SOUTHWEST DIVISION
Dallas Mavericks
Will the Mavericks be top guns again? Or will they keep digging away, like the new Tom Cruise movie that’s divided critics, like this franchise has its fans? Since the days of Dirk, Dallas have lost Luka, and the man they traded him for, big champ Anthony Davis. They still have the super-sub of Max Christie, mind you. Nico Harrison briefly looked like a genius when they drafted number one Rookie of the Year, Cooper Flagg to fly theirs. But the post-Dončić depression still lingers on mostly ringless fingers.
Taking Zaccharie Risacher from the talons of the Atlanta Hawks give the Mavs the international future, with the Frenchman, that they once had in Germany and Slovenia. Add ninth pick, Morez Johnson Jr., from Michigan, to Duke alum Cooper’s court and the future is college certified with a gap year overseas. Yet after 586 days, it’s a healthy Kyrie Irving that really gives the Texan team enough gunslinging to duel with the West best, the Spurs and former Brooklyn teammate Kevin Durant’s Rockets. The triangle is about to shine bright like a diamond.
Houston Rockets
Everybody rightfully talks about LeBron’s longevity, but KD is about to enter year 20. Kevin Durant may have switched teams like he does social media burner accounts, but he seems to have found a non-problematic home in Houston. Losing to LeBron in his last Lakerland run, the capable contending Rockets just swiped Marcus Smart after LA were dumb enough to not pay the defensive stalwart and difference maker he his respectful due. This veteran side led by youth also added Bogdan Bogdanović. A real international difference maker that scouting reports need to pick up.
Durant is one of the greatest, but the H-town isn’t just run by him alone. And that’s what makes this Houston side one of the most compelling since Hakeem Olajuwon, Kenny Smith, Sam Cassell and Robert Horry were winning rings. And we loved the Yao Ming eras with Steve Franchise and T-Mac. Not to mention, the Drexler, Barkley and Pippen ones, too. Hand to God, Amen Thompson is the best of two heaven sent hoop twins and Alperen Sengun isn’t afraid to get under the King’s skin. Just how big he can become will determine how much this Rocket soars in the stratosphere.
Memphis Grizzlies
After the glorious grit and grind era (Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol, Rudy Gay, Tony Allen and Mike Conley) of the Grizz gave way to the one of Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr, Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks, we thought we’d have a long-term Western powerhouse in our palms, like those San Antonio and Sacramento teams of old. But then Canada’s greatest competitor ran his mouth in Hollywood (which even us Laker fans loved), and then he was unfairly ran out of town. Followed swiftly, and amazingly by the rest of the cohesive core, featuring a star no more troubled than his Iverson inspiration was (Ja) and a dominant Defensive Player of the Year (Jaren).
More break-ups than a Taylor Swift song have now resulted in a new era, and the starter cap is given to the third pick, Duke’s Cameron Boozer, following in the big sneaker steps of his father Carlos. Teaming up with another junior in the impressive son of Scotty Pippen. Super sophomore’s Cedric Coward and Zach Edey look to make even more of a jump in year two, and this is a team that also has the family ties of Jerami Grant in their frontcourt, alongside Isaiah Stewart for that true grit. There’s a whole new Boozer bruising identity in Tennessee. Can it translate to a title one day for the always on the outside of contention, former Vancouver side?
New Orleans Pelicans
Once touted as the league’s greatest prospect since LeBron James, what will Zion Williamson’s legacy be? The Dukie is still one of the foremost faces in the association to build a formidable franchise around, but in year seven, it’s time for him to seal the deal if he wants to belong in the league’s elite. Alongside Trey Murphy, he is young and veteran enough to help the development of Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen. Two young studs who aren’t scared of anyone. But for NOLA to become NBA royalty and have a Mardi Gras parade down Bourbon Street, they need the Dutch courage that Anthony Davis gave them before he was courted by the Lake Show.
They didn’t do much in the draft. Or anything in the postseason, last year, but they did pick-up AJ Johnson, Bennedict Mathurin, Jaron Pierre Jr. and Trendon Watford this off-season. These Pelicans will need more from gunners Dejounte Murray and Jordan Poole, not to mention locker room voices like Herb Jones, Saadiq Bey and DeAndre Jordan, if they hope to avoid being a lottery pick again next summer. Otherwise their former first-round pick might follow the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo to the other side.
