The annual survey among NBA general managers that comes before the actual season begins has returned with interesting results for this campaign. There are a lot of big and safe choices that are quite obvious to begin with, but this further gives bettors the comfort for their wagers knowing that even GMs in the NBA think the same as them.

For starters, there are a lot of easy picks to talk about, such as which player to start their franchise with at this point, which was the surprising move of the offseason, and which team is the toughest to predict this season. So far, everything has been quite considered to be a predictional analysis of various GMs, and it cannot be denied that some of these are seen as a good betting pick as well.

However, there are also multiple picks from the known GMs when it comes to its correlation to the known betting markets, such as which team to win the NBA Finals, who to win the MVP award this season, and which teams will earn the top seed in their respective conferences. While there are no guarantees in betting, it does seem that a GM’s perspective can be quite considered a smart and academic decision for many bettors at this point.

Who to Emerge Best in the Season?

Winning the NBA Finals last season, it is no secret that the Boston Celtics are the top pick for the 2024-25 season to repeat as champions with 83% of GMs voting them to pull it off. The Oklahoma City Thunder comes second with 13% of the votes while the Dallas Mavericks, who reached the Finals last season, only had 3% of the votes. It is worth noting that no other East contender was mentioned to beat the Celtics, such as the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers – who both had impressive offseasons as well.

When it comes to the rising teams for both conferences, it seems that both the Celtics and the Thunder have locked up the votes to win the top spot as they did last season. The top six for the East are the Celtics, Knicks, 76ers, Cavaliers, Bucks, Magic, while the West presents the Thunder, Timberwolves, Nuggets, Mavericks, Suns, Grizzlies.

Some of the interesting picks in the season for team achievements was the team that had the best offseason – with the Oklahoma City Thunder claiming the top votes. The less splashy move of bringing both Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein is easily the pivotal addition that the Thunder need to accelerate their run to the top.

Individual Awards Picks from GMs

Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra was voted the best coach in the NBA right now while reigning Coach of the Year Mark Daigneault from the Oklahoma City Thunder ranks second in that regard. However, things get interesting in the media-heavy votes awards, such as the MVP and the Rookie of the Year, which are two of the hyped individual awards in the game.

Reed Sheppard is expected winner for the Rookie of the Year this season, with Memphis Grizzlies’ Zach Edey being second and Stephon Castle being the third pick on that regard. On the other hand, OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – who finished as the runner-up last season, is expected to be this year’s MVP winner and is way ahead of the voting, with Luka Doncic coming in second and a tie between the likes of Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Jayson Tatum.