ESPN Personality Has Mavericks as a Top Five Team in NBA

ESPN personality Brian Windhorst recently did his NBA team rankings, and the defending Western champion Dallas Mavericks were amongst his top five entering the 2024-25 season. The other teams on the list were not surprising.

The defending champion Boston Celtics took the top spot in the ranking after a dominant season and five-game Finals victory over Dallas. Given they return all of their key players essentially, Boston’s spot as the top team in the NBA will remain unchanged until further notice.

Second is the Oklahoma City Thunder, whose addition of Alex Caruso in the offseason in exchange for Josh Giddey as well as their signing of Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein makes them a formidable opponent in the West.

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Coming in third is the Denver Nuggets, who just re-signed guard Jamal Murray to a 4-year, $208 million max extension to keep their corps together. Despite losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the offseason, center Nikola Jokic still looms large as one of the best players in the league.

In fourth place is the team Dallas defeated in the Western Conference Finals, the Minnesota Timberwolves, whose corps of Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Naz Reid gives them a great chance to once again make a run at the title.

Fifth is the Dallas Mavericks, with the star-laden backcourt of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving will once again help the team compete for a chance to repeat as the best team in the West.

There are a few interesting things about this list. The first is that four of the five teams on the list are from the Western Conference, even though the defending champion Celtics hail from the East. The fact that Dallas defeated two of the four teams ahead of them during their playoff run last season also stands out because it demonstrates that the Mavericks’ run was no fluke.

It is a bit surprising that Dallas isn’t higher on the list, but it’s still a good sign that they’re getting some level of respect after last year’s performance. Hopefully, the Mavericks end up higher on the postseason rankings.

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