Full-season NBA predictions are for the oddsmakers, so let's narrow the scope a bit and focus on the earliest stages of the 2024-25 campaign. Maybe confining our thinking to the month of October will help our prediction hit rate as we lay out forecasts on everything from JJ Redick's first technical foul as the Los Angeles Lakers' head coach to Zach LaVine's trade value to how quickly Victor Wembanyama can get his MVP hype train running. These aren't wild stabs.
We've gotten enough hints, reports and murmurings over the last several weeks to provide some support for what we're putting out there. Well, that's true in most cases. When it comes to Victor Wembanyama, you kind of have to leave reality behind and let your imagination take over.
Season openers are less than a month away. Time to get some near-term predictions on the record. Just imagine the torrent of adrenaline JJ Redick will feel when he takes the floor for the first time as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Do you really think he'll be able to contain all the competitive energy that'll be washing over him in that state? It's not like Redick is a stranger to pressurized moments. He's seen Cameron Indoor at its most unhinged, played in some truly hostile collegiate road environments and even made it all the way to the NBA Finals. With a history like that, it's not so hard to imagine him staying calmer than most.
But this will be different. He's never coached before. He'll be leading one of the league's marqu.