San Antonio Spurs
With a beastly East, the West just wasn’t what it was when us millennials were growing up. Surprisingly, the San Antonio Spurs are though. Dethroning the weekend of years ago champion Oklahoma City Thunder and testing the New York champ Knicks until the hand of OG delivered the Big Apple a trophy. The young Texan titans didn’t need a top ten pick in this summer’s draft. They had a top five pick in the last three. Duelling wings Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. Stepping it up in the name of the latter’s father and the former’s own kingdom. And then of course there’s the big, really big, seven-foot-four big, Victor Wembanyama.
The biggest hype since the King. The most freakishly athletic Swiss Army knife following Giannis. Forget unicorns, Wemby really is an alien, and it’s his world now. His New York invasion may have been as successful as Loki’s, but he’s still a marvel, ready to avenge and bring a new doomsday this fall. He’s seen hurt like this before, losing to Team USA in his French home for the Paris 2024 gold. You don’t think he’s ready for his next chess move, training and shaving with Chinese monks? Coach Mitch Johnson (with Billy Donovan and Corliss Williamson by his side), taking over from Pop has plenty. Stars like DeAaron Fox. Vets like Tobias Harris and Harrison Barnes. Glue guys like Julian Champagnie, Devin Vassell and Carter Bryant. To the Victor goes the Spurs. A new classic like the silver uniforms. The Admiral, Duncan, Manu and Parker must be proud.
NORTHWEST DIVISION
Denver Nuggets
With a new NBA champion every season since Toronto, it’s easy to forget that Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets were once holding all the cards. We’ve had Thunder and the click of a Spur since then. And that’s just out west. A conference no longer best as the East aren’t least. Don’t you deal out The Joker just yet, though. Now, there’s a superstar. Still capable of winning multiple MVP’s, like A’ja Wilson in the W. You’d be hard-pressed to find a real big who goes by the title ‘best’ quite like him. Scoring with unbothered abandon. Passing as smoothly as another paint lumberjack in the form of Shaq. Yeah, he play pretends like he’d rather be on his ranch. But we know how much the game means to Jokic, no joke.
As for the rest of the side, they’ve lost some pieces along the way (Michael Porter Jr., Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr.), but the complete core is mostly intact and as inspired as they come. Canadian Jamal Murray is a superstar and a champion. Deserving of more exposure. His Kevin Hart to Don Cheadle “damn” like reaction to how long Aaron Gordon’s been in the league helps. The former dunk champ and king forging a more all-round game in the Mile High. Adding DeMar DeRozan to a bench-mob of Cam Johnson and Whitmore (not to mention champion assistant Jared Dudley), could stone cut Colorado’s way back to contention.
Minnesota Timberwolves
What does a young MJ like Anthony Edwards need for the league to take him seriously, before he takes all of that personally, like a play-alike GOAT? How about a new Ball? We’re not sure if the LaMelo/Ant-Man duo for the Minnesota Timberwolves will be dynamic enough to dethrone super-teams in Philadelphia and champions in Manhattan and Oklahoma. Let alone Wemby’s Spurs. But, we do know, it will be the most exciting to watch on the alley-oop fast-break. Edwards and Ball are the new Showbiz and KG of Stephon Marbury and Kevin Garnett. Let’s just hope they can last in the Minny cold.
These young princes could reign like the former franchise that now plays in purple and gold. A twin-city tandem that could play for the Globes with the way they’ll have the ball, and a watching world, on a string. The T-Wolves did have to give up their heart, and fan-favourite Naz Reid to get this, mind you. And that will hurt them. Yet Chris Finch’s roster still boasts multiple DPOY winner Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels and Donte DiVicenzo. They even stole away Jonathan Kuminga when everyone thought he was bound for Hollywood. He will be the make or break difference maker. Just don’t call him by his fan-formed new nickname.
Oklahoma City Thunder
For all the one and done NBA champions since ’19, we were struck that the Thunder didn’t repeat like replays of SGA in his bag. The best player in the NBA is still Canadian. Shai-Gilgeous Alexander drawing doubles like he does fouls, a frustrating but fantastic skill-set. Yet his 2024/2025 champion Oklahoma City Thunder were dethroned by a world of Wemby and a San Antonio side that showed dynasties in the making can be even younger than the teacher that inspired them, before the student beat the master. Waxing off.
