Almost every team in the NBA truly believes it has a chance to win with the right offseason moves right now. The days of Steph Curry vs. LeBron James teams in the NBA Finals every year are long gone, and they’ve been replaced by an unprecedented era of parity that has resulted in eight different champions the last eight years. Add in the NBA’s new anti-tanking rules, and this is shaping up to be one of the most competitive seasons in recent memory. Putting together preseason power rankings is really hard right now.
This has been a wild summer of offseason activity. Giannis Antetokounmpo is now on the Miami Heat, LaMelo Ball is on the Minnesota Timberwolves, Jaylen Brown and LeBron James are on the Philadelphia 76ers, and Kawhi Leonard is maybe, possibly going back to the Toronto Raptors. That’s just the start of it.
With the summer movement slowing down for now, it’s time to start previewing the 2026-27 season. Here are the teams that should be better than last year as they head into the new season.
The Sixers won 45 games last year to earn the No. 7 seed in the East, and were knocked out of the playoffs in the second round after upsetting the Boston Celtics in round one. The expectations are going to be way, way higher for Philly this season after a brilliant summer that saw the team trade for Jaylen Brown and land LeBron James as a free agent. I’m a bit skeptical that the Sixers are going to be a great regular season team, but there’s no doubt they have an extremely high playoff ceiling if a few things go right. That of course begins with Joel Embiid and James both being healthy at the right time, which is always a big if. The defense will be a question mark, and I’m not sure how Brown will adjust to a lower-usage role where he might be the fourth option on some nights. It almost doesn’t even matter what seed Philly gets this year. If this team can get to the playoffs in one piece, I like how they could match up with just about anyone in the East, including the New York Knicks. The Sixers haven’t even reached the conference finals since 2001. That needs to change this year with arguably the league’s best starting five. There are plenty of swing factors for this team to reach its true potential, but with LeBron’s leadership and a ton of offensive firepower, they will have a good chance to get there.
This one is obvious. The Pacers reached the 2025 NBA Finals only to see superstar guard Tyrese Haliburton tear his Achilles in Game 7. Haliburton missed all of last season, and Indiana only won 19 games. Now he’s back and already doing between-the-legs dunks, giving the Pacers hope that they can regain their spot at the top of the East. Indiana made a bold trade for Ivica Zubac at the deadline last season, which ended up costing them the No. 5 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. For as much pain as the lottery caused, Zubac is an excellent defensive center who fits this team to a tee. The rest of the supporting cast from the 2025 Finals run is still in place, with Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, and Aaron Nesmith rounding out the lineup around Haliburton. The East feels so much better right now than it did the last time Haliburton was healthy, but he’s proven to have such a big impact on winning that you can’t count out Indiana developing into a contender yet again.
The Heat have been in the play-in tournament four years in a row, and last season was the first time they failed to make it out, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Miami needed a big swing this summer, and they landed the best player available on the market by trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Giannis joins Bam Adebayo for what should be the NBA’s best frontcourt, but the rest of the roster has plenty of questions. Andrew Wiggins and Davion Mitchell should be starters, and maybe Tim Hardaway Jr. fills the fifth starter spot. The bench looks like a major problem, but it’s important to remember that the Heat are better than anyone at developing diamonds in the rough. Pelle Larsson and Dru Smith could both take a real leap playing off Giannis, and knowing Miami, Myron Gardner and Ryan Conwell will be solid rotation pieces come playoff time, too. Last season, the Heat won 43 games and were the No. 10 seed heading into the postseason. They should clear that easily this year as long as Giannis’ body doesn’t fall apart.
Toronto Raptors*
Are the Raptors actually getting Kawhi Leonard this summer? The trade was announced on June 30th only to be held up 10 days later because the NBA’s ongoing investigation into the Clippers’ cap circumvention. It’s absolutely ridiculous that the law firm hired to do the investigation hasn’t finished its work yet, and it leaves both Toronto and the Clippers in an extremely tough position for the rest of the offseason. I tend to believe Kawhi will still end up in Toronto, and if that happens, I really like their playoff ceiling. The Raptors have two great young pillars in place with Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles, and Leonard was essentially playing at a top-5 level in the league last year with LA. That’s the formula for a better team than last year, when the Raptors won 46 games before getting knocked out in the first round in Game 7 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. With Kawhi, I can honestly see Toronto winning the East if everything breaks right — which starts with Leonard staying healthy, and includes bounce-back seasons from Jakob Poeltl and Immanuel Quickley. The Raptors’ 2019 season proved all things are possible through Kawhi. They just need to hope they get him.
The Grizzlies were decimated by injuries last season, then tanked hard to give themselves a chance at finding a future franchise player in the draft. Memphis got the luck it needed by moving up to the No. 3 pick, and landing the best player in the class in Cameron Boozer. Boozer will be the youngest player in the NBA this season, but he’s so good that I expect him to immediately be a top-100 player at minimum. With Boozer driving the offense with his brilliant passing, bully-ball scoring, and sweet three-point stroke, the Grizzlies have the potential to push for a play-in spot in the West if everything goes right. I love the pairing of Boozer and Zach Edey in the frontcourt if Edey can finally stay healthy. He’s a punishing interior scorer and a monster offensive rebounder who can also help fix some of Boozer’s rim protection issues. Add in a solid collection of guards led by Ty Jerome, Scotty Pippen Jr., and Cam Spencer, plus a potential leap from Cedric Coward in year two, and I think the Grizzlies are going to surprise a lot of people this year before eventually developing into one of the West’s better teams in due time.
The Wizards finally got the lottery luck they needed after years of tanking. Washington landed A.J. Dybantsa with the No. 1 overall pick, and now it’s time to start winning. Washington traded for Anthony Davis and Trae Young midway through last season to help complement a young core that already includes Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, and Will Riley. The Wizards handed out a ridiculously bad max extension to Young already, and Davis might be next, but for the point of this exercise both players will help Washington improve this season. It would honestly be hard to get any worse after only winning 17 games last year. I wonder how Dybantsa and Young will mesh since neither plays well off the ball, and Davis’ health is always a major concern. Either way, the Wizards will have a good chance to double their win total and push for a play-in berth this season.
Brooklyn is projected to be the worst team in the NBA heading into the season with an over/under win total of 21.5. I’m pounding the over as long as they don’t trade Michael Porter Jr. before the end of the summer. Jordi Fernandez is one of the best head coaches in the league, and he got Porter playing the best ball of his career last season. The Nets picked up Julius Randle for free this summer, and he’s still a solid player even if he’s no longer an All-NBA caliber talent. I also think losing Nic Claxton will be addition by subtraction, because backup Day’Ron Sharpe, who now moves into a starting role, has been a better player the last couple years. I’m also loving what I saw out of Egor Demin at summer league. The Nets might not be actually good, but they’re going to clear last season’s 20 wins with ease.
Read the full article here