See Andy Katz's picks for 2024 men's basketball conference champions in a season set for fierce rivalries and breakout stars.
The 2024-25 season starts with an expanded landscape, coaching shakeups, and powerhouse programs battling to reclaim dominance.The Denver Nuggets have reportedly had tension between the coaching staff and front office, but Nikola Jokic has declined to offer an opinion on the situation.
“That’s not my job,” Jokic said. “I’m just trying to play basketball, and I’m happy if we have a chance every year.”
Since winning the championship in 2023, the Nuggets have lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Bruce Brown, Jeff Green and Reggie Jackson.
“There was this urge to compete, especially from the players and the coaches and even myself,” Calvin Booth told ESPN. “You want to win, especially coming off the heels of winning the championship. And that’s probably where the tension started.
“What are you guys trying to do? Are you trying to win? Are you trying to develop? I think everybody had the best intent going in. There was buy-in. But I think competition and the focus on that can distract you from the buy-in.”
“I think people in general, they always want more and more and more, but they don’t know what they have,” Jokic said. “I’m really happy we have one title — a lot of very good players don’t win.”
“If we don’t win it this year,” Michael Porter Jr. told ESPN. “We all know they might have to break it up.”
Booth said he speaks with Jokic often for his input on the team.
“[He] has earned the respect of check-ins and seeing, ‘What do you think about it?'” Booth said. “There’s a fine line — if there’s somebody that he’s played with for a long time, I wouldn’t put that responsibility on him. … But we try to involve him as much as we can.”
“I’m just here to play basketball,” Jokic said. “I don’t understand contracts, this and that, years and CBA. … That’s not my job.”
Joel Embiid was a full participant in Friday’s practice with the Philadelphia 76ers, which included a 5-on-5 scrimmage. Embiid discovered minor swelling in his surgically repaired left knee during training camp in the Bahamas. Both Embiid and the Sixers are managing and monitoring the knee.
“Everybody has been on the same page,” Embiid said at the 76ers’ New Jersey complex. “If your body doesn’t react well, and if your body tells you one thing [sit out]. I’ve done it. From what I can tell you, I’ve broken my face twice, I came back early with the risk of losing my vision. I have broken fingers. I still came back. When I see people say, ‘He doesn’t want to play,’ I’ve done way too much for this city, putting myself at risk, for people to be saying that.”
Embiid has played in 433 of a possible 805 regular season games since his first full season in 2016.
“I wish I was as lucky as other ones,” Embiid said. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not trying and I’m not doing whatever it takes to try to be out there, which I’m going to be here pretty soon.”
Embiid said he could return on their three-game West Coast road trip.
“Really it’s being comfortable, trusting it,” Embiid said. “I want to be at my best. I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m like, I’m afraid if I do something or whatever [I get hurt again]. I mentioned it since my last surgery; it was probably the toughest mentally. Mentally, I’m just dealing with getting that trust back. In the past, it was just easy.”
