5 NBA Preseason Hot Takes That Will Age Well…and 3 That Won't

What's the point of the NBA preseason if not to provide us with developments ripe for overreaction? 

Responsible overreaction, of course.

The goal of this exercise is to spotlight five against-the-consensus predictions that won't look ridiculous when the regular season ends in April. We will accompany those with three ultra-spicy takes you'd believe if preseason basketball was your gospel, but that will invariably age out of accuracy. 

To the Sanctum of Sizzle we go!

Verdict: This will age...well

Jase Richardson has no clear path to minutes at first glance. Rookies generally don't contribute to could-be contenders no matter what. In Richardson's case, Desmond Bane, Jalen Suggs, Anthony Black and Tyus Jones are all ahead of him in the Orlando Magic's pecking order.

Still, the No. 25 pick in June's draft can really score. On the ball, off the ball, at every level, he's a patented threat. Even with the additions of Bane and Jones, Orlando's offense needs this kind of juice.

Minutes will open up for the newbie. Suggs always seems to be banged up and is already dealing with a knee injury. Failing that, Richardson's defensive effort level could endear him to head coach Jamahl Mosley over Jones.

Verdict: This will age...well.

No team is jacking 50 threes in the preseason, but six squads are north of 45. Just four teams crossed that threshold during last year's exhibitions.

The Boston Celtics are excellent candidates to exceed the half-century mark. They set the record last year with 48.2 three-point attempts per game. Without Jayson Tatum (for now), they have designs on playing faster to paper over the absence of a superstar offensive player. Increasing three-point volume falls under the same lean-into-the-variance umbrella.

Other teams launching at least 45 triples per game include the Memphis Grizzlies, Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, Golden State Warriors and Indiana Pacers. Of the fivesome, Charlotte and Cleveland are worth keeping an eye on.

If the Memphis Grizzlies' injury reports continue to rival the length of CVS receipts, they'll be a three-point factory to watch, too.

Verdict: This will age...poorly.

Mike Brown began his tenure as head coach of the New York Knicks teasing plenty of changes. His vision included more threes, a faster pace, extra Jalen Brunson off-ball reps, five-out lineups and three-guard arrangements, among other things.

It turns out Brown's a head honcho of his word. The Knicks' offense has incorporated a bunch of new looks and tenets and is oft-unrecognizable from last season's top-five attack. And it's faring worse.

New York ranks among the bottom-five NBA teams in preseason points scored per possession. Clearly, it's doomed.

Except, it's not.

Ice-cold three-point shooting is fueling a lot of the problems, including when the core players are on the floor. It will also take time for the Knicks to learn and polish off all of Brown's preferred principles.

So even if they fail to post a top-five offense—which, by the way, was barely a league-average offense after Jan. 1—the Knicks won't actually be worse off. Their variance in style and creativity will, more likely than not, render them better suited to the playoff crucible.

Verdict: This will age...well.

Credit to Adam Mares of DNVR Sports for the inspiration behind this one. During our conversation on a recent episode of the Hardwood Knocks podcast, he talked at length about how Nikola Jokić's scoring burden will dip thanks to the Denver Nuggets' deeper supporting cast, and how it will lead to the most efficient version of the three-time MVP we've ever seen:

Sign me all the way up. Firing away isn't Jokić's first instinct. The Nuggets haven't had the talent for him to focus on playmaking and more selective shot-taking since the 2022-23 season.

As it just so happens, that's the year he became the most efficient 20-plus-points-per-game scorer in league history. He notched a true shooting percentage of 70.1, beating out the previous watermark of 67.5 from Stephen Curry in 2018-19. This year, Jokić has a chance to outdo himself and reset the record books.

Verdict: This will age...well.

Both the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder notched a top-five offense and defense last season. OKC is bound to do the same again.

That's not spicy or bold or thought-provoking so much as a given. The Thunder are a generational mix of two-way talent and versatility.

The second team that's going to rank top-five on both sides of the floor? That would be the...Los Angeles Clippers.

"Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Ivica Zubac = Still good" is just the beginning of this analysis. Have you looked at their secondary talent lately? It's the starting five of a top-five team in the Eastern Conference: Bradley Beal, Chris Paul, John Collins, Brook Lopez and Derrick Jones Jr. I mean...holy hell.

Injuries and missed games await. That does nothing to dampen the Clippers' regular-season momentum. They are deep enough to withstand extended absences from just about anyone. And if Bogdan Bogdanović can ever stay healthy, this group has top-three-on-both-ends potential.

Verdict: This will age...poorly.

I'm not saying that I'm including this in hope of manifesting a reverse jinx. I'm not not saying it, either.

Jayson Tatum has apparently informed the Boston Celtics he wants to return from his ruptured right Achilles at some point this season. That is some top-shelf, 11-out-of-10 sicko stuff.

Typical Achilles recovery timelines render this a fairly ambitious goal. The Celtics ostensibly leaning into a full-tilt gap year also makes it somewhat counterintuitive.

Why bring Tatum back during a season in which you're not overly, if at all, concerned, with winning basketball games? It's a good question.

It feels like there could be value in getting Tatum reps amid lower stakes. The emotional weight of making his long-awaited debut will wash off, and a couple weeks of live-game action could help him regain his sea legs ahead of the offseason. Then, when 2026-27 tips off, the focus can be exclusively on the Celtics' attempted return to title contention.

Verdict: This will age…well.

Every so often, there is a push to include an MVP candidate in the Most Improved Player discussion. Ratcheting up a superstar baseline isn't easy, after all. These fringe campaigns—think: Stephen Curry in 2015-16—usually never gain real momentum. 

Enter Victor Wembanyama.

MVP candidates are usually in the beginning or heart of their primes. That makes it harder to foment an MIP groundswell. Wemby is not burdened by the same restriction. He has not even entered his prime, and yet, he just finished sixth in B/R's top-100 ranking. 

Third-year players are Most-Improved-Player catnip. If what Wemby has shown inside the arc and as a passer so far is any indication, he has the runway to follow that formula. Whether the San Antonio Spurs will be good enough for him to headline the MVP ladder is debatable. 

Then again, maybe not.
San Antonio won the minutes Wemby played last season, and the 21-year-old is a top-10 defense unto himself. If he appears in 65-plus games, a pole-position finish in MVP, MIP and Defensive Player of the Year is well within reach. He could even win one, two or all three of them.

Verdict: This will age...poorly.

Bam Adebayo is shooting 4-of-18 from the floor in preseason, including an unsightly 20 percent on two-pointers. Sound the alarm!

And then promptly turn it off.

Opinions of Adebayo's offense vary. He clearly can't be the engine that drives the entire system, which rubs people the wrong way, for some reason. With the exception of last season, he has also never reliably stretched defenses beyond the arc.

All of which makes him guilty of being...imperfect.

Adebayo's preseason struggles feel mostly related to the Miami Heat's offensive makeup. They don't have Tyler Herro. They have dealt with other injuries. They are incorporating new faces. And they are attempting to play faster.

Growing pains are the expectation. Established players deserve the benefit of the doubt amid them. Bam is going to be fine.

Dan Favale is a National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.