With the Christmas games in the books, and the calendar flipping to 2025 later this week, things are coming into much clearer focus from a playoff-positioning standpoint.
A few teams that once looked to be in real trouble -- the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks -- have since righted the ship with plenty of help from their MVP candidates. Meanwhile, a handful of others still find themselves with uphill climbs in the standings after getting off to slower-than-expected starts.
In light of that, we bring you our latest edition of the NBA Panic Meter, highlighting the preseason contenders that have seen their Basketball Power Index (BPI) playoff odds decrease at least 10% since the start of the 2024-25 campaign, analyzing both their current probability and the players who need to get rolling in order for them to get on track.
We organized the teams in tiers, based on where they find themselves at the moment.
Jump to a panic level:
Pelicans-level panic | High! | On edge
Starting to worry | Remaining calm (for now)
