2025 NBA playoffs: The biggest questions, boldest predictions and early Finals picks

The wait is over. The highly anticipated 2025 NBA playoffs are set to begin, featuring spicy first-round matchups, a never-before-seen generation battle, and two legends who are somehow still here chasing titles. Who has the most at stake this postseason, and who will ultimately win it all? Let’s dive in!

1. What’s the biggest question in the East playoffs?

Vincent Goodwill: Who’s gonna challenge the Boston Celtics? They lived a charmed existence last spring. It’s hard to recall them having tough games let alone a tough time on the way to the Finals — and even the Finals were easy. They’ve toyed with the Knicks this year, their assumed second-round appointment unless Detroit crashes the party. So clearly the biggest challenge is the team that’s led the East from end-to-end, those Cleveland Cavaliers.

When the Cavs stormed into Boston and came back from a 22-point deficit in late February, everyone had to take notice. “Let em know” as they say. Donovan Mitchell is healthy, and there are questions about Jaylen Brown’s bothersome knee. Is that enough to close the gap? No team in the modern era has stormed through two straight conference playoffs — even those three-peat teams. A grind is coming, history tells us.

Dan Devine: Is Cleveland really for real? The Cavs have done everything they can to make the case. They won 64 games. They produced one of the most efficient offenses since the ABA-NBA merger. They outscored their opposition by the 13th-highest margin in league history. They’ll likely put at least two players on the All-NBA teams, with multiple prospective finalists for other individual awards. They posted an elite record against good teams, splitting their season series with Boston and Oklahoma City …

… and if they buckle against Boston in the conference finals — or, heaven forbid, against either Indiana or Milwaukee a round earlier — everyone who doubted them will get to say they were right all along. I don’t think that’s who this Cavs team is. Now, we find out.

Dan Titus: Does Giannis request a trade if the Bucks have another first-round exit? Damian Lillard’s imminent return would add some much-needed firepower to Milwaukee’s title hopes. Still, consecutive first-round losses to Indiana could prompt questions about Milwaukee’s and Giannis’ future. The Bucks can’t waste another MVP-like campaign from Giannis, especially after beating the Pacers by a margin of nine points in their three regular-season wins. The front-office follies, plus falling short in the playoffs, again, could push Giannis to explore options elsewhere.

[2025 NBA playoff matchups to watch]

Tom Haberstroh: Is Kenny Atkinson really the Coach of the Year or just Coach of the Regular Season? The Cavs made the coaching change with great success, winning 64 games and the No. 1 overall seed over the reigning champs. Evan Mobley is unlocked and De’Andre Hunter is an upgrade, but there’s still a sense of doubt around the league that the Cavs are truly the best team in the East. We’ll see if Atkinson’s playoff success next to Steve Kerr can translate to the East.

Ben Rohrbach: Can anyone match Boston’s playoff experience? Only Kobe Bryant and Tony Parker played more playoff games than Jayson Tatum has (113) at his age. Same goes for Jaylen Brown (124) at his age. Jrue Holiday can reach 100 playoff games if the Celtics make a seventh conference finals in nine years. Al Horford could surpass 200. Derrick White has now been to two NBA Finals in the past three years with this group. They are as battle-tested a team as we have seen, other than past dynasties, and it will take a series of haymakers to knock them out. Can the Cavaliers deliver those punches? The Thunder? Neither is nearly as experienced.

2. What’s the biggest question in the West playoffs?

Rohrbach: Can anyone take advantage of Oklahoma City’s playoff inexperience? Noticing a theme to my answers here? It matters whether you have been there before. Just look at the history of the league. It is why I’m picking the Warriors in seven games over the Rockets and the Lakers in seven games over the Timberwolves. Veterans win in the postseason. But it may not matter for the Thunder. Led by a 26-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexaner, they could be too talented, too deep and too rabid to let anyone, even all-time greats, stand in their way of a title.

Titus: Are we sleeping on the Rockets? The Warriors, the second seventh-seeded team favored in a first-round series since 1988, bring unmatched experience and a championship pedigree. Then they added Jimmy Butler. However, Houston’s top-five defense thrives on physicality, wearing opponents down. With a frontcourt edge and defensive grit, the Rockets could disrupt Curry’s rhythm — something we’ve seen Houston do to Steph before. Just saying.

