The 2025-26 NBA season is in the books, and the New York Knicks are your champions.
It is time, then, for your way-too-early 2026-27 power rankings (contenders only edition).
We granted the Knicks through their championship parade before informing them that they are not, in fact, No. 1 in our rankings. I’m sure they are just devastated by this news. Their fans will have to wipe their tears with all that championship gear they purchased.
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But, c’mon, man: The Knicks weren’t supposed to win the title. That’s what made it so fun.
By my count, there are 11 teams, as currently constituted, that can win next year’s crown, and that is being generous, because I have to be, because the 53-win Knicks just won the freaking championship. Here we attempt to put them in order from least to most likely to win the 2027 NBA championship, giving New York one more chance to prove us wrong.
(Dillon Marshall/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
The Rockets lost All-Star point guard Fred VanVleet to an ACL injury prior to last season, and then lost starting center Steven Adams to season-ending ankle surgery in January. They never replaced either and still managed to win 52 games during the regular season.
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In the playoffs, though, the absences showed. A 41-year-old LeBron James, performing entirely without Luka Dončić and mostly without Austin Reaves, grounded the Rockets, who could not match the Lakers’ organization and physicality in the opening-round exit.
Still, they have talent, starting with Kevin Durant, who made the All-NBA Second Team at age 37. Maybe the returns of VanVleet and Adams cure what ails them. Maybe collective improvement from the under-25 contingent — Alperen Şengün, Amen Thompson, Jabari Smith Jr. and Reed Sheppard among them — propels them into more serious contention.
The 19-win Pacers are contenders? They are, so long as All-NBA point guard Tyrese Haliburton returns to form from an Achilles injury that kept him out all of last season. He is that special, capable of coalescing a roster into a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
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Indiana returns All-Star forward Pascal Siakam and much of a core that reached Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, as Haliburton suffered his injury. At February’s trade deadline, the Pacers added 29-year-old center Ivica Zubac, who can make an All-Star team in the East. Of course, that deal with the Los Angeles Clippers ultimately cost them the No. 5 overall pick, a selection that might have helped propel the franchise forward into next decade.
Still, with Haliburton at the helm, the Pacers can field the NBA’s most free-flowing offense, and with Zubac now as a defensive anchor, they should be able to compete with anyone on both ends of the floor. If only they can rediscover the magic of that 2025 run.
The Pistons won 60 regular-season games and captured the East’s No. 1 seed for the first time in two decades, sending 24-year-old point guard Cade Cunningham to the All-NBA First Team and 22-year-old center Jalen Duren to the Third Team. The positives end there.
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Detroit required a 3-1 comeback and an injury to Orlando Magic star Franz Wagner to escape the opening round against the East’s No. 8 seed. The Pistons then could not navigate their way through the next seven games against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round and left with questions about a struggling Duren’s next contract in restricted free agency.
After making the playoffs last season for the first time since 2019, and after winning a series this season for the first time since 2008, the next step on their path seems clear. Whether or not Tobias Harris is the starting power forward to get them into a conference finals or beyond remains to be seen, but the Pistons have the assets to make an upgrade.
8. Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers are climbing those playoff rungs, too. They made the playoffs for the first time of the post-LeBron James era in 2023 and lost in the first round. They reached the second round in 2024 and 2025, before breaking through this past season to the Eastern Conference finals, where they were swept by the eventual champion New York Knicks.
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Even as one of the final four teams standing, Cleveland has a ways to go toward closing the gap on a title. The roster is full of redundancies — between guards Donovan Mitchell and James Harden, between bigs Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, and at the wing position.
There are also massive questions to answer this summer. Harden holds a $42.3 million option for next season. If he declines it, the Cavs will be in a Catch-22 — overpay him in free agency, tying Mitchell’s future to a 37-year-old, or risk losing the only asset they got back for 26-year-old, two-time All-Star Darius Garland. Mitchell is due an extension, too, and if he declines that, well, Cleveland could risk completely cratering from this perch.
7. Los Angeles Lakers
Who knows what the Lakers will look like next season, but they will boast Luka Dončić, who led the Dallas Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals, who just made a sixth All-NBA First Team, and who they acquired for cents on a dollar midway through the previous season.
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LeBron James is an unrestricted free agent, and unless he accepts a massive pay cut, the Lakers must decide whether it is worth tying more of Dončić’s prime to a 41-year-old. Maybe James’ salary is better spent elsewhere, especially since Austin Reaves is owed a new contract. Or maybe banking on James as the NBA’s best third option is still the play.
Whatever the answer, the Lakers — arguably the league’s most coveted destination — have an entire offseason to better fit the roster around Dončić, which means upgrading from Deandre Ayton at the center position and improving their defense on the wings.
