Cookies Hoops' Big 2025 NBA Preview: Here's What You Need to Know
NBA, we are so back. With the 2025 season tipping off, hoops fans can expect yet another season of pulse-racing action as chants of “SEC-OND AP-RON” cascade down from the cheap seats. The guide that sprawls before you is a breakdown of all 30 teams in broad narrative strokes and delightful graphics.
Is your team cringe? Who needs more useful idiots? What franchise is most like a GothiCumbia rave? The creators of beloved roundball scripture The Joy of Basketball present: The Cookies Hoops Big 2024 Preview. Ball up top.
Atlanta Hawks
Trae Young is 26 years old and annually ranks among the NBA’s most bountiful creators of points by combined scoring and assists—yet it feels as if the basketball world has already moved on. Take heed: the wee point guard now has an adulting beard and is newly freed of sharing the ball with hyperactive chucker Dejounte Murray. With Young as ringmaster, the Hawks’ surrounding collection of lob-catching bigs and springy perimeter stoppers starts to cohere as something resembling a worldview (Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, and 2024 NBA Draft top selection Zaccharie Risacher are all roughly 6-foot-8 and age 22 or younger). As another positive, Serbian Olympic heel Bogdan Bogdanović is a likable dickhead.
Boston Celtics
After claiming an asterisk title last season, Boston hopes to contend for the genuine article in 2025. Should the Celtics be successful, it would mark a major victory for the philosophical concept of “starless basketball”—a refutation of individualism and a validation of collectivism. In truth, Boston’s 64-win season was a testament to the aggressive offseason pursuit of pieces like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņġis, one-time franchise keystones now repurposed as elite (if over-credentialed) role players. As a team without a primary scorer who is a natural facilitator, the Celtics concluded that tundra-like expanses of space and smart complementary talent would simplify reads that flummoxed volume scorers Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in the past. Their shamrocks and shenanigans worked. Last year's Celtics had highest offensive rating in NBA history and we can expect more of the same from a virtually unchanged roster: in the preseason, Boston has been launching 3s at a preposterous rate that we have no choice but to respect.
Brooklyn Nets
When Nets owner Joseph Tsai traded away future Hall of Famers Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, he declared that he preferred a team he “could be proud of” to winning a title. We can assume he’s brimming with pride at this brazenly tanking vessel, whose three most substantial offseason acquisitions are injured forward Bojan Bogdanović and reclamation projects Killian Hayes and Ziaire Williams. Outside of the Nets’ comfort with irrelevance, there’s optimistic vibes about the rebuilding plan—at least until Ben Simmons reclaims his top-10 form and leads Brooklyn to the 2024 championship. Cam Thomas might average 40.
Charlotte Hornets
After earning a reputation as a Jailblazers-esque franchise where lawlessness runs amok, Charlotte has cleaned up its act. Just kidding, virtually all the problem children are back from a team that boasted the NBA’s worst Net Rating last year. Reasons for positivity include the health of LaMelo Ball, a basketball genius whose rising stardom has been dimmed by cringe tattoos and injuries that limited him to only 58 games over the last two combined seasons, and Brandon Miller, a second-year wing who proved he can get buckets in the NBA. There’s no reason to suspect they’ll be good, but Charlotte should have watchable moments if you can stomach Miles Bridges (On the Radar freestyle notwithstanding).
Chicago Bulls
A team living on multiple timelines, the Bulls have enough compelling pieces to avoid being as bafflingly cumbersome as Westworld. Relics of their last buildout like Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball are squinting at their younger replacements in the form of Coby White and Josh Giddey, but a few brilliant passers in the mix could create moments of gorgeous basketball. In the preseason, no other team has made as dramatic a leap in 3-ball chucking volume (they’re putting up 48 a game, second only to Boston). Chicago snagged big man Jalen Smith for the low during free agency, presumably because he’s a doofus with the most generic name in the NBA, but that doofus averaged 21.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per 36 minutes while shooting 42% from deep. The Bulls have a complicated agenda that might not get sorted out until the trade deadline, but we should see some freaky lineups with multiple facilitators and floor-stretching giants.
Cleveland Cavaliers
“Overlap is a silent killer,” according to Nuggets GM Calvin Booth. Over the last two seasons, Cleveland has quietly been perishing by the hand of redundancy. The Cavs aren’t as good when non-shooting bigs Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley share the court, just as joystick-shifty guards Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland excel at a lot of the same tasks. For now, the Loaded Fry District favs are adhering to the same plan that has earned them back-to-back Eastern Conference four seeds: mushing together core pieces that don’t exactly fit and papering the lumps over with enough unitaster shooters to convince themselves it might work.