Haberstroh: Is playoff experience overrated? It’s the single biggest variable of all. If playoff experience isn’t what it’s all chalked up to be, look for OKC and Houston to meet in the Western Conference finals. But if they can’t act like they’ve been there before, then we might be looking at LeBron James’ or Stephen Curry’s seasoned squads in the Finals. I can’t wait to see the kids balling out against the uncles.

Devine: Does Oklahoma City have a good enough answer when opponents throw the kitchen sink at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? We saw the Thunder stumble in Round 2 last spring when the Mavericks packed the paint, cut off their drive-and-kick game and sold out to make Gilgeous-Alexander’s teammates beat them. (SGA still averaged 32-8-7 on .599 true shooting, because he’s a monster.) Those teammates combined to shoot 42.3% from the floor and 31.1% from 3-point range. OKC lost in six.

As this season has worn on, we’ve seen the Thunder thrive in non-SGA minutes by ensuring that both Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are on the floor during them. If Mark Daigneault and Co. can replicate that kind of magic when opponents sell out to turn Gilgeous-Alexander into a facilitator — and if Williams, Holmgren or both can step up and prove to be a legitimate, dependable No. 2 scoring threat against elite defenses — then the Thunder’s chances of making their first Finals appearance since 2012 improve considerably.

Goodwill: Let’s be honest here. It’s about the Lakers. Do they have enough now to make a real run? Is Luka Dončić in good enough shape to handle the next two months? Does LeBron James have enough gas and health for that same time? They have the bodies to throw at Anthony Edwards and SGA, but do they have enough size? There are plenty of intriguing teams in the West, and aforementioned storylines, but we know the eyes of many will be fixated on what happens in downtown Los Angeles.

3. What are you most excited to watch this postseason?

Haberstroh: It’s cliche to say that everything revolves around LeBron and Steph, but they honestly have the most compelling storylines this postseason. I don’t know what to expect from JJ Redick, Luka Dončić, LeBron James and Austin Reaves in their first foray together. Same goes for Jimmy Buckets and the pressure cooker of playing in San Francisco with Draymond Green and Curry. All bets are off.

Goodwill: Who gets out of the Western Conference, because that feels all about matchups as opposed to who’s the best team. You could simulate these playoffs several times, NBA Live or 2K style, and come up with a different winner each time. You could see OKC finally putting it together, or the Lakers, or the Nuggets, or even the Warriors going on a crazy run. It’s partially because there is no true degree of separation between all these teams, or everyone has big questions that could spell doom, or that parity is here to stay. Anybody who claims to know what’s going to happen is a liar or has the lottery numbers. Test them.

Rohrbach: Does Denver still have what it takes? I ranked them fifth among all title contenders in our final power rankings of the regular season, trusting in the partnership of Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray as the foundation of a killer half-court offense — one that trailed only the three title favorites in the regular season. And then they fired their head coach. Did they do it with the belief that David Adelman is better equipped to lead this team on as deep a postseason run as Michael Malone led them in 2023? We could find out in their first-round set with the Clippers.

Devine: What does the maiden playoff voyage of the Luka-and-LeBron Lakers look like? (Hopefully, for their sake, fewer L’s than that alliterative run.) How do their two A1 superstars play off one another in the heat of the postseason? How will they mitigate their lack of size against the Timberwolves? If they advance, how will they fare against the physicality of the Rockets, or the offensive firepower of the Steph-and-Jimmy Warriors in a battle of small-ball? If they don’t advance, where will they have fallen short, and how will Lakers brass look to address that come the summer? No shortage of fascinating questions, and obviously no greater spotlight than the one that comes when you’re wearing forum blue and gold.

Titus: The Clippers’ redemption arc. Can Kawhi stay healthy? Is James Harden going to choke again? Despite the haters, the Clippers are riding an NBA-best, eight-game winning streak heading into the playoffs. With one of the league’s deepest rosters and an exceptional coaching staff, they seem poised to shatter narratives and make an unexpected run.

4. Who has the most at stake this postseason?

Devine: Tom Thibodeau. He’s resurrected the Knicks, bringing the team to the playoffs three times in four years, with back-to-back 50-win seasons for the first time since 1994 and 1995.

