The 2023-24 Eastern Conference race has a lot to live up to after last season's eighth-seeded Miami Heat took down Giannis Antetokounmpo and the No. 1 seed Milwaukee Bucks, then the 5-seed New York Knicks, then the 2-seed Boston Celtics, before eventually succumbing to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals.
The Bucks and Celtics look to hold strong as the reigning favorites in the East, per our expert panel, while the Cleveland Cavaliers jump the Philadelphia 76ers, who are mired in drama that could significantly impact their season.
Will the defending conference champions once again prove themselves worthy and pull ahead of their projection? Is there another dark horse?
Our expert panel predicts the win-loss records for all 15 teams in the East.
Note: Our 2023-24 NBA Summer Forecast continues Wednesday with the Western Conference standings predictions. On Tuesday, we revealed our picks for which players will win the league's biggest awards, including MVP, DPOY and more.
