Bold NBA Predictions for the Final 2 Weeks

The final stretch of the 2024-25 NBA season is here.

And if a few of these bold—but hardly impossible—predictions come to fruition, it will be a wild ride to the finish line.

From bananas box scores to a steep climb up the standings, we're peaking ahead at five potential hoops happenings that could make this stretch run unforgettable.

Tyrese Haliburton Drops 25-Plus Dimes

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When Tyrese Haliburton is right—a thankfully increasingly common occurrence of late—there arguably isn't a better table-setter in the business. It's not just his unselfishness, vision and creativity, it's that all of the above are preprogrammed into a 6'5" floor general.

The Indiana Pacers need his scoring, obviously, but they have an even greater itch for him to bring the best out of his teammates. They could be looking at a photo finish in the fight for the East's No. 4 seed, so they need to squeeze every last ounce of production out of this roster that they can.

That's why Haliburton's assist numbers could soon go berserk. They're kind of already trending that direction (three outings with 15-plus helpers in March), but the stars are aligning for him to take things even further. More specifically, our bold-minded crystal ball thinks he can become just the 13th player ever to record 25-plus assists in a game.

And who knows, if the Pacers really have it grooving one night, maybe he'll even make Scott Skiles sweat about his all-time record of 30 assists in a single outing.

It's an audacious ask of Haliburton, but he is talented enough to pull this off, and the schedule might help his chances. Indiana still has upcoming tilts against the tank-tastic trio of the Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards, so there could soon be some truly silly stats emanating from the Circle City.

Paolo Banchero Cooks Up Another 50-Burger

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Paolo Banchero's next trip to the NBA hardwood will be the 200th of his career (if you include the playoffs). He cleared the 50-point threshold in exactly one of them.

That either underscores the boldness of this prediction, or it highlights how the superstar ascension he hinted at early this season is fully back on track.

He netted 30-plus points in three of his first five outings, including the aforementioned 50-piece. Then, a torn oblique forced him off the floor for more than two months, and he looked rusty enough upon return to wonder whether the ailment and lengthy layoff had effectively spoiled his season.

That clearly isn't the case, though, as he might be on the best heater of his career. He has poured in 30-plus points in five consecutive games and hasn't netted fewer than 20 in over a month. Over his last 15 tilts, he's been good for 30.9 points per night with the output enhanced by an efficient 51.1/36.7/80 shooting slash.

"When I have wind and I'm not tired, I can do anything," Banchero told reporters. "[I'm] just trying to play confident, make the right plays and be aggressive when I need to. I'm playing some good basketball right now."

This is Banchero at his best, and his best features some of the league's best point production. He'll put that on full display with another 50-point eruption before the final buzzer sounds.

Someone—Probably Steph—Breaks Klay's Record for Single-Game Splashes

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With the NBA perpetually pushing the action past the perimeter, a new single-game record for three-point makes feels a bit overdue. More than six years have passed since Klay Thompson set the high mark with 14 splashes, needing all of 27 minutes to do it.

It was a shocking display of elite shot-making—and it's one someone can probably improve. Someone perhaps like his old sibling-in-splash Stephen Curry, who had his three career outing with 12-plus triples earlier this season. He shot a blistering 12-of-19 that night (bettering Thompson's 14-of-24 connection rate), and that was actually the least accurate he's been while hitting a dozen-plus from distance.

"You just see the defeat and the look of damn near disgust on the defender's face," Jimmy Butler said following Curry's 56-point, 12-triple outburst last month. "But there ain't nothing too much you could do about it, you know what I mean? So good luck to whoever it is that is guarding him."

The league's collective volume of outside shooting has reached a point where Curry isn't the only candidate to topple Thompson's mark. Seven different players have tallied double-digit threes in a game this season, and that group isn't exactly exclusively populated by the top-of-mind volume shooters, like 35.4 percent career shooter Dillon Brooks or career reserve Payton Pritchard.

If you had to wager on a single player clearing this mark, Curry would still be the smartest pick. But this prediction has less to do with the Chef then it does the ever-present threat to any intact three-point records.

LeBron and Luka Have 30-Point Triple-Doubles Together

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Things have been a little stop and go since the Los Angeles Lakers linked LeBron James and Luka Dončić at the trade deadline. But there are nights when the vision behind the megadeal appears obvious, and the fireworks summoned by these two are nothing short of magnificent.

The first time Dončić cleared 30 points as a Laker, James tallied 25 efficient points, nine rebounds and five assists of his own. Dončić triple-doubled for the first time with his new team his next time out, while James racked up 27 points and 12 rebounds in the same outing.

The stats grew sillier as they became more in sync with one another. Before James went down with a groin strain, they seemed to really hit their stride, combining for 183 points, 53 assists and 57 rebounds over the final three games they played together.

That groin strain cost James two weeks, and his chemistry with Dončić hasn't looked the same since. They have more than enough smarts and skills to figure this out, though, and when things start to click again, they could quickly become unstoppable.

There is no telling how the numbers could climb, but our crystal ball thinks dual 30-point triple-doubles is totally doable.

Timberwolves Sprint To a Top-Four Finish

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If any prediction here leaves behind the bold limit and enters reckless territory, this is probably it. And that's no knock on the Minnesota Timberwolves, but rather a simple reflection of the massive odds behind that kind of move up the standings.

At the time of writing, the Timberwolves are technically three games back of the No. 4 spot, but they also have to leapfrog four different teams to reach that point. And they must do all of the above with only nine games left on the schedule.

It's a long shot—but not impossible. Basketball-Reference playoff probabilities put Minnesota's chances of finishing No. 4 at 3.4 percent.

It's worth noting, though, that the Wolves have the easiest remaining schedule of any team in this fight (or any team in the Western Conference, for that matter). They were also playing some really good basketball ahead of their recent 1-3 skid, winning eight in a row and six of those contests by double-digits.

Anthony Edwards is a superstar, Julius Randle is talented enough to find his fit and this remains one of the league's stingiest defenses. The Wolves are a top-four team in the West by point differential (plus-4.2 per game, fourth). They'll figure out how to be a top-four team in standings position by season's end.