With the 2024-25 NBA regular season now over and the start of the 2025 NBA Playoffs creeping up, former star big man Dwight Howard has a vision for the NBA Finals.
Howard sees the Cavaliers coming out of the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2018 and facing off against the most recognizable player in franchise history with a title on the line. Specifically, Howard envisions the Cavaliers battling against star forward LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the championship series. His “mind is saying” the Lakers are going to win it all this year.
“The Lakers scare me because if LeBron is healthy in the playoffs, it’s going to be tough for teams to beat them in a seven-game series,” Howard told Basketball Insiders in an exclusive interview. “My mind is saying the Lakers are going to win this year. I see the Lakers against Cleveland.”
The 39-year-old gave Lakers head coach J.J. Redick his flowers and praised the trade for star guard Luka Doncic that Los Angeles made before the trade deadline.
“I love how the Lakers are playing,” Howard said. “I love how J.J. has stayed mentally locked in the whole season, hasn’t allowed any nonsense to affect them. The Luka trade, it really took them over the top. I see them making a deep run in the playoffs. I don’t see a lot of teams beating them in a seven-game series.”
He also hinted that opposing teams will have their hands full trying to keep both James and Doncic in check in the playoffs.
“It’s going to be tough the way Luka can play and score and pass along with the basketball mind of LeBron,” said Howard. “Luka’s going to be taking the same juice that LeBron is taking to make him play longer. Luka’s going to come to the playoffs, he’s going to be dunking on people, he’s going to be shooting from half court. They got Austin Reaves going crazy, they got their defensive specialists. LeBron has done an amazing job with them.”
At first glance, it seems as if the Cavaliers should be viewed as the clear favorites over the Lakers in any playoff matchup. After all, Cleveland is fresh off one of its most successful regular seasons in franchise history, as the Cavaliers won 64 games and finished with the NBA’s second-best record. The Lakers, meanwhile, finished with 14 fewer wins on the season and went 50-32.
But Los Angeles has the edge in star power and experience. No member of Cleveland’s “core four” has even played in a conference finals at the NBA level. Meanwhile, James has won four NBA titles, and Doncic just recently got his first taste of Finals action last year.
The Cavaliers and Lakers would make for quite an entertaining NBA Finals matchup, but both teams have a lot of winning left to do in order to reach that stage. Cleveland will play Game 1 of its first-round series on Sunday, and the Lakers will take on the Minnesota Timberwolves — who are led by star guard Anthony Edwards — in Game 1 of their first-round matchup on Saturday.
