The NBA season is in sight -- 64 days away! -- and if the 2023 offseason is any indication, we're in for another incredible, drama-filled campaign.
We're still waiting for resolutions on the summer's biggest stories: After a single season in Philadelphia, and opting into a final-year $35.6 million option, James Harden requested a trade. Then, a little more than a month later, after 76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey announced the team was ending its trade talks for the superstar guard, Harden publicly called Morey a "liar" -- twice -- during a media event in China.
And after 11 seasons in Portland, superstar Damian Lillard, who averaged a career-high 32.2 points per game last season along with 7.3 assists, asked to be traded -- and specifically to the Miami Heat.
Meanwhile, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving begin their first full seasons with the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks, respectively, and LeBron James enters the final year of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Enter ESPN's Summer Forecast panel, a group of experts we asked to address the NBA's biggest questions heading into the 2023-2024 season.
Here's the math: In voting for the team they project to have the biggest turnaround, and the one that will be rife with dysfunction, a first-place vote received five points, a second-place vote three points and a third-place vote one.
Here are the results:
Note: Our 2023-24 NBA Summer Forecast continues Tuesday with predictions for all the major awards for the coming season.
