As the march toward real basketball nears its end, so does our effort to preview and project what’s in store for the 2025-26 NBA season.
We’ve asked plenty of burning questions and pencilled in a plethora of breakout candidates, so now seems like the right time to try and sort out the contenders from the pretenders and everything in between. And although I’ll admit, categorizing squads in October may ultimately be a fool’s errand (just ask those who doubted the Detroit Pistons last year), there’s no fun in not trying.
With that being said, here are all 30 teams ranked into tiers ahead of opening night of the 2025-26 season.
Contenders
The top dogs of the NBA who have either been there and done that or have at least shown enough that a Finals berth is the logical next step.
1. Oklahoma City Thunder: There’s really no reason to doubt the defending champs other than the fact that we haven’t seen a team capture back-to-back titles in seven seasons. OKC won 68 games last year — even with injuries to multiple key players — en route to being the youngest title-winning team in league history. Doubt them at your own risk.
2. Denver Nuggets: If there’s a team that likes their chances against the Thunder come playoff time, it’s the Nuggets after forcing a Game 7 against the defending champs in last year’s West semis. Denver has since loaded up on veteran depth behind three-time MVP Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, addressing its biggest off-season need. A second title in four seasons is very much in play for the Mile-High squad.
3. Cleveland Cavaliers: It pays to be in the East, especially now when things look even more wide open. Cleveland won 64 games last year after boasting the league’s No. 1 offence and a top-10 defence. Now they’re essentially running it back, aside from swapping out Ty Jerome for Lonzo Ball, presumably without the worry of running into either the Indiana Pacers or Boston Celtics, the teams that eliminated the Cavaliers the last two seasons, both of which are dealing with injuries to superstars.
4. New York Knicks: Similar to the Cavaliers, there’s only so much standing in the Knicks’ way following a 51-win season and the franchise’s first Conference Finals appearance in 25 years. New York brought in Mike Brown to replace Tom Thibodeau with hopes of maximizing the duo of Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, while empowering the depth of talent behind them. Should the new bench boss succeed, we could be in store for the long-awaited return of Finals basketball in the Big Apple.
5. Minnesota Timberwolves: The T-Wolves deserve our respect after back-to-back Conference Finals appearances. Anthony Edwards is still only scratching the surface of his stardom, and there’s something to be said about continuity mattering as much as eye-catching off-season moves. While the Timberwolves didn’t make any splashes in free agency, the core of Edwards, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels are all on long-term deals. Now it’s about finding a way to break through.
Conference Finals hopefuls
A.k.a. knocking on the door. Teams that have the right combo of talent or star power to stack enough regular-season wins and make a deep run once the playoffs arrive.
6. Houston Rockets:
It’s hard to find a better way to address a team’s glaring lack of fourth-quarter scoring and half-court offence than 15-time all-star Kevin Durant. The Rockets kept most of its young core intact — that boasted the No. 5 defence and earned the second-seed — while adding one of the purest scorers in NBA history. The ceiling has definitely been raised.
7. Orlando Magic: It may seem overly optimistic to have Orlando here after a .500 season and not making it out of the first round. But before injuries to co-stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner derailed things, the Magic were 14-7 at the end of November and third in the East. Should the duo remain healthy, and the newly-acquired Desmond Bane live up to his billing, Orlando’s woeful bottom-five offence could catch up to its No. 2 defence in a hurry. If that happens, a trip to the Conference Finals is very much on the table.
8. Golden State Warriors: Speaking of stars, Stephen Curry only has so many years left in the NBA, as do his veteran running mates. That sense of urgency showed after Jimmy Butler ended up in the Bay Area last season as the Warriors boasted the league’s top defence, third-best net rating and went 23-8 in that span. If those post-trade deadline numbers can keep up this season, we may see the Warriors make at least one more title run.
9. Los Angeles Lakers: The sell here is simple: Luka Doncic is a Laker. We’ve seen the Slovenian star lead his team to the Western Conference Finals twice already — the first of which was with a Mavericks roster with less talent/depth than the 2025-26 Lakers. Add the fact that LeBron James will return from his sciatica-induced absence eventually and Doncic is in the best shape of his career for his first full season in L.A., and it’s not hard to envision a deep post-season run.
Playoffs or bust
Anything less than a top-six seed and a guaranteed post-season berth would be disappointing.
10. Los Angeles Clippers: If healthy, there’s no reason the Clippers shouldn’t be back in the mix for a top-six seed in the West.
