2024-25 NBA Season Preview: Seven Best Duos in the NBA

In the brave new world of the NBA and its luxurious tax haven, the era of bringing together a ‘Big 3’ to win a title is, if not dead, on life support. The cost of collecting these three stars makes it very difficult to get enough quality talent around to win, and once over the aprons, many of the team-building levers previously used fall away.

Duos are in: two stars surrounded by high-quality rotation players. Look at the last two champions: Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum in Boston (with Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and others around them), and Nikola Jokic with Jamal Murray (Aaron Gordon, Bruce Brown, Michael Porter Jr.).

Who are the best duos in the NBA heading into the 2024-2025 season? Let’s break it down.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (Celtics)

After years of fans and pundits – inside and outside Boston – calling for this duo to be broken up, they proved it worked at the highest level last season when the Celtics took the court on rounds during the regular season and clearly were the best team in the play-offs. , on the way to banner no. 18.

For a few decades, elite wings were the key to an NBA title, and Boston paired two of them — the Celtics had a +8 net rating last season when Brown and Tatum were on the court together. Tatum averaged 26.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game last season and shot 37.6% from three (good enough to earn him First Team All-NBA), while Brown averaged 23 points and 5.5 rebounds per game achieved, after which he went a step further in the play-offs and reached the final. MVP.

The rest of the league should give USA Basketball some attention for lighting a fire under Tatum and Brown this summer. Tatum was benched by Steve Kerr in key games against Serbia, while Jaylen Brown was ruled out and left out of the team entirely. This duo doesn’t come in with a championship hangover, they are excited about it and have another chip on their shoulder. That’s bad news for the rest of the NBA.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis (Lakers)

Los Angeles won a championship with this duo in 2020, and any skeptics who suggested they had lost a step were silenced by the Paris Olympics – LeBron James and Anthony Davis were two of the top four players on that gold medal team . LeBron controlled the offense and was named Olympic MVP, while Anthony Davis was a force on both ends but was primarily a defensive anchor for the US.

The question facing the Lakers isn’t whether this duo can still lift the team — they did a year ago at the In-Season Tournament — but whether they can keep it going. The Lakers just had a +3.4 net rating when LeBron and AD were on the court together last season, although that speaks more to the talent around them and how it was utilized than LeBron and Davis.

After the height of the Olympics and playing alongside his son Bronny, LeBron has been energized this preseason. That’s good news for Lakers fans, because even though LeBron will turn 40 in December, he’s still the tone-setter for this team every night. The only question is whether he can keep that up, and is there enough around him to win at a high level again?

Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray (Nuggets)

Jokic and Murray are the most devastating pick-and-roll combination in the league — they’re the reason Denver hung its first championship banner in 2023.

The duo hasn’t lost it — the Nuggets had a net rating of +15.3 when they were on the court together last season — but have been slowed by health concerns. Can Murray stay healthy enough to fulfill that potential? Murray wasn’t 100% in the playoffs or the Olympics (playing for Team Canada) and it showed. It will show more of a team that lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this summer and lean harder toward its stars.

Jokic is the best player walking the planet today – 24.6 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9 assists per game last season, which earned him his third MVP trophy – and as long as Murray can get and stay healthy, their choice is- and- role dominance makes Denver a threat to win the West.

Kevin Durant and Devin Booker (Suns)

Another Olympic duo that stood out in Paris. Kevin Durant, arguably the best Team USA player ever, was his usual deadly self, while Devin Booker earned Steve Kerr’s trust as the USA’s fifth starter and a quality defender and shooter.

Booker and Durant are part of an old-school Big 3 with Bradley Beal in Phoenix, one that didn’t mesh as well as they had hoped last season due to Beal’s injuries and lack of depth around the game. Still, Phoenix had a +5.7 net rating last season when Durant and Booker were on the court together, and with better talent around them this season — Tyus Jones is a huge improvement right now — Phoenix could be a threat because of his best duo.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard (Bucks)

The first year of the Antetokounmpo/Lillard era in Milwaukee didn’t go as expected, but the team still had a net rating of +10.2 when they were on the court together. Things went better between them than they seemed and their bond improved as the season progressed.

What didn’t work were numerous things surrounding the duo: injuries to them and their teammates (Antetokounmpo missed the playoffs), personal issues for Lillard and an unstable coaching situation that led to a midseason change. Expect a lot more Antetokounmpo/Lillard pick-and-rolls this season, with the expectation that continuity will win out. If so, and the players around them are good enough, the Bucks become a legitimate threat in the East.

Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey (76ers)

The offseason story once again was Daryl Morey chasing stars, and with it the 76ers moving to a “Big 3” model by adding Paul George to the duo of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. (Credit Morey, the 76ers’ decision-maker, for the impressive job he’s done filling out the roster around them with solid players despite limited resources.) How these three come together — and whether they can stay healthy — is the big demand in Philly this season.

What we know is that Embiid and Maxey work together: the 76ers had a net rating of +12.4 when they were on the court together last season. If everyone can stay healthy and George can be integrated, this team is a legitimate threat to make the Finals – with Embiid and Maxey at the core of what works.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren (Thunder)

Fans may not immediately think of them as a duo (both are young and Holmgren is just entering his second season on an NBA court), but last season OKC had a net rating of +11.6 when they were on the court together.

Holmgren as a pick-and-pop five that spaces the floor for a downhill master like SGA is an ideal situation, especially with the fast-rising Jalen Williams on the wing. All of this together makes the Thunder one of the toughest teams to stop in the Association, and the West’s favorites this season. As they make their run to the finals, fans will get to see Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren as a duo. As they should.

Honorable mention: Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving (Mavericks, it was very hard to leave them off this list), Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns (Knicks; Brunson with Isaiah Hartenstein was impressive last season, both with the eye test and statistically, but we need to see Brunson and KAT together before adding them to the list).