Which Team Will Be NBA Champions at the End of the 2023-24 Season?

Thumbnail: 2013 NBA Logo by Michael Tipton (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The long race to the NBA Finals in June is a marathon, not a sprint. The ultimate champions have to weather their way through an NBA regular season of 82 games (41 home, 41 away) before plunging into the pressure cooker of the NBA playoffs. Even if a team finishes sixth or above in their conference and avoids the dreaded Play-in, the NBA playoffs themselves consist of four consecutive rounds of winner-take-all, best-of-7 series.

This means that a team that reaches Game 7 of the NBA Finals could potentially be playing in their 110th game of the season (or more if they qualified via the Play-in).

Yep, there’s a lot of basketball to be played before someone finally gets their sweaty calloused hands on the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy in June 2024. As we start the new season, trying to predict who will emerge victorious feels a bit like attempting to read the tea leaves remaining in the bottom of your cup. A lot can happen between October and June.

Still, we won’t let that stop us giving it a go. Read on to find out which NBA teams we think are most likely to be NBA champions at the end of the 2023-24 season, as well as how to find cheap tickets to see the most exciting NBA teams as they vie with one another to be kings of the NBA!

Which teams will be NBA champions at the end of the 2023-24 season?

The 2022-23 NBA regular season saw the Eastern Conference dominated by the tough defense of the Milwaukee Bucks (58-29) and the superb outside shooting of the Boston Celtics (57-25). Both teams, however, crashed out of the NBA playoffs to the upstart Miami Heat (44-38), who slipped into the postseason via the Play-in. It was a stark reminder to fans everywhere that success in the regular season never guarantees anything in the playoffs.

In the Western Conference, the Denver Nuggets (53-29), led by Serbian star center Nikola “The Joker” Jokic, topped the standings en route to eventual glory when they won the franchise’s first NBA Finals in its history to become 2022-23 NBA champions. The Memphis Grizzlies finished second in the conference but were upset by Lebron James’s Los Angeles Lakers, who qualified via the Play-In, in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

For the most part, we expect many of the top teams from last season to continue their on-court dominance into the 2023-24 NBA season. But in basketball, as in life, fortunes can change fast. Trades, draft picks, injuries, suspensions, aging stars, team chemistry…any number of factors can send a team plummeting into the basement of the standings or soaring to the top.

Here, we take a look at the favorites for the 2023-24 NBA season, some other serious contenders, and a few other teams in the mix, as well as several outside shots.

The Favorites

Eastern Conference

After their disappointing third-round playoff loss last season, the Boston Celtics will be looking to put things right in 2023-24. The Celtics love a 3-pointer, basing their tactics around strong outside shooting beyond the arc, especially from Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Milwaukee Bucks should have an even hotter fire under them this season, having been knocked out in the playoffs’ opening round after topping the league in the 2022-23 regular season. Strong team defense is generally the name of the game for the Bucks, with Damian Lillard and Giannis “The Greek Freak” Antetokounmpo providing the scoring punch at the other end of the court. Both favorites were upset by the Miami Heat, which should make things pretty spicy in Boston and Milwaukee this year when Miami comes to town!

Western Conference

It might come as something of a surprise to see that few hoops fans seem convinced that the Denver Nuggets can defend their NBA championship title this season. While it is true that the Nuggets have lost some depth in the off-season, don’t count them out with talents like superstar Nikola Jokic and rookie Julian Strawther. The pundits’ pick of the West, however, appears to be the Phoenix Suns, who will be out for revenge against the Nuggets, having lost to them 4-2 in a hotly contested 4-2 Conference Semifinal last season. With the imposing trio of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, the Suns will certainly take some stopping.

Serious Contenders

Eastern Conference

The Philadelphia 76ers come into the 2023-24 season desperate to challenge the Bucks and Celtics, who knocked them out of the playoffs in Game 7 of the Conference Semifinal last season. The 76ers will be relieved that the bitter James Harden saga is now behind them after the talented bearded shooting guard was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers and will be looking to Tyrese Maxey to step into the playmaker role. The Cleveland Cavaliers should have a strong offense again this season with their excellent 3-point shooting, though their rebounding stats show that they will have to do better on the boards if they are to push deeper into the postseason.