11. Atlanta Hawks: It’s a contract year for Trae Young and the front office has gone all-in on building an optimal roster around him. It feels like it’s now or never for the lead guard in the ATL.
12. Detroit Pistons: No longer darlings of the NBA, as expectations have arrived. Can Cade Cunningham and the Pistons take another leap while on everyone’s radar?
Play-In for what?
Things are hardly ever black and white in the NBA. There is a boatload of teams with a ceiling high enough to leap into a top-six spot, but also a floor low enough to fall into the Play-In.
13. Philadelphia 76ers: This may sound familiar, but if healthy, there’s no reason the 76ers shouldn’t be back in the mix for a top-six seed in the East.
14. Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo is still on the roster (for now), which means the playoffs remain the expectation. Since he began his string of nine consecutive all-star nods, the Bucks have finished lower than sixth just once. With better rosters, sure. But they were all still led by the same “Greek Freak.”
15. Toronto Raptors: The time for experimenting and eyeing lottery odds is over. Brandon Ingram is healthy, Scottie Barnes’ extension has kicked in and thus expectations have arrived. There’s plenty of top-end talent on the roster; now it’s about making the pieces fit together.
16. Dallas Mavericks: If Anthony Davis can stay healthy and Cooper Flagg is the phenom we all think he is, the Mavericks could boast an elite defence and make a surprise jump in the West. However, neither is a given until games actually begin.
17. Boston Celtics: Obviously, the outlook in Beantown changes drastically if Jayson Tatum makes an unprecedented return this season. But even without the star forward, Boston has no intention of taking a gap year. Meanwhile, Joe Mazulla and his staff spent the entirety of a “friendly” pickup game against local media playing in a full-court press, and inadvertently may have spilt the beans on how the new-look Celtics plan on staying relevant.
18. Indiana Pacers: Like the Celtics, a star injury (or losing their starting centre) won’t deter the Pacers from competing. Indiana predicated its back-to-back deep playoff runs on its depth; now it’s time to see if some of those guys can step up.
19. Miami Heat: Not much has changed in South Florida as the team looks to be a top-10 defence but also a bottom-10 offence yet again.
20. Memphis Grizzlies: The season hasn’t even started and it already looks like injuries will limit the Grizzlies’ upside … again.
Play-in for us!
Squads that will wear making the Play-In as a badge of honour.
21. San Antonio Spurs: As far as potential goes, sky’s the limit in San Antonio with a healthy Victor Wembanyama. Let’s keep things simple for now, however, and focus on cracking the top 10 in the Western Conference.
22. New Orleans Pelicans: There’s no denying that an in-shape and motivated Zion Williamson can play All-NBA-calibre basketball. Which is why there’s definitely room to be wowed by the Big Easy ball club, but we’ll have to see it to believe it.
23. Phoenix Suns: “I hope that we win more games than last year, but the truth is, it’s not going to be measured in wins and losses this year, but it is going to be measured in success,” said Suns owner Mat Ishbia on Media Day.
What does that mean? Your guess is as good as mine.
24. Sacramento Kings: With four score-first guards in their 30s to pair with a currently-injured score-first forward who’s almost 30, the ceiling remains quite low in Sacramento. At least we can expect plenty of buckets.
25. Portland Trailblazers: Scoring will come at a premium for the Trailblazers as they thread the needle between youngsters and vets, but expect a pesky defence every night.
26. Chicago Bulls: If you like a run-and-gun offence, an ascending talent (looking at you, Matas Buzelis), possibly a fourth-consecutive Play-In appearance and hardly anything else, the Windy City has a basketball team for you.
27. Charlotte Hornets: Squint — and I mean really squint — hard enough, and a healthy LaMelo Ball next to a pair of fellow top five picks and some adults in the room could leapfrog into the Play-In picture.
Is it June yet?
Teams that already mapping out mock drafts for the 2026 class.
28. Washington Wizards: There’s plenty of talented youngsters in the DMV, but the Wizards’ rebuild is very much still in its infancy.
29. Brooklyn Nets: Owner Joe Tsai previously saying “we have one pick in 2026, and we hope to get a good pick. So you can predict what kind of strategy we will use for this season,” pretty much explains everything.
30. Utah Jazz: Even with an all-star-calibre forward in Lauri Markkanen and a top 5 pick in rookie Ace Bailey, there’s very little to indicate the Salt Lake City ball club is ready to venture beyond Step 1. Especially after the mass exodus of veterans in the last couple of months.
