Bucks Picked as Overwhelming Favorite to Win 2022-23 NBA Championship by ESPN Experts

The Milwaukee Bucks were the runaway NBA title favorites in ESPN's expert poll Tuesday.

Twelve of the 18 experts selected the Bucks to lift the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy next summer. The Los Angeles Clippers (three votes) were the next closest team, and the Golden State Warriors (two votes) and Miami Heat (one vote) were the only others recognized.

The oddsmakers also consider Milwaukee to be the team to beat but not to such a significant degree. The Bucks are +550 in FanDuel's championship odds. The Boston Celtics (+600), Clippers (+700) and Warriors (+700) follow closely behind.

Mike Budenholzer's squad only mustered a third-place finish in the Eastern Conference last year but was rounding into form nicely heading into the playoffs. They then dominated the Chicago Bulls in the first round, winning in five games.

Were it not for Khris Middleton's MCL sprain, a return to the NBA Finals might have beckoned. Sans Middleton, the team still pushed the eventual East champion Celtics to seven games in the conference semifinals.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported Monday that Middleton is likely to be unavailable for the first few weeks of the 2022-23 campaign after undergoing offseason wrist surgery. Barring a significant setback, that injury alone isn't enough to alter the outlook for a franchise that has one of the world's best players, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and a strong supporting cast.

All of the other contenders arguably have bigger questions hanging over them as well.

The Warriors' Big Three of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson will all be a year older. And nobody knows what effect—if any—Green punching Jordan Poole at practice will have on the team's chemistry.

The Celtics are leaning on an interim coach, Joe Mazzulla, while Ime Udoka serves his season-long suspension.

Though they've done well to improve their depth, the Nets are never too far from their next crisis, and a lot of their success will hinge on Ben Simmons, who hasn't appeared in a meaningful game since June 2021.

Kawhi Leonard has had a similarly long layoff after the partial tear of his right ACL in the 2021 postseason.

The Philadelphia 76ers are counting on James Harden to return to form, which shouldn't be taken as a given after his performance dipped in each of the last two years.

In general, there isn't one team that's head and shoulders ahead of the pack on paper, but you can see why the Bucks garnered so much respect in the ESPN poll.

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