1 Word To Describe Every NBA Team In 2026
The New Year gives NBA teams an opportunity to decide who they'd like to be in the coming 12 months. But resolution season doesn't really amount to anything unless you first know who you already are.
In that spirit, let's look around the league and assign each team a word that captures its current state.
These aren't final assessments, but instead snapshots of where all 30 squads stand at the moment. Some, like the Oklahoma City Thunder, might be feeling vulnerable for the first time. Others, such as the Los Angeles Clippers, head into the new year feeling more potent than at any point in the recent past.
Let's set the tone for 2026 with a single word for each team.
Atlanta Hawks: Crossroads
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The Atlanta Hawks may be looking for the exit ramp, but Trae Young is the one at the wheel.
If the Hawks are more serious than ever about trading the four-time All-Star, which seems likely after offseason extension talks went nowhere and the team didn't seem markedly worse without Young, they'll do it with limited leverage. Young owns a player option for 2026-27 that allows him to either hit free agency after the season or threaten to do so if his acquiring team is squeamish about a new deal.
It's probably the right call to move on from Young, but that doesn't matter as much as you'd think. The market for Young is complicated by his option and the potential presence of other, younger guards at the same position. There's probably not a team that'd give up more for Young's effectively expiring deal than for LaMelo Ball's longer contract.
The Hawks may finally have the will to move forward, but they'll struggle to find a way.
Boston Celtics: Skilled
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Some of the Boston Celtics' ongoing refusal to fall out of the East's top four owes to scheme. Head coach Joe Mazzulla has them shooting the third-most threes per game while allowing absolutely nothing at the rim, an almost perfect attempt to win the nightly shot-diet math game.
At the same time, you've got to acknowledge the level of skill behind Boston's success.
Jaylen Brown's development is an obvious example. He's scoring just under 30.0 points per game thanks mostly to incredible accuracy on self-created jumpers. He's drilling 56.9 percent of his shots from 16-23 feet.
More broadly, the Celtics are taking almost two more pull-up threes per game than any other team, typically a harder shot than the standstill variety. They're at 35.0 percent on those attempts, the best of any team getting up at least a dozen such shots per game.
You can't post a top-five offense while virtually never getting to the foul line unless you've got some serious shot-making chops. Boston doesn't have roughly half of its rotation from last season, but it's still clearly got enough high-skill players.
Brooklyn Nets: Developing
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The Brooklyn Nets won more often than they lost in December, a fairly surprising result considering they closed out November with four straight defeats to drop to 3-16 on the season.
While victories over the Bucks, Raptors, Sixers and others this past month came on the strength of veteran effort (Michael Porter Jr. couldn't miss, and Nic Claxton's passing became a real weapon) and shockingly good collective defense, some stemmed from youth.
Danny Wolf was a more frequent rotation presence, and he flashed the court sense and playmaking savvy that made him an intriguing prospect. Meanwhile, Egor DĆ«min hovered around 40.0 percent from three in December while moving the ball and venturing into the lane a little more often.
None of Brooklyn's other three first-round rookies made similar impacts, but all of Ben Saraf, Drake Powell and Nolan Taore averaged at least 13.0 minutes per game when they saw action.Ā
Saraf and Traore have both averaged double figures and shot the three well for Long Island when they've shuttled down to the G League, while Wolf's even greater dominance at that level (on offense) was the reason he earned significant time in Brooklyn.
Charlotte Hornets: Control
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One of the key components of NBA survival is controlling what you can. For the Charlotte Hornets, who are alarmingly short on shooting whenever Kon Knueppel misses time and can't defend regardless of who's on the floor, that means dominating the glass.
Rebounding is a major strength for a Hornets team that otherwise has few of them, and it's been vital to this year's relative success. Though Charlotte isn't a real playoff threat, it's on track to post its highest win total since 2021-22.
