The NBA released the results of its annual GM Survey , where the league's 30 general managers weigh in on 50 questions about teams, awards, personnel moves, position rankings and more. And for the first time since the survey began in the 2002-3 season, the GMs picked the Milwaukee Bucks to win the title.
The @Bucks are the favorite to win this season's NBA Finals on the NBA App GM Survey
— NBA TV (@NBATV) October 4, 2022
https://t.co/m3UkuE8pt3 pic.twitter.com/ijW4frVneP
The Bucks got 43% of the votes for most likely titleist, with the defending champion Golden State Warriors second with 25%. The Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics rounded out the voting with 21% and 11%. Milwaukee was the overwhelming choice to win the Eastern Conference with 72% of the votes, while the Warriors and Clippers were even with 48% to win the West.
It's not a perfect predictor, as the Brooklyn Nets were picked by 72% of the voters last season, and they got swept in Round One. Second place? The Lakers, who went 33-49. In the 2020-21 survey, 81% of the voters picked the Lakers to repeat, and they also lost in Round One. When the Lakers did win in the 2019-20 season, 46% of the GMs picked the Clippers, and only 11% picked the Lake Show. Not since the 2017-18 survey has the survey selected the actual champions.
The Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo edged out Luka Doncic of the Mavericks as the player they'd choose to start a franchise, 55% to 45%. The voters chose Doncic as the most likely MVP, though he finished behind the Suns' Devin Booker as the NBA's best shooting guard because some voters chose him as a small forward. According to the GMs, the All-NBA team is:
PG: Steph Curry
SG: Devin Booker
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: Giannis Antetokounmpo
C: Nikola Jokic
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