2025-26 NBA Season Predictions

Guest Contributor: Micah Bergh

Another NBA season is here, and with it comes one of our favorite things to do: make early-season predictions. With rosters shuffled, teams ready to prove themselves, and some contenders having reloaded, this season is shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable in recent memory.

So, we decided to take stabs at predicting how the season will shape up. From conference standings to season awards, and finally the NBA champion, we’re giving you our early predictions on how this season will shake out.

Will we look like geniuses come June? Or will these takes all be freezing cold by that point? Either way, we’re here for the fun of it, so let’s dive in.

Western Conference Standings

Evan

Playoffs	Play-In	Out
OKC Thunder	7. San Antonio Spurs	11. Dallas Mavericks
Denver Nuggets	8. Sacramento Kings	12. Los Angeles Clippers
Minnesota Timberwolves	9. Memphis Grizzlies	13. Phoenix Suns
Los Angeles Lakers	10. Portland Trail Blazers	14. New Orleans Pelicans
Houston Rockets		15. Utah Jazz
Golden State Warriors

The West, as it has been for the past several years, is an absolute crap shoot. I feel good about the Thunder, Nuggets, and T-Wolves being top 3, but after that, you’d probably have more luck spinning a wheel to make picks than actually trying to predict them.

Unless they get hit by injuries, OKC should once again be able to top the West, and Denver and Minnesota should be able to keep pace with them. All three teams’ rosters are amazing, but OKC is just filled with talent top to bottom, especially on their bench.

I have the Lakers, Warriors, and Rockets all taking significant leaps, primarily due to the addition of a superstar player. Luka is going to have something to prove, and he will be able to lead this Lakers roster to a top 4 finish. The same goes for KD with the Rockets, and Jimmy Butler on the Warriors. I might have picked the Rockets top 3 or 4 if Fred Van Fleet wasn’t hurt, but his injury is significan for this Rockets roster, so I think a 5th place finish makes sense for them.

The play-in group is a tough group to pin down. Realistically, 7-12 are all up in the air. But that being said, having Wemby back will give the Spurs the lift they need to make the play-in. Sacramento is on the decline, but they still have a good enough roster to be top-10; the same mindset goes for the Grizzlies. And did I pick the Blazers 10th because I’m a homer and have crazed visions about what they can accomplish? Pretty much, yeah. But the Blazers did finish off strong last year and might now have one of the deepest rosters in the NBA, with no glaring holes at any position.

The bottom five teams are all marked by too many question marks. I don’t see the Mavs gelling well together, and realistically, AD and Kyrie will miss time at some point. The Clippers are way too reliant on the ability of their roster to be healthy, when they never are. The Suns are way too overloaded at SG with no real depth or talent at any other position, which is not a recipe for success. And the Jazz and Pelicans have shown no signs of improvement or ability to compete in a loaded Western Conference.

Micah

Playoffs	Play-In	Out
Oklahoma City Thunder	7. San Antonio Spurs	11. Dallas Mavericks
Denver Nuggets	8. LA Clippers	12. New Orleans Pelicans
Minnesota Timberwolves	9. Portland Trailblazers	13. Sacramento Kings
Golden State Warriors	10. Memphis Grizzlies	14. Phoenix Suns
Houston Rockets		15. Utah Jazz

Outside of a morass of injuries, I can’t picture OKC, Denver, and Minnesota not leading the West. OKC I think will come out firing. They’re still young, they have the same core, and I know they have the fire to break the streak of NBA Champions having a dip in the following year and not making the Conference Finals. Denver had the best offseason in my opinion, finally getting a solid backup center to help withstand the non-Jokic numbers, Bruce Brown improves their shooting, and Cam Johnson is a massive improvement to MPJ’s defense and consistency.

The next three teams are my most intriguing teams in the West. The Warriors were the best team in the NBA during the last 15 games of the regular season, but they are getting older, and Kuminga won’t be there by the end of the trade deadline. Are they going to trade for the future, make a win-now move, thread the needle? I think the team thinks they are good enough to win this year, but they don’t have much of a path forward once Steph and Green are done. I would’ve said the Rockets were at least the 4 seed, maybe even 3 above Minnesota, before the Vanfleet injury. I really like Thompson, but he is not near the floor general Vanfleet is. I imagine they will trade for a traditional point guard at some point in the season, but this makes them incredibly hard to predict. The front court is going to be incredible, but the back court has a lot of questions. Finally, the Lakers. If they can get 55ish games from Lebron, I think they can be very formidable in the West. Luka led a worse Mavericks team to the Finals a few years ago, and while Ayton is beyond inconsistent, he does make the team better than last year.

The middle of the West is anyone’s guess. The Clippers looked really good last season and took Denver to 7 with Kawhi looking like he did in 2019. It just feels impossible that he can have two pretty healthy seasons in a row anymore. The Spurs feel fully dependent on Wemby’s health and how well he and Fox play together once Fox is healthy. I have way too much confidence in the Blazers being good this year, but they seem to finally have a defensive identity and closed last year really well. While they don’t necessarily have an obvious star that can lead a team, I don’t think they have any weak position on the floor, and they look young and feisty and excited to play defense, which, at least in the regular season, should provide enough wins to make the play-in. Grizzlies and Mavericks, I have the same issue with, which is just the consistency of their players being available, and losing players in the offseason to trades or injury.

