NBA GM Survey Sends Celtics Clear Message Before Opening Night

Fresh off a championship-clinching run, the Boston Celtics are understandably revered as the team to beat according to the results of the NBA’s annual general manager survey, released two weeks before Opening Night.

Boston led the league in regular-season wins (64) last season, stream-rolled all competition in the playoffs by going 16-3 and invested over $500 million this past offseason to retain nearly everyone from last year’s roster. Not many teams, not just in the NBA but in sports, are fortunate enough to bring the band back together immediately after winning a title. The Celtics, for more reasons than one, aren’t like every other franchise, especially this upcoming season and it’s abundantly clear that’s how front-office leaders across the league view them heading into 2024-25.

The pressure was considerably high a calendar year ago, with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the pursuit of silencing the naysayers. But now having reached the mountaintop, the league-wide message to the Celtics is visible: Boston is the no-questions-asked team to beat in the NBA, and it’s not even close.

Boston, as expected, led the way as the favorite to win the 2025 NBA Finals with 83% of the votes, which is a 50% increase from its 2023-24 survey tie of 33% with the Denver Nuggets. The Oklahoma City Thunder, at 13%, came in as the runner-up favorite, followed by the Dallas Mavericks at 3%. The mega-wide gap, in fact, earned the Celtics 97% of the votes to finish first in the Eastern Conference while the Cleveland Cavaliers were granted 3% of the remaining votes.

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Jayson Tatum, coming off signing a record-large $315 million extension, was deemed the (by far) best small forward in the NBA, earning 47% of the votes — beating out NBA Finals foe Luka Doncic, who finished second with 17%. Jaylen Brown finished fifth at 3%, behind Doncic, Kevin Durant (17%) and LeBron James (27%), giving the Celtics two of the league’s top-five best small forwards.

Jrue Holiday, back for a second year in Boston, was tabbed as the best perimeter defender with 43% of the votes ahead of second-place finisher Alex Caruso (20%), Herb Jones (17%) and Lu Dort (7%). Holiday also tied centers Bam Adebayo and Rudy Gobert with 10% of the best defender in the league votes, behind leader Victor Wembanyama (40%). The Celtics awarded Holiday’s impressive debut season with a four-year, $135 million extension in April — before the playoffs begun.

Holiday and fellow guard Derrick White formed a lethal defensive backcourt, unmatched by any other tandem in the league last season. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the Celtics collected 57% — a 10% increase from last year — of the votes in the best defensive team category, beating out the Minnesota Timberwolves (23%) and Thunder (20%).

Of course, votes are just votes. Sure, the Celtics were the runaway favorites to raise the Larry O’Brien Trophy according to last year’s results too, but the team isn’t getting ahead of itself. Boston reclaimed its spot as the most successful NBA franchise, not because of preseason votes, but because the team fought from start to finish and didn’t skip any steps in between. That mindset hasn’t gotten away from them just yet.

“I think the biggest challenge is — again I know I’ve talked about this — expectations,” Mazzulla said during team media day at Auerbach Center. “Having an expectation that it’s going to go a certain way. Also, thinking that because we’ve done it one way we just have to do it that way again, right? And I think that’s a challenge heading into any season.”

Boston is 14 days away from opening up the 2024-25 season against the New York Knicks.