As of today, the Brooklyn Nets are the favorites to win the NBA championship. But who poses the biggest threat to their supposed supremacy? We're going to look at a handful of teams who might be able to go toe-to-toe with the Big Three of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving.

Assuming Irving can find a way to play basketball in Brooklyn this season.

The 6 biggest threats to the Nets' title hopes

6. Golden State Warriors

You could probably come up with a handful of teams that deserve this spot more than the Warriors. I considered the Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers (if they finally swung a Ben Simmons trade that at least allowed them to break even), and Phoenix Suns. But I'm deferring to legacy here and saying it like this: If Klay Thompson is somehow healthy, then it's not very hard to imagine this team vaulting right back to the top.

You already know about Stephen Curry, and Draymond Green may not be what he once was defensively, but he still holds down the fort. Andrew Wiggins is feeling the pressure to get vaccinated and may eventually find a way onto the floor, and they do have some young pieces in James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody who could contribute.

My final point is some Curry highlights:

5. Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks are the defending champions so they deserve the biggest bullseye on their backs. At the same time, it's tough to put them higher than this because the Nets came one shoe size away from beating them (almost fully healthy) without Harden and Irving in the lineup. If the Nets are healthy come postseason time, revenge will be a dish best served cold.

4. Denver Nuggets

Let's be conservative for a moment and project that Jamal Murray, coming back from a painful (emotionally and physically) ACL tear, won't be 100 percent this entire season. But the Nuggets make it this high on the list in the unlikely event that Murray defies the odds and returns as “Bubble Murray” caliber by May.

Nikola Jokic is also the real deal. His MVP season was no fluke. Newly minted max-salaried Michael Porter Jr. is a rising star, Aaron Gordon may have room to grow, and had Murray not gone down with the knee injury last season, the Nuggets might well have repped the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. In fact, they should be so good once Murray is healthy that it was really difficult not to put them in front of the next team on the list.

3. Los Angeles Clippers

This placement here may surprise you had you not read what I wrote about the Nuggets. Again, we're projecting health for players who may not reach 100 percent for the entire season. But it's the potential for ceiling outcomes that poses a threat to the Nets. Like Murray, Kawhi Leonard does not have a clear timeline for a return to play. Dealing with a significant knee injury, odds are that the Clippers won't be as fearsome as they last appeared with Leonard in the lineup.

If the Nets were not in the NBA, I would have several teams ranked higher here. But if you want to knock off a super team, you're going to need a ridiculous amount of talent. Who possesses that? A (healthy) duo of Leonard and Paul George, plus skilled role players and a terrific coach in Tyronn Lue. The conditional variable here is Leonard's health. But if he's healthy at some point next season, even if that is not until the NBA Finals, that would represent one of the biggest threats to Durant and company. Leonard is one of the best players on the planet and I have that much respect for his impact on both ends of the floor. Nets fans should monitor his status.

2. Los Angeles Lakers

Second only to the Nets among sports bettors, the Lakers pose the biggest threat of all here to the Nets outside of things like “vaccination status.” What the Lakers have going for them is the ability to match star power, at least with their top two stars. If LeBron James and Anthony Davis are healthy, they're certainly not far off from a duo of Durant and Harden. ESPN recently ranked KD the league's top player, with LeBron 3rd overall. Davis and Harden ranked 9th and 10th, respectively. Where the Nets gain an advantage is they have Irving, ranked 20th. The Lakers' next best player in Russell Westbrook ranked 29th (and even that seems like it could be optimistic for Russ).

But at the end of the day, we don't need to overthink this. The Lakers had the Suns, the eventual Western Conference champions, comfortably on the ropes before AD limped off the floor. They have some new pieces that may not fit perfectly. But if they're healthy, they're likely the team to beat outside of the Nets in terms of star talent. In short, LeBron usually makes the NBA Finals. Nobody will be surprised if he does it again.

1. Brooklyn Nets

OK, I know this last one is a little corny. That's why I made this a top 6 list, so you could still get top 5 rival teams. But it's worth adding the Nets here to make an important point. It's a cliche in sports for teams to say “we're not worried about anyone else, if we play our game, nobody can stop us.” You roll your eyes when you hear it because it's almost never true. In this case, it is.

If the Nets' Big Three can stay on the floor together, no team is going to stop them. Now of course, we'll revisit this if the Lakers can magically trade Westbrook for Damian Lillard or something. Until that happens, this is all about the Nets. They need to make sure they're healthy and they need to make sure they're all eligible to play. Those may be no easy tasks. And that is the crux of the matter here. The main hurdle standing in the Nets path right now might simply be the Nets.