In an Insider-only story for ESPN.com, Tim Bontemps lists seven storylines people around the NBA will be monitoring in 2025. Due to their combination of young players, draft assets and a coach (Ime Udoka) that players want to play for, the Rockets are widely viewed as the team to watch the next time a star becomes available on the trade market.
“The whole landscape of the league,” an Eastern Conference scout said, “could change based off what they do.”
Although no one actually expects anything to change, since it would require certain teams to vote against their best interests, league sources tell Bontemps that the imbalance of power between the two conferences may see more calls for playoff seedings to be ranked 1-to-16 instead of the traditional format of 1-to-8 in each conference.
League insiders are also keeping a close eye on the Celtics‘ impending sale — specifically how much the team sells for — as a potential bellwether for expansion, according to Bontemps. The cities of Seattle and Las Vegas continue to be mentioned in league circles as possible expansion spots.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- ESPN insiders Ohm Youngmisuk, Jamal Collier, Chris Herring, Dave McMenamin and Tim MacMahon answer some key questions related to the remainder of the 2024/25 season. Youngmisuk and MacMahon picked Victor Wembanyama to be the breakout player of 2025, with Paolo Banchero, Donte DiVincenzo and Trae Young also receiving votes.
- Former NBA guard Raul Neto and Spanish EuroLeague club Barcelona have parted ways, according to a team press release. Barcelona described the move as mutual. The Brazilian point guard has had terrible injury luck over the past two seasons. After missing the entire 2023/24 campaign due to a knee injury, he was limited to just two appearances with Barcelona, getting injured on each occasion. In his debut in late November, he sustained an injury that sidelined him for four weeks. In his return on Dec. 27, he suffered a left thigh injury that will sideline him for 12 weeks. An eight-year veteran, Neto’s last NBA action came for Cleveland during the ’22/23 season.
- Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports ranks his current top-five choices for the 2025 MVP award, though he only views three players as “serious contenders” for first place: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic.
trying to think of the next wave of true stars that could hit the market. seems like slim pickins
San Jose is so far from the Warriors, they should get an NBA team too. They have the money and people.
Rockets would be in an even better position if they didnt make that offseason trade with the nets and trade their picks for the suns picks. Terrible move
Also the Jalen Green extension is not looking great, unless he has another big second half. Given the split evaluation on him around the league I’d imagine a majority of teams do not view that contract favorably.
Nah. I think the Suns picks will be worse than the Nets picks would’ve been considering they would’ve gone for it instead of blowing it up if they couldn’t do the Rockets trade. Actually a brilliant move.
Nah. I think the Suns picks will be better than the Nets picks would’ve been (considering they would have reloaded instead of blowing it up if they couldn’t have done the Bridges/Rockets trades). Smart move.
@sheagoodbye Doesn’t Jalen Green remind you of Steve Francis? Good one night, G-League player the next?
His development got messed up the first 3 years under Silas. Since Udoka took over he’s played better. The shooting is inconsistent but he’s actually played a lot better defense this year than before and even started getting some rebounds. He’ll never be worth his draft status but he’s a decent role player. Rockets issue is they have NO shooters so he’s just another clunker.