Exactly what happens during the 2024-25 NBA season is exclusively revealed here today*

*OK, OK ... maybe not "exactly." But for the second straight year we have commissioned a Strat-O-Matic computer simulation for what could happen. And my S-O-M pals got LOTS right last October

Can you imagine an NBA world in which the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors both go 37-45 to miss the playoffs?

Can you imagine an NBA world in which the Denver Nuggets post the league's best regular-season record at 58-24 and set up Nikola Jokić to win his fourth Most Valuable Player Award in the past five seasons?

Can you imagine an NBA world in which the Boston Celtics outlast Jokic's Nuggets in a seven-game Finals to repeat as champions after a whopping six consecutive seasons without a back-to-back champ in the actual NBA?

I personally wouldn't feel good predicting any of the above ... except the part about the Celtics winning back-to-back titles. That certainly wouldn't be classified as a stunning outcome.

The rest though?

I consider all of those projections to be extreme but feel compelled to share them with you for only one reason: They came from a computer simulation provided by my dear friends at Strat-O-Matic.

The same Strat-O-Matic that introduced peerless strategy board games in the 1960s that have enabled baseball, football, hockey and, yes, basketball fanatics at home to transform themselves into big league managers and coaches for decades.

It's the same Strat-O-Matic, more importantly, that predicted Boston's 64-18 record (and eventual championship) on the nose this time a year ago and likewise identified the Minnesota Timberwolves as a true contender long before I heard anyone else say such a thing.

So I asked S-O-M to do it again and run a computer simulation ahead of the NBA's 79th season.