The NBA season is still a few months out, but the offseason has been active. There have been teams that have made significant moves, while others have remained unchanged. How could things shake out?
The West is a blood bath. There are five or six teams that could make their case to win the West. The first and most obvious one is the Oklahoma City Thunder.
OKC, for the third year in a row, will finish atop the West. They will be bringing back their full squad from last year, when they won 68 games. Barring injury, it is hard to see anyone clipping them in terms of wins. Their continuity is what gives them their biggest advantage.
Next up at number two will be the Denver Nuggets. A team that finished fourth last year but addressed some depth issues this offseason. With the acquisition of Cam Johnson, Jonas Valanciunas, Bruce Brown, and Tim Hardaway, they have legit depth.
With this being the deepest team that Nikola Jokic has had since their championship year in ’23, don’t be surprised if this team has win totals in the high 50s. They won’t be far off from first place.
The third seed will be the Los Angeles Lakers for the second straight year. They needed to address the center position and add some depth. With the acquisition of DeAndre Ayton and Marcus Smart, they are trending in the right direction.
Luka Doncic and Lebron James will have a full season to build even more chemistry. In any given series, they will have two of the best three players. With some depth, now they can be very dangerous.
Fourth will be the Minnesota Timberwolves. This team finished sixth last year, largely due to a poor start. They started 8-10 and finished 41-23 the rest of the way and made it to the Western Conference Finals.
The slow start could have been a product of the newly acquired Julius Randle getting used to playing in Minnesota. He will be going into his second year with them, so it should be expected that they stay more consistent throughout. They will be hovering in the top five all year.
At five is the Houston Rockets. This take will come off as a hot take, but this placement is more about other teams. The teams above them have a core with more continuity and have shown more success in recent years.
The acquisition of Kevin Durant makes the Rockets scary. The West, however, has so many good teams, and it’s hard to put them above those that have already proven their prowess. They could hit the ground running and shock the world, finishing top two or three in the west, but it would be unfair to the teams above to blatantly predict that.
How will Houston respond with real expectations this year?
The Los Angeles Clippers will be the final team to guarantee themselves a playoff spot. They finished fifth last year and ended the season strong. James Harden did a great job holding down the fort, and Kawhi Leonard came on strong towards the end.
Health, however, will always be an issue with LA. Leonard is injury-prone, and Harden is getting old. Even with the addition of Bradley Beal, it’s not an ideal situation to be in when any of your best players don’t have youth.
With the West getting better, the Clippers may take a slight step back.
The San Antonio Spurs will be the first play-in team. They feel like a team that is on the verge of breaking through. Victor Wembanyama has made a full recovery from his scary blood clot injury, which is good to see.
Wembanyama will finally get to play consistently with De’Aaron Fox. The Spurs have young, promising talent with Stephon Castle and Davin Vassell. Harrison Barnes and Chris Paul provide good veteran presence as well.
In Wemby’s first year, he showed promise, but the Spurs were bad. In his second year, the team took some steps forward with some moves, but he had an unfortunate incident.
Year three will be when it comes together.
The Golden State Warriors have Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler, but that’s about it. They lost Kevon Looney in free agency. They now need to fill that position.
The Warriors are also the only team not to make a major acquisition in free agency. The only reason they are even at eight is because of their 1-2 punch. Without one of the two, they can easily miss the playoffs.
This is not a playoff-caliber roster.
At number nine sit the Dallas Mavericks. They are not in a bad spot despite Nico Harrison’s inept move last February. They have a solid team with drafting Cooper Flagg and having Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis as teammates/mentors. Klay Thompson can still be a good third or fourth option, and adding DeAngelo Russell helps the bench.
Dallas is still a year away from being true contenders. Irving will be out for most of the season due to the ACL injury, and Flagg is a rookie. Health will always be a major concern for this team.
This year, the Mavs will show some signs and be a gritty team that could potentially spoil someone’s season. 2026 will be the year they put themselves on the map as contenders.
Finally, here sit the New Orleans Pelicans. They have a nice young roster, and with the addition of Jordan Poole and Kevon Looney, they won’t be afterthoughts.
Like it is with the Mavs, health is a big concern. Zion Williamson has been inconsistent in his entire career in terms of availability. If he can stay healthy, they can realistically be a top-seven seed, but he hasn’t shown that so far in his career.
Given his injury history, the Pelicans will be placed tenth. This team, however, would not be a fun matchup for anyone if they sneak in.
The Western Conference is as competitive as it has ever been. It is possible that a seven or even an eight seed wins 50 games. That is how competitive this conference is.
Any of the 10 teams above could easily be contenders in the weak East. It is certainly going to be a fun watch!
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