After two consecutive trips to the Western Conference finals, the Timberwolves defeated the 2023 champion Denver Nuggets in the opening round of the playoffs and took the 62-win San Antonio Spurs to six games in the second round, despite Donte DiVincenzo’s Achilles injury and lingering concerns over Anthony Edwards’ left knee.
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Edwards, 24, is still flanked by All-Stars Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert, and Jaden McDaniels — a 25-year-old wing — emerged as a reliable playoff performer. There is no doubt that this group, when healthy, believes it can compete with any other opponent.
And maybe they can, especially if they upgrade at the point guard position, where a 38-year-old Mike Conley is no longer an elite-level organizer and defender. They will have to bolster their bench, too, in the absence of DiVincenzo. Minnesota executive Tim Connelly is as creative as it gets, and we should expect this roster to look better at season’s start.
5. Denver Nuggets
We can’t quit the Nuggets, even after a first-round exit, because they feature Nikola Jokić, the NBA’s three-time MVP and (still) arguably the best player alive. Who, exactly, joins him in Denver next season is in some question, as every other Nugget is available.
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Even if Denver doesn’t take a big swing, even if the Nuggets stand pat, they should be in a conversation among contenders again, especially if they stay healthy. Peyton Watson missed their entire first-round set, and Aaron Gordon was nursing a strained hamstring.
Watson enters the summer as a restricted free agent, and re-signing him is the priority. So, too, is seeing what upgrades are available from Cameron Johnson, Christian Braun, or even Jamal Murray, as the Nuggets try to improve their defense around a generational offensive talent. Do nothing but run it back, though, and Denver still has reason to believe — including a +13.5 net rating for its starters — it can reach the NBA’s mountaintop again.
Led by Jaylen Brown, playing largely without Jayson Tatum, who did not return from his Achilles injury until March, the Celtics won 56 games, captured the East’s No. 2 seed and were the surprise of the regular season, as Joe Mazzulla was named Coach of the Year.
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They even took a 3-1 lead against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs, looking like a challenger, only to lose three straight games to Joel Embiid and company. Boston lost an opening-round series for the first time with Brown and Tatum in uniform.
That has led to questions about Brown’s availability this summer, specifically in a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo. More likely, the Celtics will look to use a $27.7 million trade exception, or the $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception, or both, to address their issues pressuring the rim. They may even shop Derrick White. Whatever the plan, Boston is going to reload around a healthier Tatum, and that has proven to be a winning formula.
3. New York Knicks
Yes, the reigning NBA champion Knicks are third on these rankings. Yes, that is somewhat disrespectful. And, yes, they should absolutely use this as motivation to defend their title. But what made the Knicks’ quest so exciting was that they were not favored to win a ring.
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And it is fair to wonder if New York can replicate what we just witnessed — a remarkably efficient run through a watered-down Eastern Conference, followed by comeback after comeback against a Spurs team that led the NBA Finals for the vast majority of the time. Can we really expect Jalen Brunson to perform like Michael Jordan in the clutch again?
Maybe that is just who he is, and who the Knicks are, and maybe they will be emboldened by their title, even harder to put away. But chances are they won’t be as healthy, or even look the same next season, as team owner James Dolan has already indicated there will be cost-cutting measures. It is hard to repeat. Just ask the previous seven champions.
Weeks removed from the Thunder’s Western Conference finals loss to the Spurs, we can apply some perspective. Had Jalen Williams or Ajay Mitchell remained healthy, the NBA’s 2025 champions probably beat San Antonio and definitely give New York a better series.
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No sweeping changes are necessary in Oklahoma City, where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is still the league’s two-time defending MVP, and everyone else is under contract next year. The Thunder own the NBA’s deepest roster and its most trade assets, including a pair of first-round picks in next week’s draft, so if they did want to address the roster, they could.
But they should trust in an infrastructure that over the past two seasons has yielded 132 regular-season wins, a title and a narrow conference finals loss at less than full strength. Even weeks later, it is still hard to believe any team beat this one four times in seven tries.
1. San Antonio Spurs
It is the Spurs who slayed the Thunder, and they deserve a ton of credit for making a run to the NBA Finals in their first playoffs together. Of course, they deserve equal amounts of blame for the way their postseason ended, squandering lead after lead to the Knicks.
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Turns out the Spurs, featuring 22-year-old phenom Victor Wembanyama, 21-year-old rising star Stephon Castle and 20-year-old sensation Dylan Harper, needed playoff scars, after all. The ones they got were wounds, and they could respond in one of two ways.
Given everything we saw from Wemby, Castle and Harper on this run — all the incredibly high highs, and, yes, those very low lows — shouldn’t we expect them to come back next season better, hungrier and more prepared to meet the rigors of another 100-game year? The Knicks, it seems, achieved their ceiling, but we don’t yet know what San Antonio’s is.
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