Detroit Pistons
After setting a single-season record with 28 straight losses, the Pistons used this summer to swan-dive even deeper into the abyss. They signed 32-year old tweener forward Tobias Harris to a two-year, $52 million contract, despite canning coach Monty Williams and general manager Troy Weaver before the ink hit the paper. Anyway, squint at Detroit and there’s the fuzzy blur of an intriguing core: Cade Cunningham posted 24.4 points and 7.6 assists a game after the break, Jalen Duren is an elite rebounder, and they have three recent top-five picks in the fray. Now the Pistons possess the final piece: assassin scorer.
Indiana Pacers
Stodgy purists who bemoan the uniformity of NBA offenses that focus on generating 3s and points in the paint won’t appreciate the Pacers’ modernist gimmickry. With Tyrese Haliburton as the dweeby ringleader of this circus, Indiana speeds up the game by stampeding up the floor—running out after enemies score a bucket or by ramping up ball pressure at ¾ court—which helped the team lead the league in layups and eFG% last season. The defense still looks semipermeable, but the most pressing issue could involve the reintegration of Bennedict Mathurin, whose combination of questionable shot selection and charisma threaten to upend this rizz-free offensive math equation.
Miami Heat
Back in 2023, Miami went to the Finals and we collectively pretended “Heat Culture” was a mystical power emanating from the tidal flats of Biscayne Bay. After the team was dispatched in the first round last season, it might just be the presence of a healthy Jimmy Butler. He just turned 35 and the Heat have not figured out his heir: Bam Adebayo’s expanded shot selection has coincided with four consecutive years of slipping efficiency, and no one from the trio of Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. has distinguished themselves as more than another guy who can score decently if you give him enough shots. Still, with Coach Erik Spoelstra updating the Heat’s offense this preseason, Miami might go on another postseason run that we can surely attribute to Pat Riley’s +750 aura.
Milwaukee Bucks
If coach Doc Rivers’ history of friction with star point guards holds true, the Bucks need to win a chip before Damian Lillard turns on the gas and flicks a lighter. Milwaukee invested heavily in the duo of Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo—who is still at the height of his powers—but supporting structures have been eroded by age, injury, and dwindling cap space. The Bucks will have an excellent offense but it’s hard to imagine the defense as anything other than the same waterlogged piñata that got shredded by the Pacers in the first round of last year’s playoffs. An implosion seems inevitable and Lillard being marooned in Cream City for a teardown is the most delicious possible outcome.
New York Knicks
While the Knicks have maintained a working class persona with Terror Squad cameos and pandering quotes—”Playing 40 minutes a game isn’t hard work compared to what the first responders down at the Department of Sanitation do every day”—New York fully overhauled its team during the last season and a half. Only four players remain from the roster that took the floor on February 10th, 2023, one of whom is reserve Jericho Sims. The new-look Knickerbockers swapped caution for contention by emptying their warchest for Karl-Anthony and Mikal Bridges, and created moments that Bing-Bong Nation may later pinpoint as when the front office succumbed to the allure of a flashy quick fix. While the departure of gunner Donte DiVincenzo exposed the artifice of the dorky Villanova brotherhood and left San Gennaro without a maestro of funnel cakes, no team is better constructed to hunt leprechauns.
Orlando Magic
Enormous and surly, the Magic used a smothering defense and an endless supply of 6-foot-11 bruisers to make a 13-win leap last season. If Orlando aspires to climb into the East’s cluster of elites, one of their two young forwards—Paolo Banchero or Franz Wagner—needs to become a more reliable offensive catalyst. There’s no shortage of mean-spirited dawgs in the kennel here, led by All-Defensive Team honoree Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black, and rickety Jonathan Isaac, but there are unignorable issues on the other side of the ball. Unless the Magic can figure out a way to hoist up more 3s, take better care of the rock, and improve in transition, Orlando will remain a pain in the ass to tangle with, but more of an irritation than a mortal threat.
Philadelphia 76ers
The Sixers gambled on signing a big name with their precious cap space, cashed in with nine-time All-Star Paul George, and immediately laid those winnings down on high-stakes sidebets. Can George and Joel Embiid stay healthy as their biological clocks wind down? Does the “Big 3” model work in an era when underpaying your stars is critical to budgeting for depth? Who will be the starting power forward when the team trades Kelly Oubre and KJ Martin in January? Does anyone on the team like to pass? Philly has enviable top-heavy talent, but it’s impossible to believe they’ll enter the postseason with the current rotation of pocket-sized guards, 38-year olds, vet-minimum journeymen, and a guy whose handsomeness has stirred new and curious feelings among local bloggers.