The bottom of the West is pretty rough, and they have to play all the above teams so many times. The four teams I have at the bottom are a mix of bad rosters, injury-riddled stars, and one completely inept franchise. Phoenix is in shambles after the KD trade. I think the best 5 players on the team are all Shooting Guards, and while Booker has voiced loyalty, will he really want to stick this out? It’s going to be a long time before they can build something remotely solid out of this. Utah is awful, and I can’t imagine Markennan will be there after the trade deadline either. The Pelicans look alright on paper, but I have as much faith in Zion staying healthy as I do Embiid, and they are starting the season without Dejounte Murray. Finally, the Kings I am probably lower on than I should be. Sabonis is great, DeRozan is still lethal from the midrange, and LaVine is a very solid offensive guard. But even with all that talent, they are still the Kings, so I assume they will fire their head coach during the season and trade Sabonis for a sack of beans.

Eastern Conference

Evan

Playoffs	Play-In	Out
Cleveland Cavaliers	7. Boston Celtics	11. Indiana Pacers
New York Knicks	8. Toronto Raptors	12. Charlotte Hornets
Orlando Magic	9. Miami Heat	13. Chicago Bulls
Milwaukee Bucks	10. Philadelphia 76ers	14. Brooklyn Nets
Atlanta Hawks		15. Washington Wizards
Detroit Pistons

Another year, another season of the East being trash. The Cavs, Knicks, Magic, and maybe the Bucks should all be pretty good. After that, though, the East is made up of a lot of mediocrity.

At the top of the conference, I could see either the Cavs or the Knicks taking the top spot. But have a lot of talent and depth, and are well-coached rosters. But, I’m gonna give the edge to the Cavs for the simple reason that they have been the dominant regular season team the past 2 years. I think the Magic are gonna take another leap this year and grab the 3 seed. Their roster, when healthy, is stacked, and we’ll continue to see growth from many of their young players. The rest of the top 6 is a bit more of a shoulder shrug. I think the Bucks can take 4th because Giannis is Giannis and can carry this team in a weak East. I think Porzingis can give the Hawks a big enough lift to get the 5th seed, and the Pistons are finally on the rise and should be able to grab 6th.

For the play-in slots, the Celtics will obviously drop from last year with Tatum out, but this roster is definitely talented enough to be a top-8 team. After that, I have very little confidence from 8-13. Any of those teams could fend off the others and grab a play-in spot. But I think the Raptors, Heat, and 76ers are in the best position to do so.

As far as the bottom 5 go, the Pacers definitely overachieved last year, and having Haliburton out for the season, as well as trading Myles Turner, will force them into a down year. The Hornets have solid talent, but they haven’t shown enough signs of growth or chemistry to suggest they can make the play-in. The Bulls need to rebuild, but they seem to refuse to do so, so we’ll sadly see them continue to exist in NBA purgatory.

One thing everyone will agree on, though, is that the Nets and Wizards will both suck.

Micah

Playoffs	Play-In	Out
Cleveland Cavaliers	7. Boston Celtics	11. Charlotte Hornets
New York Knicks	8. Philadelphia 76ers	12. Indiana Pacers
Orlando Magic	9. Miami Heat	13. Chicago Bulls
Detroit Pistons	10. Toronto Raptors	14. Brooklyn Nets
Milwaukee Bucks		15. Washington Wizards
Atlanta Hawks

The East feels even harder to predict than the West, because instead of having so many good teams that are all competing with the idea of winning the championship, the East is filled with mediocrity and injured stars.

Matchup: OKC Thunder vs New York Knicks

I know, picking OKC to make it again is boring, but I just don’t see any team in the West that can compete with them when healthy. Their team is stacked, and they’re only going to get better as much of their young roster learns and grows. As much as I loved the Nuggets’ offseason, I just don’t see anyone in the West being able to stop this Thunder team.

The East is between the Cavs and Knicks for me, and while I’d like to see Donovan Mitchell make it to the finals, I think the Knicks will be able to fight their way into the finals. The Cavs have chocked in the postseason the past two years, and they haven’t done anything to give me confidence that that wont happen again.

Winner: OKC Thunder

Like I said, boring. But again, I just don’t see a team that can contend against a healthy Thunder roster. No other team in the league is so complete and is able to score at every level like OKC can. If the team stays healthy, they should be able to repeat.

Micah

Matchup: OKC Thunder Vs the New York Knicks

In the East, I think the only two teams that can reasonably come out on top are the Knicks and the Cavs, and the Cavs have shown over the last two years that they can’t be trusted. The Knicks looked really good last year and have been on a consistent rise the past couple of seasons. With the Pacers and Celtics both suffering ACL injuries to their stars and losing prominent members in the offseason, this is the best window the Knicks have to win the East.

In the West, I am picturing a 7-game series in the WCF between OKC and Denver. While there are more wildcards in the West that could play themselves into the mix, these two feel like the biggest threats. Ultimately, I see the defending champions only getting better this year. They still have a young team with players either in or approaching their prime, and they come into this season keeping their entire playing roster consistent with last year.

Winner: OKC Thunder

Honestly, I feel like the true finals are going to take place when the Nuggets play the Thunder. It’s hard for me to imagine the East winning, but I also never expected to see the Pacers put on the type of show they did last year, so who knows. The Thunder are just so good. Barring injuries, they don’t really have anything in the way but themselves, and I think they’re too young and focused to get in their own way.

That’s a wrap on our 2025-26 NBA predictions! We’ll be keeping tabs all season long to see which of our calls hold up and which ones come back to haunt us. Be sure to check back after the Finals to see how our picks aged—and to let us know whose predictions you think were the most accurate (or the most delusional).

Also, a quick note from me: I know it’s been a bit since my last post, but I’m excited to be back at it and have plenty of content planned for the months ahead. Thanks for sticking with me, and stay tuned for more sports takes, breakdowns, and debates coming soon.

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