… and yet. New York’s looked shaky for the last couple of months, playing just-above-.500 ball since the trade deadline. Some of that can be hand-waved away, thanks to the glaring caveat that Jalen Brunson missed a month with a nasty ankle sprain; even with him, though, the Knicks have struggled all season against good competition, famously going 0-10 against the Celtics, Cavaliers and Thunder. If New York’s season once again ends before the conference finals, questions will swirl about whether Thibodeau, who has inarguably raised the Knicks’ floor, is the right coach to push them to reach a higher ceiling.

(Also, maybe David Adelman? “Hey, take over the team and go beat the Clippers” is one hell of a job interview!)

Goodwill: Luka Dončić. Wasn’t he traded because his boss believed him to be a loser? If you read between the lines, that’s what Nico Harrison is trying to tell you — about Dončić not being in shape, or his disappointing performance in last year’s Finals. Harrison was raked through the coals for making the deal, for sending him to the Lakers no less, without a worry Dončić would come back to haunt him in his own conference. That says: “I don’t believe this man to be a winner.” Whether it’s clairvoyant or foolhardy, a lot of eyes are on Dončić.

[2025 NBA playoff X-factors]

Titus: LeBron James. At 40, LeBron’s quest for GOAT status hinges on adding to his championship haul. The Lakers secured Luka Dončić for a bag of chips and Austin Reaves is a budding star, so the talent is there. Whether it’s fair or not, anything less than a Finals appearance invites criticism.

Rohrbach: Stephen Curry. Honestly, I think the Warriors can win the championship this season. The collective experience (see: that word again) of Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green is a real thing. They will test anyone. And what if they do win? That would be five championships for Curry, matching Kobe Bryant and surpassing LeBron James. Would we then have to have some uncomfortable conversations about who ranks higher in the pantheon? We certainly will.

Haberstroh: Nikola Jokić and the Nuggets. I would say SGA, but this feels like the third inning for OKC, not the ninth. For Jokić and Co., there’s a lot on the line this postseason. Who’s running the team? Who’s coaching the team? Is Jokić’s supporting cast going to get a much-needed upgrade? If they get swept next week, I still don’t see Jokić demanding a trade. But I don’t think he’d be blamed for it.

5. What’s one bold prediction for the first round?

Titus: Pistons upset the Knicks. BetMGM puts the Knicks as heavy favorites (-425, 81% probability to win), but Detroit’s Cade Cunningham has been a problem for New York all year. The Pistons are well-coached with a balanced roster that can knock down 3s, bang in the post and lock down defensively. It’s Detroit vs. Everybody on the road to claim its first postseason series win since 2008.

Haberstroh: Cleveland, OKC and Boston all sweep. We haven’t seen three sweeps in Round 1 since 2020, but I have a feeling we’ll see it outside the Bubble for the first time in almost a decade. They’re that much better than their first-round opponents.

Rohrbach: Giannis Antetokounmpo reminds us that it is unwise to pick against him in the playoffs, averaging around 40 points per game in a seven-game victory against the Pacers, which would count as an upset, according to BetMGM. Will a first-round victory be enough to convince Antetokounmpo that Milwaukee is still a long-term home for him? That I don’t know.

Goodwill: Nikola Jokić and Kawhi Leonard engage the world in a battle of non-emotional chess and treat us to one of the most compelling first-round matchups we’ve seen in years. Plus, Cade Cunningham will become the new MSG foil, scaring the living nightlights out of the Knicks in a seven-game marathon.

Devine: Rudy Gobert stonewalls Luka Dončić on a clutch final-second possession, blocking a step-back 3 to seal a Timberwolves win. The apology will not be as loud as the disrespect was.

Bonus question: What’s your early Finals prediction?

Devine: I took OKC over Boston in our preseason roundtable. I’m not going to switch up now.

Haberstroh: OKC over Cleveland. The Thunder dynasty begins this season. I guess until Wemby takes over.

Titus: Boston over OKC. It’s chalk, but they’re the best teams until proven otherwise.

Rohrbach: I’m with Dan. I picked Boston over OKC in the preseason. No reason to change.

Goodwill: Boston over whoever. Could be OKC, Lakers, Nuggets. I’m punking out on the opponent, but Boston will repeat — it just won’t be easy.