Western Conference

The Los Angeles Lakers were the comeback story of the season in 2022-23, recovering from a terrible start that left them 13th in the West through some clever deals before the trade deadline and making a playoff run all the way to the Conference Finals where they were overmatched and swept in four by the Nuggets. While Lebron James might be pushing 40 now, he’s still putting up the numbers, and Anthony Davis is one of the best big men in the league. Fellow Californians the Golden State Warriors are also aging, but their acquisition of outstanding point guard Chris Paul to complement jump shot maestro Steph Curry means that the Warriors’ shooting from outside the paint will be a problem for anyone who faces them this season.

In the Mix

Eastern Conference

The Miami Heat were the surprise package of last year’s NBA playoffs, squeezing in via the Play-in before they knocked off the Bucks, Knicks, and Celtics before finally falling at the final hurdle to the Nuggets. While it could be hard to believe that lightning might strike twice (especially with so many injuries to start the season), the Heat do have the free-scoring Tyler Herro and alley-oop lovin’ Bam Adebayo so they should be fun to watch. The New York Knicks, who hadn’t won a playoff series in a decade but finally managed to in 2023, have hung on to most of their roster heading into the 2023-24 season. They will be looking to build on encouraging performances last season from much-improved players such as Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson.

Western Conference

The Memphis Grizzlies stormed to a second place finish in the Western Conference last season but then crumpled in the first round at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers. They have had two major setbacks before the 2023-24 season even started, with Ja Morant suspended for 25 games and Steven Adams out for the season with a serious knee injury, but for the Grizz, where there’s a will, there’s a way. The Sacramento Kings finished third in the West last season and will be looking for payback against the cross-state rival Warriors who dumped them out of the playoffs in the first round. Their 3-point shooting and free-throw shooting can be suspect, but the speed of De'Aaron Fox and cleverness of Domantas Sabonis should keep the Kings’ opponents on their toes in 2023-24.

Outside Shots

Eastern Conference

The Atlanta Hawks might not always be too easy on the eye but the team seems to strike a decent balance between offense and defense, and did manage to push the Celtics to a Game 6 in the playoffs last season. The Hawks will need De'Andre Hunter and Trae Young to step up big time if they want to make a run at the playoffs this season. The Toronto Raptors missed out on the playoffs in 2023 and are probably nobody’s pick to succeed this season, but with a new coach and a strong preseason, maybe they can claw their way back into contention. 2022 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes is one to watch alongside big center Jakob Poeltl.

Western Conference

The Minnesota Timberwolves did get through to the playoffs last season via the Play-In, though the Nuggets had little trouble booking them an early tee-time at the golf course. With a strong preseason behind them and talents like Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns, the Wolves could spring some surprises this season (and even if they don’t, we’ll still get to enjoy Anthony Edwards dunking over everybody). The San Antonio Spurs might sound like a prediction made after five too many tequilas, but hey, two words: Victor Wembanyama. The Frenchman begins his debut NBA season as the number one draft pick and one of the most anticipated newcomers of recent years. Asking a 19-year-old to drag the struggling Spurs out of the basement this season might seem a tall order, but at 2.24 m (7’4”), tall is what Wembanyama is all about.

How to get (cheap) tickets to see the most exciting NBA teams as they vie for the 2024 NBA championship

If you are looking to buy cheap tickets to see the most exciting NBA teams as they vie for the 2024 NBA championship, the best plan is to purchase them directly from the NBA or an authorized ticket vendor like TicketX. To check out a complete list of upcoming NBA regular season games, please head over to TicketX’s official NBA regular season ticket page or one of our team-specific pages.

After selecting the game you want to attend, you can browse through the list of available tickets while using the interactive map to check seat locations. Don’t forget to use TicketX’s filters for seamless searching. You can use search terms such as ‘Quantity,’ ‘Best Seats,’ ‘Courtside,’ ‘Low Prices,’ and ‘VIP.’

Pro Tip: Select the TicketX ‘Include Fees’ filter to avoid hidden checkout fees!