The NBA regular season begins in exactly two months. There are a few serious questions left unanswered in terms of roster construction. But no matter where some of those players land, we do know a few things heading into these final weeks before camp begins. The best two teams appear to be in the West, the champion Knicks are running it back with mostly the same crew, and their competition to even get to the Finals is the toughest field in at least a decade. Factor in the new penalties for tanking and, well, the season should feature a whole bunch of teams winning between 35 and 50 games. Here’s a quick rundown of all of them, organized by how many games I project they’ll win.
New York Knicks 53-29 (Vegas 52.5)
Losing Mitchell Robinson hurts. The East is better than it has been in years. And they’d have been runners-up had the Thunder been healthy. But it’s almost exactly the same group that won the title last year (and they owe no one an apology for that), and they know who they are. The tweak Mike Brown made to their offense in the Hawks series that helped them go 15-1 after Game 3 can be a major function of their offense from day one. I would not be surprised to see more of Tyler Kolek, a heady pick-and-roll player who is an elite passer and a very good shooter. He just needs to be solid to give them even more depth.
Indiana Pacers 51-31 (Vegas 44.5)
The Pacers win the “most underrated” out of all 30 teams, no surprise, as I have been high on them for years (even though I picked them to lose three of their four series in that Finals run two seasons ago!). They suffered not just the loss of Tyrese Haliburton for all of last season, but Myles Turner too (for a very different reason). Then two other starters plus Obi Toppin went down, and that was that. Ivica Zubac gives them a different look, one that I think will work very well. His size at the rim on both ends will be huge, and he’s a good passer, perfect for clever cutters in Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard, and Pascal Siakam. They have a top-four starting five, but I do have concerns in their second unit; T.J. McConnell and Jay Huff specifically. Jarace Walker showed major steps forward last year once the calendar turned to ‘26, and Ben Sheppard/Johnny Furphy (in 2027) and new Pacers wing Kelly Oubre all will get their chances to crack a rotation that plays deeper than most.