Toronto Raptors
Raptors GM Masai Ujiri spent the last season burning the old growth forests of Mississauga, leaving only charred evidence that a championship team once grew here. Sprouting from the carbon-rich loam are weirdo All-Star Scottie Barnes, former Knicks Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, and Gradey Dick (his last name is Dick!). That four-man group only played 17 minutes together all of last season, but it wouldn’t be a shock if the Raptors overperform with Möbius strip ball movement and Darko Rajakovic wins Coach of the Year. Masai’s reputation as a devious horsetrader took a beating after former Raptors like Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet skipped the 6 without bringing back compensation, but he’s gotta be cooking something up. No bizzy bap, fam.
Washington Wizards
An impeccably constructed laughingstock, the Wizards went 15-67 last season by hitching their wagon to swag-lords Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma and being terrible at everything. In pursuit of respectability—although not enough valorousness to cripple their chances at a top pick in the 2025 Draft—they added Lithuanian strongman Jonas Valančiūnas and veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon, now on his fourth team in as many years. Eventually, we’ll see Washington’s convoy of mysterious lottery picks and they’ll either be interesting or unwatchable (but awful either way). Contract this franchise and sent it to Rochester.
Dallas Mavericks
Last year, Luka Doňcić topped the NBA in points per game, dished out the second-most assists, and led the Maverick to the Finals (where they were prematurely favored, because everyone loathes the Celtics). Despite the deep postseason run and his age of 25, Dallas felt more like a team that slipped through the cracks than one pounding at the door. In need of stagecraft beyond the individual wizardry of Doncic and mesmerizing guard Kyrie Irving, the Mavericks spent most of their summer allowance on stone-washed Klay Thompson and rugged wing Naji Marshall. It’s not the sexiest group—and Thompson’s 0-9 nights will make the internet go bonkers—but Dallas has a shitload of guys who know exactly what their job is. Not everyone needs to be a creative director.
Denver Nuggets
After losing key starters to free agency in consecutive offseasons, Denver looks like the poster child for the NBA’s new economic landscape: a one-time champion strangled by an entanglement of cap apron-strings before it could fulfill any dynastic ambitions. In truth, the Nuggets have too much money tied up in fragile Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., a scoring specialist whose family has become basketball’s version of the Cornbread Mafia. That said, any team built around lumbering god Nikola Jokić can quickly swerve towards invincibility, and new recruits Russell Westbrook and Dario Šarić present a pair of unique puzzle boxes for the Serbian mastermind to unlock.
Golden State Warriors
Klay Thompson’s departure from Warriors marks the endpoint of an era in which the team went to six NBA Finals and took home four chips. Does this mean the Dubs are content to simply play out the string, allowing Stephen Curry and Draymond Green to spend their golden years with the franchise they helped build? Maybe so, but Klay’s exit could be addition by subtraction: last year, lineups with Curry, Green, Brandin Podziemski, Andrew Wiggins, and Jonathan Kuminga had a +12.5 Net Rating in 477 possessions and were defensively constricting. The addition of playmaking forward Kyle Anderson puts another basketball brainiac in the mix, which is a quality Golden State seems to covet more than any other franchise. It looked like the Warriors dynasty was fully cooked in 2021—then they bounced back with a surprise title run. There’s always a chance that bullshit happens again.
Houston Rockets
After three seasons of putridity, the Rockets decided they’d eaten enough defeats. They recruited glowering taskmaster Ime Udoka, maxed out guard Fred VanVleet, signed defensive heel Dillon Brooks, and successfully transformed into a .500 team with a nasty streak. Houston’s next step is trickier than shelling out $200 million on goony mercenaries. Center Alperen Sengun has enchanting Nikola Jokić-esque qualities but might be more like Domantas Sabonis: a gifted interior player and deft passer who doesn’t stretch the floor or hermetically seal off the rim (opponents shot 61.1% when guarded by Şengün, according to tracking data). Jalen Green averaged 29.2 points a game over a 15-game stretch in the second half of last season, but his shooting splits don’t indicate the upward slope of a learning curve. It's unclear if they're really franchise tent-poles, but Houston gave them both early contract extensions anyway. Meanwhile, the team has a bunch of rangy whippersnappers who are unknown commodities due to the premature swivel towards competitiveness. Houston can figure this out, but short-circuiting a rebuild out of mortification isn’t usually a step in the right direction.
