So here's the thing about predictions -- they're usually wrong. With Twitter historians eager to pull up any and all prognostications gone awry, the safe and smart thing to do would be to keep your mouth shut. But what fun would that be?

One of the most exciting aspects of sports is the anticipation. It's why the drama of the NBA offseason sparks more interest than the games themselves, and why the draft is the best part of any Fantasy season. The hope is what brings us joy, so it would be a shame to kill that joy due to a fear of being wrong.

With that in mind, here are nine bold predictions for the 2019-20 NBA season -- some as important as who will win the MVP award, and some as trivial as what type of headwear the NBA will cease to allow. These aren't hot takes -- I truly believe all of these will come to fruition -- but chances are at least a few of them won't. The thought process involved with predictions is the exciting part, and, as a wise man once said, you should always "trust the process."

1. Joel Embiid will win his first MVP award

I didn't think this was necessarily a "bold" prediction, but there are plenty of sportsbooks listing Embiid as much as a +1600 long shot to win the NBA MVP this season, which seems wildly low. It's crazy that Embiid finished seventh in MVP voting last season, as he became just the fifth NBA player ever -- and the first since prime Shaquille O'Neal (in his MVP season of 1999-00) -- to average at least 27 points, 13 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. The Sixers have a chance to have the best record in the East -- maybe the entire league -- so the narrative will be there for Embiid. The case against the big man is that he simply doesn't play enough games, but with load management becoming ubiquitous across the league, voters should be more likely to consider Embiid as long as he misses fewer than 20 games.

2. The Warriors will make the Western Conference finals

Some are predicting the Warriors to drop out of the playoffs after a tumultuous offseason, but I'm going the other way. Sure, the preseason has been ugly at times as the new pieces get used to each other, but any team with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and D'Angelo Russell is elite -- you can't convince me otherwise. Steve Kerr appears excited to have a new challenge, and role players like Jordan Poole, Marquese Chriss and Glenn Robinson have already exceeded expectations in camp. With Klay Thompson, the ultimate wild card, returning some time after the All-Star break, the Warriors will enter the playoffs as one of the most dangerous five- or six-seeds in NBA history. At that point a first-round series win might not even be considered an upset, and they'll be poised to give the No. 1 or 2 seed a run for their money to advance to the conference finals.

3. Zion Williamson won't only win Rookie of the Year -- he'll also make the All-Star team

You might not realize it, but no rookie has made the All-Star team since Blake Griffin in 2011 -- and that was following a redshirt season with the Clippers due to injury. No 19-year-old rookie has ever been selected to an All-Star team, and Zion, in all his dunktastic glory, will become the first this season. If starters were selected solely by fan vote as they were in previous years, Williamson might actually have started the game. But given the numbers he'll put up and the fact that a prominent frontcourt spot from the West was vacated by Kevin Durant, the timing is perfect for Zion to slide right in.

4. Bradley Beal will finish the season as a Denver Nugget

Update: Welp, that's why they're bold predictions! Beal surprisingly signed an extension with the Wizards that makes him ineligible to be traded until the 2020 offseason at the earliest. I still think the prediction below will eventually come to fruition, but now it just can't happen during the season.

The Wizards have insisted they're not trading him, but we'll see how much losing Beal can take in Washington before he becomes the next star to demand a trade, either publicly or privately. There will be no shortage of suitors for one of the league's best two-guards, but Denver feels ready to make a splash. The Nuggets need something to push them onto the level of the Lakers and Clippers, and Beal would certainly do it. They also have lots of assets to throw at the Wizards -- Gary Harris, Malik Beasley, Will Barton, Michael Porter Jr., future draft picks -- and losing them won't hurt the Nuggets as much as it would hurt a lot teams because of their tremendous depth. Jamal Murray, Bradley Beal and Nikola Jokic is quite an intimidating trio to build around.

5. Chris Paul will finish the season with the Thunder

By all accounts, the Thunder acquired Chris Paul from the Rockets in order to flip him elsewhere, but the level of interest wasn't what they were hoping for. It could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. With a motivated and healthy Paul (neither one a certainty, to be sure), the Thunder should be a fringe playoff team who will surprise some naysayers. OKC needs to rebuild, but the lack of strong offers for Paul may convince it to try to do it on the fly like the Celtics and Clippers in recent years, rather than blowing the whole thing up. They can always rely on the 6.8 million draft picks they possess over the next seven years.

6. Andre Iguodala will end up back in Philly, not in Los Angeles

Whether by trade or buyout, the hunt for Iguodala is largely viewed as a two-team race between the Lakers and Clippers. The team that will ultimately win out on his services, however, is the Philadelphia 76ers. Iguodala was an All-Star in his eight seasons in Philly, and there's no better way to bookend a potential Hall of Fame career than by returning to where it all started to help lead the franchise deep into the playoffs. The Sixers' lack of depth is one of their most glaring flaws, and Iguodala would be an immediate solution with his versatility on both ends of the floor. Iguodala is a smart guy, and the fact that the road to the Finals in the East is much less jagged than the road in the West won't be lost on him when it comes time to choose his next team.

7. The NBA will outlaw hair bobbles

This summer the NBA banned "ninja-style" headbands, which a number of players wore every game last season, due to safety concerns. Well, there's another trend that will soon be on its way out. A handful of players, most notably Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, are wearing bobbles -- small decorative balls presumably made of plastic -- in their hair during games. If the league thought the possibility of getting hit in the face by fabric was dangerous, how are they going to feel about players getting whipped in the head by sizable pieces of plastic? This hasn't been an issue yet, probably because only a few players do it consistently, but if it becomes more popular the NBA will be forced to take action.

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Imagine getting whipped in the face with one of those plastic adornments in Brandon Ingram's hair. USATSI

8. The Toronto Raptors will keep all their veterans and earn the No. 3 seed in the East

The defending champs lost arguably the best player in the NBA in Kawhi Leonard, but this is a roster and a culture built for success. There's been speculation that the Raptors will unload veteran players like Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka this season to jumpstart the rebuild, but they're going to win too much for that to make sense. Pascal Siakam will take another huge leap forward and OG Anunoby will step into Kawhi's vacated spot with more opportunity. The other teams in the mix for the No. 3 seed in the East (assuming the Bucks and 76ers finish Nos. 1 and 2) -- the Celtics, Pacers, Heat and Nets -- all have significant personnel changes to deal with. The Raptors played well without Leonard last season, so there's no reason to think their continuity and maturity won't allow them to do it again this time around.

9. The NBA will set a new record for 3-pointers ... and traveling calls

Saying the league will set a new record for 3s made and attempted isn't exactly a bold prediction -- it's happened in each of the past seven seasons. However, another record that will fall is the number of traveling violations. It was a summer of honesty in the NBA, as the league mandated that players' heights be accurately measured after years of exaggeration, and it also clarified traveling rules that have already led to a proliferation of the previously rare call throughout the preseason. If you haven't watched many preseason games (we can't blame you), you can't go five possessions without seeing a player turn his head to the officials in disbelief after a traveling violation. This is clearly a point of emphasis in the preseason, much like freedom of movement last year, and if the refs call even a fraction of the violations they have so far, you'll no longer be able to say they don't call traveling in the NBA.