Exactly what will happen in the 2024-25 NBA season will be revealed exclusively here today*

Can you imagine an NBA world where the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors both miss the playoffs at 37-45 odds?

Can you imagine an NBA world where the Denver Nuggets post the league’s best regular season record of 58-24 and secure Nikola Jokić his fourth Most Valuable Player Award in the last five seasons?

Can you imagine an NBA world in which the Boston Celtics outlast Jokic’s Nuggets in a seven-game Finals and re-establish themselves as champions in the NBA proper after a whopping six straight seasons without a back-to-back champion?

Personally, I wouldn’t feel comfortable predicting any of this…except the part about the Celtics winning two titles in a row. That certainly wouldn’t be an overwhelming result.

But the rest?

I think all of these predictions are extreme, but I feel compelled to share them with you for only one reason: They come from a computer simulation provided by my dear friends at Strat-O-Matic.

The same Strat-O-Matic that launched unparalleled strategy board games in the 1960s that allowed home baseball, football, hockey and, yes, basketball fanatics to transform into major league managers and coaches for decades to transform.

It’s the same Strat-O-Matic, more importantly, who predicted Boston’s 64-18 record (and resulting championship) on the nose a year ago this time and also identified the Minnesota Timberwolves as real contenders long before I heard anyone say such a thing.

So I asked SOM to do it again and run a computer simulation before the NBA’s 79th season.