Los Angeles Clippers
No one mourns the death of a superteam, especially one assembled by the skullduggery of the stars themselves. Now that Kawhi Leonard is indefinitely sidelined with an achy knee and Paul George is in Philly (also sidelined with an achy knee), obituaries for this era of Clippers basketball are being penned—with the added moral reckoning of Oklahoma City owning Los Angeles’ unprotected first-rounder in the stacked 2025 draft. Since Los Angeles can’t tank, it’s time for a surprise showing of James Harden’s magnificent one-man act. Lineup data from last year suggests that the 35-year old Beard can still manifest a quality offense by his lonesome, although numbers swing dramatically the other direction on defense. The rest of the roster is a delightful medley of smart vets, guys who can jump out of the building, and loony walking buckets. The VC-funded startup went bust, but now they’re throwing GothiCumbia raves in the abandoned DTLA office space.
Los Angeles Lakers
Until further notice, the NBA’s best duo is still LeBron James and Anthony Davis. They’ve combined for 29 All-Star appearances and still handle the hard jobs for Los Angeles: efficient volume scoring, precognitive facilitation, elite rim protection. The Lakers’ problem is that they don’t have enough useful idiots to do the simple grunt-work. Too many rotational players are stars-in-waiting who aren’t content with the tasks of brainlessly flinging up open 3s, crashing the offensive boards, and doggedly pressuring ball-handlers. Last year, the team deeply reeked at all that stuff. New coach JJ Redick siphoned the smart side of Basketball Twitter to rebrand himself as the podcaster who loves ghost screens—now we’ll see how principles work in practice with basically the same returning roster (in the preseason, at least, the Lakeshow offense has been far more organized). Anyway, Cookies Hoops supports giving all jobs to podcasters.
Memphis Grizzlies
The NBA’s lost contender, Memphis won 56 games in 2022 and looked poised to torment Western Conference oldheads to the backdrop of Shiesty Season. But after a wave of injuries and social media gunplay, the Grizzlies tossed in the towel, finishing last season with one of the league’s most dismal records. There’s a history of teams who used a controlled burn to add lottery talent—Spurs with Tim Duncan, Celtics with Jeff Green, Warriors with Harrison Barnes—and immediately bounced back with a fury. Memphis might qualify. They have a second-tier MVP candidate in Ja Morant, one of the league’s deadliest marksmen in Desmond Bane, 2023 DPOY Jaren Jackson Jr., and young guys who got battle-hardening experience during the team’s refractory period. The wild card is gigantic rookie Zach Edey, who presents a divisive mix of collegiate dominance, unblockable baby hooks, and clunky lateral movement at 7-foot-4. There’s a lot of debate about how good Edey will be in the pros, but the Grizzlies just need him to drop a few bars on a Steven Adams type beat.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Last year, the Timberwolves surged into contention in appropriately lupine fashion: with a swarming, ravenous defense that held opponents to the lowest eFG% in the NBA while causing tons of panicky blunders. The blockbuster trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks is unlikely to compromise the league’s best defense—Minnesota was better on that side of the floor when he was sitting anyway (2.8 points per 100 possessions, to be exact). On offense, the Timberwolves were mediocre overall but a nonsensical mess when Towns was off the court. The hair-trigger shooting of Donte DiVincenzo should help; Julius Randle is a talented dude, but is most comfortable clearing out space in the same elbow area where Anthony Edwards does a lot of work. The Timberwolves’ fate will mostly hinge on whether Edwards can be a bonafide offensive supernova—which he has only been sporadically so far—or if he’s just Jayson Tatum with a personality.
New Orleans Pelicans
Like a Brookstone catalog of wifi-connected footbaths and sentient dustbusters, the Pelicans are a jumble of expensive frivolity. New Orleans can’t be blamed for being hesitant to fully build around Zion Williamson due to his health and fluctuating girth, but the addition of ball-dominant point guard Dejounte Murray moves the team even further from a simplified offense based on Williamson’s pulverizing rim assaults and exceptional wings Herb Jones and Trey Murphy III. Despite a fine collection of talent, the Pelicans look too schizophrenic to match last season’s 49-win mark: Brandon Ingram is still hanging around being laconic and stony, starting center Daniel Theis shouldn’t be your starting center, and CJ McCollum needs to read the next CBA before he signs it.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Like a tsunami storm surge, Oklahoma City’s rise was forecast by virtually everyone, but still happened faster and with more widespread destruction than anticipated. Last year, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished second in MVP votes and the Thunder secured the West’s top seed, despite a roster featuring a playpen of infants born after the Towers came down. After finding an identity as a “five-out” offense with shooters everywhere, the team went normie over the offseason by signing Isaiah Hartenstein, a traditional center—albeit a smart one who can sling dimes. They traded boo-magnet Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso, one of the league’s most disruptive perimeter defenders and baldest icons. What’s really fucked? The Thunder could win a chip and then have as many as four first-round picks in the 2025 draft. Victor Wembanyama might be the only obstacle standing between Oklahoma City and a toddler-run dynasty.