This time last year, people were saying this was OKC’s league, so long as they can keep it all together. This off-season, the Thunder just lost Lu Dort to the East, just like their ‘chip. They really are in ‘The Dorture Chamber now’. Still, Shai is covering TIME magazine as a model of excellence, and more than a sidekick, Jalen Williams is drawing fans as he tours Tokyo and all other stops in Asia. Twelfth pick Aday Mara joins the core of Jared McCain, Jaylin Williams, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Hartenstein and big Chet Holmgren. As long as they don’t lose anymore, the Thunder will be right back after these messages. Stop writing off winners.
Portland Trail Blazers
Blazing a trail since the Portland Trail Blazers sole championship in 1977, courtesy of the late, great, Grateful Dead headband rocking Bill Walton, RIP City has come up smelling of roses, and what’s good for those flowers (see, Derrick’s nickname). We had the ‘Jail Blazers’ era (immortalized in a new, UNTOLD Netflix documentary). And Dame Time, which is back in the PDX, like the Portland Fire franchise is the WNBA. Lillard can still clutch buckets, but with the clock-winding down, it’s now on him to mentor the next greats ready to blaze their own trails.
Will that be the trials and tribulations of a troubled, but terribly talented Ja Morant (we still believe in Ja, and that we can rule)? Or former G-League star Scott Henderson? How about both in one of the best backcourts Portlandia, or the league have seen since CJ McCollum was in town? The Cuttino Mobley to Damian Lillard’s Steve Francis. Portland also has stock in the youth of Deni Avdija and have just added champion Knick bench-warmer Jeremy Sochan. Can this former top ten pick rediscover some of that San An form with Rodman hair colour?
Utah Jazz
From picking and rolling with Stockton and Malone, to the impressionable Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer, and the more recent record regular season eras of Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, many a Jazz age has ended, but now we have a new one in play for Salt Lake City, courtesy of the second-pick of the 2026 NBA Draft. Adam Silver called the name of Darryn Peterson and the rest could be historical for the Kansas Jayhawk, who has already been on the cover of SLAM, mere moments after covering his braids with a Jazz note draft cap.
Utah will be singing from different sheet music after missing out on the playoffs last season out in the desert. Superstar Lauri Markkanen, stud Keyonte George and former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. traded in will make sure of that. Not to mention the upside of a young Ace Bailey, happy to be here. Picking up Jusuf Nurkić, Josh Green and a dunking Jaxson Hayes helps the likes of Svi Mykhailiuk and Mo Bamba, but now it’s time to see if the Jazz’s identity lies with Lauri, Bailey, or the second top five pick to be selected in as many a year.
PACIFIC DIVISION
Golden State Warriors
The good-natured Stephen Curry jokingly walked out of a media day press conference when asked if the Golden State Warriors’ expectations were on the playoffs this season. Let’s not write off the 2022 champs or the greatest shooter the game has ever seen just yet. Steph, the defensive-minded Draymond Green and Coach Steve Kerr talked about last season maybe being the last time after a hard-fought, heart-breaking SoFi Play-In tournament loss. They are all back, although clearly missing the Klay Thompson of their TD, TP and Ginobili, SAS like big-three. But GSW won’t take any more hits from the press.
The dubbed big-three age may have given way to father time and free agency, but the future is secured with Brandin Podziemski, five-years and 110 million dollars. Even if Jonathan Kuminga has finally left the building. Eleventh pick Yaxel Lendeborg had an MVP off-season, too, leading the San Francisco side to the Summer League championship. Sure, a potential James gang Olympic reunion with Curry didn’t yield the LeDubs, and Buddy Hield is gone. But Jimmy Butler III, Gary Payton II, Kristaps Porziņģis and Al Horford aren’t. And here comes Georges Niang and Brandon Williams. We still believe. Besides, look at the jersey patch. This one is for Nellie.
L.A. Clippers
Not since the days of Joe Smith has someone been punished so hard in the NBA. Barring bar-room like brawls on the floor, that is. After the Kawhi Leonard incident, Steve Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers have more potential stars wasted in future drafts than their Laker neighbours once had. We see you, Josh Hart and company. Speaking of which, now the trade is official and Kawhi is back laughing all the way to The Six, Brandon Ingram is the new leader of the Clips. At least Bradley Beal stuck around, too. But have his best days?
