs): “Trust the process,” they said. “It’ll all work out,” they said. The basketball gods have been punishing the Sixers for their un-ethical tanking strategies for years now, and this season was no different. At this point, Philly is trying their darndest to earn themselves a top-6 pick, otherwise it would get sent over to OKC (of course.) They’ve had a few young guys show some promise, but their overall morale is probably pretty low. Just the way I like it.

Charlotte Hornets – 14^th in East (18-54 || 0-2 vs Cs): Prior to the start of the season, there was a CelticsBlog roundtable where staff members predicted potential dark horses for this year. The prompt was meant to be about making a run in the playoffs, but I decided to take it as a team that might make the playoffs. The Hornets were my pick. This will go down as one of my worst takes as a writer, and I sincerely hope I never top it. That’s all I’ll say for Charlotte.

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