The NBA announced the groups for the 2025 edition of the NBA Cup. The Charlotte Hornets got an easy group.
Now to be fair, with how weak the East looks on paper, all of the groups look somewhat cushy, but the Hornets group actually looks somewhat attainable.
The Bucks are the defending cup champions, but they look significantly weaker going into this season after the departures of Damian Lillard and Brook Lopez. They’re basically Giannis Antetokounmpo, Myles Turner, and a bunch of guys thrown together. They should be an okay team this season, but they’re entirely beatable.
The stiffest test and the favorite to win the group would have to be the Knicks, who are one of just a couple of teams that look to be legitimately good in the East this season. That said, they’ll be in the early part of a season with a new coach, so who knows how that will go.
The Heat and Bulls are both in purgatory. The Heat look like they got better with the addition of Norman Powell, but they lost Duncan Robinson and I don’t know how much the net of those moves alters their positioning from the low tier playoff spot they’ve been in the last few years. The Bulls continue to cling to that same standing by making marginal moves that neither help them in the short term nor add to their collection of future assets. So while both teams will be favored to be better than the Hornets next season, neither is a threat and both are very beatable.
The Hornets absolutely won’t be favorites to win the group, but the Knicks game is the only one that they’ll be huge underdogs. They have a very real chance to steal a few games and make it interesting in the knockout round. They probably won’t, but we can hope.
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