Which star are you rooting for get their first championship?

[oldncreaky]

I'm going to go with . . . TJ McConnell

[itrsteve]

Not really rooting for any particular player but instead a fanbase, but my preferred winner would be Indy. They seem to be one of those criminally underrated franchises and it's a hell of a basketball city and just generally nice people.

OKC should be a demon for a while so I'm not in a rush to see them get one early.

[benhillboy]

I love all the lead guards still remaining.

Brunson probably the most universally likeable.

SGA fully deserves it for totally maxing his potential.

Hali would be the first historic bulk assist guy to win since Magic.

I lean towards Ant though, the most versatile of the 4. He could cement being the greatest player from Georgia, sorry Clyde.

[Nuntius]

I'm very surprised to see the Knicks lead this poll; the press shoves them down our throats so much year after year that I assumed most folks would have media burnout.

They're my pick, though; I've always bandwagonned them when they weren't playing my Spurs (I made a lot of enemies in my home state when I pulled hard for them to beat the Rockets in the '94 Finals), I love the city, and they're a likeable crew.

Funny how perspective works. I feel like it's a real struggle to find quality content on the knicks that isn't just "lol knicks", "0-10 against the top 3 in the regular season", or SAS screaming nonsense in the bad parody of an actual knicks fan that plays on tv. While the media talks incessantly about those past-their-prime california teams and other mediocre western conference teams.

In general, I feel like coverage of the east (outside of Boston) has gotten really lazy, with too many talking heads just looking at the conference having 2 more tanking teams than the West and fewer guys that were superstars a decade ago. Ignoring the fun stories like the Knicks, Pacers, Pistons, Magic.

...and the Hawks when JJ is healthy. Though they fall apart without him, they are a consistent .500 team that punches up well anytime he's fit.

It really is mostly SAS. Since he's such a loudmouth and pretends to be a Knicks fan, folks could end up getting burnout just from him.

I do agree with the rest of your post. The media is heavily biased in favour of the West and particularly the Californian teams.

[Beethoven]

Not to say it's related to this topic, but Ive noticed whenever I see a pic of Shai on youtube or espn or some nba news, he always has his lips puckered and it is always slightly off-centered on his face (like some kind of Picasso painting). I find it personally annoying for some reason lol.

[cgf]

Voted Brunson but I also kind of want the Pacers to win the championship, so wouldn't mind Hali at all either. East represent!

Kinda were I'm at. I'm obviously biased towards us, but if we don't win, I'll be happy for Pacers or Wolves fans if they win instead. Not as excited by this thunder team because they highlight one of my biggest annoyances with NBA officiating...namely the way smaller players are officiated when defending bigger players and I haven't watched nearly as much of them as I have the other three.

[Stannis]

Disclosure: Im a Knicks fan

But I think Brunson would be the most feel good story

[Iwasawitness]

Minnesota has nothing going for it as a city from a meta sense, so it would be awesome for those people to get a W.

Just like Oklahoma and Indianapolis, right?

For real, Minneapolis is 10x better than either of those cities. Better women, food, nature, everything

Darn tootin

[ImmortalD24]

I'm fine with all except what the Haliburton.. Indiana fans are despicable as we've seen after the Buckets/ Pacers series.

What makes us despicable?

After tonight.. yall good with me.

Epic performance. I knew things would get exciting once I saw OG Anunoby on the line. Bravo Haliburton with the courage he came out with no foul seeking nonsense.

[Optms]

Changing my vote to Shai

Just to watch RealGM continue to burn.

[Lalouie]

shai and brunson are no nonsense players

i think ant is a numbskull, and i don't know anyone on indy

[California Gold]

SGA or Haliburton for sure. Easy choice.

[PhilBlackson]

Shai, f the haters.

[iggymcfrack]

Hali-GOAT-on!!! I’m gonna see if I can find a jersey tomorrow.