5 bold basketball predictions for 2022: No, the NBA won't pause its season

By most measures, 2021 was a pretty OK year in basketball.

There were some legitimate highs, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo finally capturing that championship crown that’s eluded him for years now, along with some lows, like both the men’s and women’s Canadian national teams stumbling yet again. But, overall, it was a fairly even-keeled year in hoops.

Perhaps the greatest disappointment of the year has been what has transpired over the last few weeks with COVID-19 – this time coming in the oh so wonderfully dreadful Omicron variety. It has once again dominated headlines across the NBA, leading to postponed games and leaving many wondering if a league pause, or even full-on shutdown, is in the cards.

With 2021 winding down, though, we’ll stop looking in the rearview and attempt to look towards the future.

Here are five bold predictions in basketball for 2022.

1. The NBA season absolutely will not shut down

It seems as if every single day now we hear word about different players entering the NBA’s health and safety protocols, games being postponed and previously unknown players from the G League getting signed by clubs on hardship exceptions.

With all of this going on, it’s logical to think a pause on the season might be in the cards in the near future.

However, that’s not going to happen.

This is supposed to be a piece about bold predictions for the coming year and, unfortunately, this one isn’t all that bold to say.

Quite frankly, the way the league is operating right now is the way it’s going to continue to operate with more games being postponed – and maybe even some being outright cancelled. Teams are forced to play shorthanded more often than they would like and it will result in an, overall, poorer product.

And the reason for his is very simple: Even if the NBA should look to press pause, unless a bubble is in the works again – something that the Players’ Association will almost assuredly never agree to again – it’s not like this virus will just disappear whenever the league decides to resume action.

No, it just makes more sense to power through the winter and hope that in the springtime, when the league’s post-season hits, things will settle down enough that teams and the league itself won’t lose out on too much playoff cash.

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2. Kyrie Irving will get vaccinated

Sticking with the theme of the league not shutting down, it was announced a few weeks back that Brooklyn Nets star guard Kyrie Irving would be re-joining the team on a part-time basis, playing only road games.

Irving, of course, refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19 at the beginning of the season, something that forced the Nets’ hands to, essentially, say he wouldn’t be welcome on the team until he does as a New York policy states that all private employers require proof of vaccination from all workers entering the workplace and they didn’t want just a part-time employee.

Well, that stance has since changed and, while Irving’s on the vaccine hasn’t yet, it will eventually.

Irving is not one to shy away from conspiracy theories, but he’s still going to end up getting jabbed because he’s also still a competitor.

The Nets have a legitimate shot at winning the title this season and Irving should be acutely aware of that and, most importantly, aware of what adding himself to the mix of superstars Kevin Durant and James Harden might do for those title chances.

So we’ll see at some point in 2022 Irving taking to IG Live, claiming he’s done even more of his own research, or some other such nonsense to try to make him look like the smartest man in the room again, and he’ll come out and say he’s got vaccinated and is ready to participate in all Nets’ playoffs games.

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3. The Raptors will trade one of their core three players

One of Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet or OG Anunoby will be traded at some point in 2022.

The Toronto Raptors look to have a foundational building block right now in rookie Scottie Barnes, but at only 20 years old and still growing and learning, his competitive window doesn’t sync up all that well with the current Raptors core trio.

In particular, Siakam and VanVleet (both turning 28 in 2022) are veterans who would be better served in situations where they could look to win more immediately than where Toronto’s current window projects.

Anunoby is still only 24 so he’ll likely be hitting his prime as Barnes ascends in the next few seasons, but the injury bug has never left the gifted two-way forward alone, so if the right offer comes along, you have to wonder if he might also be available.

Barnes looks like a revelatory rookie that the Raptors can, and probably should, be looking to push all their chips in on to build around. A good way to do that would be to acquire assets that better align with his own developmental timeline rather than focus on winning right now.

This isn’t to say that Toronto will be looking to make a big splash at the trade deadline, nor does it mean a fire sale is on its way in the off-season. But the Raptors’ best trade resources also happen to be their best players right now, so it makes sense that, if they want to acquire some real talent, they’re going to have to give up some talent of their own.

4. DeMar DeRozan will win NBA MVP

As things stand now, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry appears to be the frontrunner to win the MVP award, and for good reason.

The Dubs are the best team in the league once again and Curry has, yet again, been the best player on Golden State this season.

Simple math, right?

Maybe not.

Though analytics geeks may not like it, a good narrative can often trump what should be an obvious decision, and this season that narrative’s name is DeMar DeRozan.

In his first season with the Chicago Bulls, DeRozan is averaging 26.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists on 50 per cent shooting and is even taking nearly a career-high in threes, converting on 33.3 per cent of them.

More importantly than his gaudy numbers, though, is the fact DeRozan’s play has revived what was a flogging Chicago market and has made it relevant again as the Bulls sit near the top of the Eastern Conference standings.

If DeRozan can keep up this level of productivity, and the Bulls can continue to win at the pace they’re doing so right now, the Bulls guard will certainly begin to pick up steam among MVP candidates near the end of the season and could very well steal what probably should be a third MVP for Curry.

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5. A major college coach will be named the new Canadian women’s basketball head coach

In late September, it was announced that long-time Canadian women’s national basketball team head coach Lisa Thomaidis would be stepping down as the bench boss of the program she helped become the No. 4-ranked in the world.

This comes on the heels of a disappointing run at the Tokyo Games this past summer that saw Canada fail to make it out of the group stage.

Ever since Thomaidis announced she was stepping down as head coach of the national team, the position has since been vacant.

It won’t remain that way in 2022, however, and it will be filled by a big name from the collegiate ranks.

Two possible names that would be a perfect fit for this women’s national team would be Dawn Staley from South Carolina or Basketball Hall of Famer Geno Auriemma of UConn, a couple of coaches who are coaching a pair of national team stars right now in Laeticia Amihere (Gamecocks) and Aaliyah Edwards (Huskies).

Yes, this does sound more like wishful thinking than anything else, but this Canadian women’s team sports legitimate talent that should be good enough to at least medal – if not win – in major international competitions like the Olympics, and is deserving of coaches with championship pedigree at the highest level like a Staley and Auriemma – who have both won Olympic and golds coaching Team USA before.