The 26 people who will define the 2025-26 NBA season

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dynasty in the making? A historic MVP season? The emergence of the league’s next generational star? One last grasp at glory for the league’s senior-citizen superstars?

Or are we so firmly entrenched in the NBA’s great parity era that trying to make predictions is a fool’s errand and the only way to properly enjoy the 2025-26 NBA season is to sit back and let yourself be surprised?

Even though the Oklahoma City Thunder became the seventh different team to win a championship in the past seven years — the longest stretch in league history without a repeat winner — there is every reason to believe the small-market Thunder can stop all the parity talk cold by defending the title they won in seven games over Indiana in June. The main one: They are returning the top 12 players from a rotation that was the second-youngest ever to earn a championship, which suggests a 68-win team last season is only going to be getting better.