NBA Tiers: Dark Horse Contenders
These are the teams who might not be favorited to win every series but have a heavy punch that could land them a title if all the cards fall right.
Golden State Warriors
Has any team improved more this summer than the Golden State Warriors? If we count the return of Klay Thompson, it’s hard to argue any other squad has leveled up more than the Dubs. Thompson’s arrival makes the Warriors a danger to the rest of the league once again.
But, they have more than just Thompson. Stephen Curry is fresh off an MVP caliber season while Draymond Green is riding the high of winning a gold medal. Andrew Wiggins had the most productive two-way season of his career and veteran additions like Otto Porter, Andre Iguodala and Nemanja Bjelica give them an interesting amount of depth. Not to mention, young talents like Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga and James Wiseman.
All of this builds for an incredibly unique dynamic. The Warriors are playing with fire. If all goes well, they’ll be a very difficult team to beat for years to come.
LA Clippers
The LA Clippers have had one of the best teams in basketball over the last two seasons. And, they still do. The only issue is, Kawhi Leonard will miss most of their upcoming campaign.
Leonard suffered a partially torn ACL during the 2021 NBA Playoffs. This is in tandem with numerous nagging leg injuries that have troubled him in the past. While I remain confident Leonard will make a full recovery — missing the entire season puts a heavy strain on their title hopes.
Thankfully, the Clips enjoyed a mini-redemption arch from Paul George. He had an explosive conclusion to the playoffs and reminded the world of how talented he is. There are no questions PG13 will keep the Clippers competitive and Leonard’s eventual return makes them a dark horse contender.
Miami Heat
On paper, the Miami Heat are a scary team. Retaining Victor Oladipo and Jimmy Butler, while hauling in Kyle Lowry and P.J. Tucker is a pretty big deal. This is an ultra-versatile team full of scrappy defenders and skilled scorers.
Last season, the Heat ran out of gas. They were run off the floor by Milwaukee and it has yet to be seen if this was due to exhaustion or if the Heat are just not talented enough to compete as they did in the 2020 Bubble.
Bam Adebayo is likely the key to this. He was underwhelming in last year’s postseason and fairly bad in the Tokyo Olympics. The Heat will need Bam to play like the All-Star he is in order to compete for a championship.