An 82-game NBA schedule provides little opportunity to look ahead.
The Los Angeles Lakers are great, but they could be missing every front-court player, including LeBron James, by the time you get to them. That certainly helped the Brooklyn Nets defeat them on Monday night.
And though the Cleveland Cavaliers are cruising to the East’s #1 seed, riding a 14-game win-streak into Tuesday night’s action, they would be missing Donovan Mitchell, Ty Jerome, and De’Andre Hunter. Just as there are no guaranteed wins in the NBA — a lesson learned by many opponents of the 2024-25 Nets — there are no guaranteed losses either.