The NBA’s 2020 season resulted in LeBron James and his Los Angeles Lakers walking away with a championship over the Miami Heat. With the 2021 season well underway, what should fans expect the championship to look like?  While this has always been a hard question to answer due to how unpredictable the NBA can be, this year is perhaps one of the hardest years yet to evaluate. The ever-changing COVID-19 conditions and the level of competition of this year’s league have made the possibility of victory only open for a few. Here’s an unranked list of those select few:

Los Angeles Lakers: An easy pick for winning the chip are the Lakers. Coming off of last year’s championship, the Lakers have only gotten stronger in overall talent. Picking up a solid guard, Dennis Schroder, and the sixth man of the year, forward Montrezel Harrell. These pickups have only helped strengthen one of the greatest basketball duo’s, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. It is very probable to assume this team will have a hand in this year’s championship!

Brooklyn Nets: With the Lakers being an easy favor for coming out of the west, it then leaves the east in question? With the Nets recently acquired James Harden, they have officially put together the most efficient offensive trio the league has ever seen. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and James Harden are three scary names to hear on the same team. However, acquiring James Harden required the Nets to lose some depth on the team, this leaves a large question, can the Nets new talent make up for the lost depth? If the Nets have a clear answer to this, then they are a championship-caliber team!

Denver Nuggets: Last, but not least, The Denver Nuggets,  last season the team made an incredible run in the semi-finals. Leading the Nuggets charge was all-star guard Jamal Murray, and MVP nominee center, Nikola Jokic. The attractive part about this team is its ability to perform under pressure even though they are not the most talent-filled team. While it is not probable for them to win the championship, they are certainly a team to keep an eye on.