Another former Laker, in mid-range magic to downtown artist Rui Hachimura heads to a Los Angeles side that appreciates him more like all the Zubac’s before him. The Black Samurai, who could be a star, also made history with fellow countryman Yuki Kawamura as the first Japanese duo to sign for the same team in the NBA. Although at press time Kawamura has been cut, he could still be called up via the G-League San Diego Clippers. Darius Garland, Kris Dunn and Brook Lopez offer more stability. And Cam Christie and Gradey Dick are ready to go to the future, but it seems like the Clippers will be licking their wounds from the mistakes that they made for seasons and drafts to come…and go.
Los Angeles Lakers
Shaq and Kobe. Magic and Kareem. Wilt and West. Legendary Laker teams have almost always featured an inside/outside, one-two punch. But now the era of The King and The Brow is over, ‘The Don’ Luka Dončić and a supermaxed out Austin Reaves give the Lake Show their first wing dynamic duo since the fire and ice of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. Back when LA played in blue and white. Can the internet dubbed ‘Snowtime’ Lakers (really?) take the purple back to the gold? Feeling like a more consistent cast in the city of big names, Hollywood knows, with Karl Malone and Gary Payton, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, and Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook, that super-teams don’t always go according to script.
Never fear, mind you, James is still here. Bronny James that is. Wanting to make his own ‘Bron name. When LeBron told the Lakers he was leaving, Rob Pelinka went Rodeo Drive shopping. The receipts read Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes, Matisse Thybulle, Jaden Hardy, Ziaire Williams and Kevon Looney. But it also seems like everything must go, as Hollywood also said goodbye to Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton, Jaxson Hayes, Drew Timme and Maxi Kleber. Let’s hope steal of the summer Cameron Carr isn’t a rook that gets lost in JJ Redick’s revamped rotation.
Phoenix Suns
Has the NBA been applying Sun block? Of all the victims of the different champion 2020s, it seems Phoenix have been hit the hardest. And we just feel sorry for Devin Booker. Coming so close to the Cream City championship of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, and no cigar since then. Not even the taste of Western Conference championship champagne. Although we could see PHX rise on a heater this campaign and lift something like the NBA Cup. It’s time to pull the needles out of the cactus, this club is far from a casket.
Sure, the Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Deandre Ayton days are well and truly gone. And a combination of those former faces could have formed a Golden State Warrior like big-three, but you can count on a new trio headed by Devin in a hoops world that hasn’t been the same since nasty Nash won back-to-back MVPs with STAT and The Matrix. Canadian enforcer Dillon Brooks now has an offensive arsenal to match his defensive schemes. And when it comes to star Jalen Green, few in the league have his upside. Adding the dunks of Miles Bridges and Luke Kennard from downtown helps even more with Mark Williams manning the middle. Deep playoff run? Book it!
Sacramento Kings
With LeBron gone to Pennsylvania, the new King in the Pacific is, well, the Kings. Sacramento once rang cowbells when C-Webb, Vlade, Peja, White Chocolate or Mike Bibby and Doug Christie used to beat L.A. Now coach Christie’s just as well-rounded roster is lighting all sorts of beams, even without DeAaron Fox, or Rick Fox bothering Doug during his playing days. This is still a dominant Domantas Sabonis’ team, but it’s younger now, getting mentored by the likes of Zach LaVine, now his Bulls reunion with DeMar DeRozan has galloped out of town.
Seventh seal of the draft Darius Acuff Jr. joins Keegan Murray and company as the Kings look to power through a still in it Pacific to vie for the West’s best. Favourite Malik Monk and the always reliable Precious Achiuwwa round out the roster with De’Andre Hunter establishing himself like the Marvin Bagley III’s of kingdom come and gone did before him. The real wild-card was defensive ace Ben Simmons. The former future of Philadelphia’s process sat out last season and now, he will do, this one. It was time for a rejuvenation like the recently retired triple-double legend Russell Westbrook in his last year here. And why not? Well, because of Achilles and the tear Simmons sadly suffered. But he’ll be back…that you can trust.
