Mapping the easiest and toughest paths to NBA title for Dallas Mavericks

Toughest path for the Dallas Mavericks to win 2024 NBA Finals

There is no "easy" path to win the NBA Finals in this league as winning four straight series is no easy task, but there are clearly easier and tougher paths when discussing matchups and different opportunities for the Dallas Mavericks.

The toughest path for the Mavs to win the 2024 NBA Finals would begin with a seven-game series win against the LA Clippers. The Clippers aren't an easy matchup by any means, and a seven-game series would just mean less rest heading into the next series.

The next series when talking about the toughest path to the NBA Finals would be against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder are the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and this series would be another series in which the Mavs would have to win on the road as the lower seed.

Dallas has experience in taking down No. 1 seeds, as they took down the Phoenix Suns in 2022, and the Thunder wouldn't be as much of a cakewalk as many Mavs fans would like to believe.

After defeating the Thunder, the Mavs would then be battling the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. The Nuggets would be an extremely tough matchup for Dallas, and they would have to grind out every win, once again, on the road as the lower seed.

With a win over the Nuggets, the Mavs' toughest matchup in the Eastern Conference is undoubtedly the Boston Celtics. The Celtics won 64 games this season, and they are stacked from top to bottom. Dallas got destroyed by Boston last time they played, and Boston's floor-stretching bigs exposed the Mavs.

The above path for the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals is undoubtedly the toughest, and every series would be an uphill battle.