10 NBA teams that could upset the Warriors (maybe)

A lot of basketball fans are ready to write off the 2018-19 season already. The Golden State Warriors are a juggernaut. They have won three of the last four NBA titles, and they just added DeMarcus Cousins. We should just give up and welcome our new basketball overlords, right? Well, maybe not. No team is unbeatable. The Warriors could be upset, and these are the 10 teams that could do it…possibly…if everything breaks right. Golden State is amazing, after all.

Houston Rockets

How quickly we forget that if not for a Chris Paul injury, the Rockets could have easily taken down the Warriors just last season. The offseason hasn’t gone great, as they’ve lost Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute. They also added Carmelo Anthony, which is honestly subtraction by addition at this point. However, they still have reigning MVP James Harden, the point god Paul and the up-and-coming Clint Capela. This is still the second-best team in the West. Maybe this time, it’s the Warriors that suffer the injury.

Boston Celtics

Making it out of the East is easier than making it out of the West. A LOT easier. The Warriors, should they make it to the NBA Finals, will have a treacherous path. The Celtics look like the beast of the East, and they could be well-rested heading into a Finals matchup, in theory at least. The Celtics were ahead of the curve last season. They didn’t even get anything out of Gordon Hayward. Jayson Tatum is so good and still getting better. Brad Stevens is a magician as well. If he gets a chance to scheme against Golden State, he may figure something out.

Philadelphia 76ers

Let’s say everything breaks right for the Sixers. Joel Embiid is healthy all season and is an MVP candidate. Ben Simmons learns to shoot and somehow becomes even better. Markelle Fultz is able to contribute. If all that happens, this team has as much talent as almost anybody. Philadelphia could not just take down the Warriors but replace them as the new dynasty. Again, if everything breaks right.

New Orleans Pelicans

Anthony Davis is amazing. You could make the argument that he’s the best player in the NBA or that he could be as soon as this season. He’s a stud, and he could carry the Pelicans far. All the way past the Warriors? It would be tricky, but don’t bet against a talent like Davis. There’s a guy who just moved across country who is a sterling example of how much one player can carry an NBA team. Speaking of which…

Los Angeles Lakers

The team around LeBron James is weird. Rajon Rondo? JaVale McGee? Lance Stephenson? However, LeBron is still LeBron. He’s been in the last eight NBA Finals. Anytime you think you can get away with doubting him, he proves us wrong. Sure, he only managed to best the Warriors once with Cleveland, and that was with guys like Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving around him. Still, the Lakers have LeBron, and so they have a chance.

Toronto Raptors

This will admittedly take Kawhi Leonard being healthy and buying into being a Raptor. He can’t pull a Vince Carter and pout his way out of town. Leonard at his best is a top-five player in the NBA. Kyle Lowry is a really good point guard as well, and Toronto is as deep as any team in the league. Depth matters less in the playoffs, but maybe new Raptors coach, Nick Nurse, can figure out how to use his bench to his advantage against Golden State.

Milwaukee Bucks

If Anthony Davis doesn’t take the crown from King James, it will be because Giannis has done it. The Greek Freak is so talented already, but he just hasn’t had enough around him. That includes a coach. Now, the Bucks are being led by Mike Budenholzer, who can coach rings around Jason Kidd. He took a Hawks team with nobody on Giannis’ level and led it to the best record in the East. If the Bucks finish with the best record in the Eastern Conference, it won’t be surprising. If they beat the Warriors in the Finals, it will be. But sometimes surprising things happen.

Utah Jazz

There is a bit of a demarcation point between the Bucks and Jazz in terms of likeliness of upsetting the Warriors. We are officially in “everything has to go perfectly” territory, but don’t completely write off Utah. The Jazz have played tenacious defense under Quin Snyder, although Rudy Gobert is a big reason for that. He and Ricky Rubio are a dynamite pair of defenders. Now, they also have Donovan Mitchell, who burst onto the scene last season. The Jazz need Gobert and Mitchell to stay healthy, but if that happens and if they can earn the two seed in the West (definitely plausible), they can ride their home-court advantage to a matchup with the Warriors. Then who knows what would happen?

Denver Nuggets

Could the Nuggets upset the Warriors in a series? Sure. Nikola Jokic is great. Paul Millsap was hurt last year, but if he’s healthy he’s a real X-factor. Jamal Murray and Gary Harris are players on the rise. However, in truth, if Denver is going to pull off the shock upset, it will need two individuals to stay healthy: Isaiah Thomas and Michael Porter Jr. Those are risky bets to make, but perhaps the Nuggets will strike gold, to make the obvious pun.

San Antonio Spurs

This is 100 percent a bet on Pop, the one member of the iconic Spurs teams who is still around now that Manu Ginobili has retired. This roster doesn’t wow you. DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge have old-school games that can be hard to work around. On talent, this team isn’t beating the Warriors. On the other hand, they are the Spurs. It’s hard not to believe in them. They’ve earned that right for at least one season. Perhaps Gregg Popovich will ride off into the sunset with his greatest coaching performance of them all. Or maybe he will be taking out all his frustrations on unsuspecting sideline reporters. We’ll find out once the season starts.