Phoenix Suns
After suffering a mortifying sweep in the first round of last year’s playoffs, the Suns were written off as a doomed vanity project on the brick of fragmentation. But Phoenix was almost a 50-win team that showed flashes of pyrotechnic offense despite the trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal rarely spending much quality time together. The additions of underrated guard Tyus Jones and a couple promising rooks give the Suns more flexibility than the cap-muzzled version from last season. New coach Mike Budenholzer was on basketball’s metaphysical vanguard in both Atlanta and Milwaukee—betting against his ingenuity would be foolish. Crucially, the Summer Olympic Games provided Durant and Booker with a desperately-needed vibe shift and everyone likes them (for now).
Portland Trail Blazers
The right way to gut-renovate a franchise is established: deal off your stars for draft assets, absorb odious contracts for more draft assets, play young guys, bottom out. The Blazers just bottomed out. Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton led Portland in minutes last season and currently earn a combined $64 million, but neither are part of the long-term project (the latter blocks the path of putting first-round pick Donovan Clingan on the court). Anfernee Simons is smoothly polished and capable of averaging 25 a night, but he’s entering year seven and hasn’t distinguished himself as more than a starting combo guard. To Portland’s credit, none of their hamfisted bungling will prevent them from losing 60 games and being in the hunt for lottery treasures Cooper Flagg or Ace Bailey.
Sacramento Kings
Two years ago, the Kings conjured up one of the most explosive offenses in NBA history from a simmering cauldron of newt eyes and owlet wings. Beams were lit. Then they forgot how to shoot. With two All-Stars in the middle of their primes (center Domantas Sabonis and guard De’Aaron Fox) Sactown isn’t interested in rebuilding, but the offseason addition of DeMar DeRozan feels like activity for activity’s sake. Not only is the midrange specialist 35 years old, he also loves operating in the same real estate where the Kings have mastered a lethal dribble-handoff attack. They’ve surprised us before but the cutthroat Western Conference is a tough place to tinker around with new ideas.
San Antonio Spurs
It’s tricky to gauge exactly how good 20-year old center Victor Wembanyama already is. He’s clearly among the NBA’s best eight players but you wouldn’t sound like a moonstruck lunatic claiming he’s top three right now (a popular website ranked him below Jaylen Brown, which can only be construed as a coded message to activate the Funky Bunch sleeper cell). Wemby’s try-hard persona is grating, but it’s fun that an elongated child with greater biological advantages than any player in the history of civilization is positioning his success as a testament to wanting it more. The additions of Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes give the Spurs twice as many legitimate starters as last season, but the guys to keep tabs on are the trio of lottery picks the team has scooped up over the last couple drafts. San Antonio secretly had a few impressive groups last year—one posted the fourth-best Net Rating in the NBA out of all lineups that played over 250 possessions—so they won’t have many more opportunities to find Wembanyama a running mate via their own ineptitude.
Utah Jazz
Ever since Danny Ainge took the Mormon Trail to Utah, the Jazz have operated as an inscrutable black box. Other than the occasional report that he demands six first rounders, three pick swaps, and someone’s firstborn offspring for Collin Sexton, it’s a mystery what the Jazz are looking to accomplish. Coach Will Hardy is smart as a whip, but will be juggling an overstuffed frontcourt with All-Star Lauri Markkanen, tradebait John Collins, more tradebait Walker Kessler, 2023 lottery selection Taylor Hendricks, and offseason signee Drew Eubanks. Utah owes Oklahoma City its 2025 first-round pick unless it falls 1-10, so this might be the season the Jazz willingly heave themselves into the vortex. In the meantime, though, they’ll be a lower tier team that’s less fun to play than Salt Lake City is to visit.
If you enjoyed this essay and the artwork, you will surely be interested in The Joy of Basketball, by Ben Detrick and Andrew Kuo. Find it where you buy books, even if you hate reading like we do.