2024 NBA playoff tiers: How do the eight remaining teams stack up? - ESPN

With the first round of the NBA playoffs in the books, it's time to rerank the biggest threats to win this year's Larry O'Brien trophy.

So far, injuries have been the dominant storyline of the postseason, particularly in the Eastern Conference, as recent MVPs Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid both saw their teams eliminated in the first round. Giannis watched the entire Milwaukee Bucks series from the sidelines, while Embiid labored at less than 100 percent in a difficult series against the New York Knicks — the Philadelphia 76ers likely would have had a higher seed and avoided the Knicks in the first round had Embiid been healthy all season.

Even the East favorite was hit by injury: The Boston Celtics saw starting center Kristaps Porzingis hobble off with a calf strain during Game 4 of their five-game series win over the Miami Heat.

Out West, the Minnesota Timberwolves continued their undefeated playoff run into the second round by stealing Game 1 and home-court advantage from the Denver Nuggets. The performance showed their championship bona fides and raised questions about the defending champion Nuggets, who have yet to impress over a full 48 minutes this postseason.

Based on what we've seen so far in the regular season and throughout the playoffs, let's put the eight remaining teams in tiers based on their chances of winning it all.

As the Celtics repeatedly proved in the remainder of their five-game blowout of the injury-hampered Heat, any concern over Boston dropping Game 2 at home because of a combination of complacency and record shooting by Miami was misplaced. The only real question mark for the Celtics comes from Porzingis' tricky soleus strain.

The good news for Boston is that injuries elsewhere in the