Joel Bartilotta

We have about one week until the first tip of the regular season, and this is when most people are doing their NBA fantasy drafts. There's no better time of the year, and hitting on your first few picks will be critical to your success. We're writing this article to present players who should be first-round picks. Only 12 guys will be selected in the first round of standard leagues, but a handful more could deliver first-round value. With that in mind, let's look at some of those snubs!

This might be my final time writing about a slate with two games this season. The only other scheduled one that I have that could happen would be Monday, but both of these series would need to be extended to get to that point. It feels like the Yankees are cruising to the World Series, but seeing who comes out of the NL will be interesting. I'm hoping we can get a Yankees-Dodgers World Series, but MLB would probably be just as happy with the hoopla around a Subway Series. We have a little time yet to figure that out, though, so let's talk about this critical Thursday slate!

Most people will be doing their drafts over the next week, and it's an exciting time of the year. It's just the early foundation for your fantasy season, but it puts you in a position to be ahead of the rest of your league. Capitalizing on some simple draft strategies can be the small boost you need to make better decisions, and every tiny adjustment will help boost your chances and make you a better fantasy manager. With that in mind, let's look at some last-minute tips to improve your drafting!

If someone gave you $1,000 to spend on NBA futures, where would you put your money?

Joel Bartilotta hands out his bold predictions ahead of the 2024-25 fantasy basketball season, including outlooks on James Harden and Tyrese Haliburton.

Making bold predictions is fun as a fantasy analyst because we throw out these outlandish speculations and hope some stick to the wall. The reality is that many of them won't, but the predictions should indicate how each fantasy analyst feels about an unpopular opinion. If a player is mentioned positively in a bold prediction, the analyst is higher on them than the norm, whether the boldness of that prediction comes true or not. The same goes for the other end of the spectrum. We're just hopeful these bold predictions will help lead you in the right direction. With that said, let's dive into a few for the upcoming season!

MIL at BKN: The Bucks swept their three-game series over the Nets last season.

It saddens me to say this but this is my final article of the season. It's been a fun season to dissect and we truly have the two best teams battling for a World Series title. This marks Game 3 of this epic series and these tend to be massive swing games, despite L.A. owning a 2-0 lead. I also want to thank all of you for reading throughout the season. Let's go ahead and get into this Game 3 matchup.

ATL at NOP: These teams split their two matchups last season, with the road team winning both games. There might not be two teams with worse injury problems than these two clubs.

MIA at MIN: The T'Wolves swept the two-game season series over Miami last year and have won five of their last six games over them in total.