The benefits of good glasswork show up on both ends. Charlotte's offense is right around the league averageānot because it scores efficiently or takes care of the ball (it does neither), but because the Hornets are fifth in offensive rebound rate.
On the other end, Charlotte is even better at handling the boards. Opponents grab offensive rebounds just 26.9 percent of the time, the third-lowest figure in the league.
Niche competency keeps the Hornets respectable on most nights.
Chicago Bulls: Ticking
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Ticking could be a reference to the Chicago Bulls' time-sensitive decisions as we get deeper into 2026ānamely trade possibilities that involve free-agents-to-be Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Nikola Vucevic.
Instead, this is about a defense that has a time-bomb quality to it.
No team allows opponents to get a higher share of their shots at the rim, and the Bulls also sit just outside the bottom 10 in opponent corner three-point attempt frequency.
As a result of permitting so many high-value shots, they have the highest expected opponent field-goal percentage in the league. So far, though, their actual effective field-goal percentage allowed only ranks 20th.
When the numbers regress, it's going to be much harder for the Bulls to keep hanging around the .500 mark.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Buy
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The Cleveland Cavaliers are missing far too many open threes, giving up offensive boards at the worst times and still struggling to get their full rotation healthy all at once. Despite these facts, which make it seem like the version of the team that won 64 games last year is dead and gone, this is a great time to buy stock in the Cavs.
The pendulum has swung way too far toward doom and gloom, and though it's harder to imagine Cleveland recovering all of the offensive dominance that produced last year's East-leading record, it's not as if anyone else in the conference has "juggernaut" written all over them.
Even after that brutal blown-lead loss to the New York Knicks on Christmas, head coach Kenny Atkinson was more upbeat than you'd expect. "I told the guys after (the game), like, I couldn't be more encouraged," he told reporters, via Joe Vardon of The Athletic. "Disappointed in kind of how we lost, but like I keep telling you, buy the dip, I got a ton of confidence in this group."
Invest in the Cavs, if only for the value proposition.
Dallas Mavericks: Rectified
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The Dallas Mavericks became a functional basketball team on Nov. 28, the first night Ryan Nembhard started at point guard. The undrafted free agent injected playmaking and offensive organization to an operation that lacked both in the early going.Ā
Though the damage done to its offensive rating over the first month or so of the season means Dallas remains a bottom-three attack, it ranks right in the middle of the pack since Nembhard entered the starting five.
The trickle-down effects of playing an actual point guard include a dramatically improved performance by top pick Cooper Flagg, who leads the Mavs in scoring since that fateful Nov. 28 date. Naji Marshall has worked well as a secondary creator, and Max Christie hit over half of his threes in December.
These improvements figure to persist as long as Nembhard is healthy and avoids the rookie wall.
Denver Nuggets: Relieved
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The Denver Nuggets have been better without center Nikola JokiÄ on the floor than they have in the past, due largely to improved depth that includes Jonas Valanciunas, a viable backup center. At minus-6.3, their net rating without the three-time MVP looks pretty good when compared to the standard of the last four years, which hovered around the minus-eight-to-10 range.
That depth will be more thoroughly tested than ever over the next few weeks, as Jokic will be out of the lineup following a knee hyperextension suffered on Dec. 29. Denver will gladly accept the challenge, considering how much worse JokiÄ's injury could have been.
JokiÄ joins fellow starters Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Cam Johnson on the shelf, leaving Jamal Murray as the lone intact member of Denver's preferred first unit. Murray is in search of his first All-Star nod, and the numbers he'll put up as a solo act in January could help him finally check that box.
Detroit Pistons: Confident
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You might think the Detroit Pistons' stellar, East-leading start would convince the front office a go-for-it trade is the right move, but you'd be wrong. Detroit has professed patience and a belief in its existing core throughout the season, and that posture doesn't seem to be changing as we move into 2026.
The Athletic's Hunter Patterson expects the Pistons to be "opportunistic but not aggressive" as the February deadline draws nearer.
On some level, Detroit's posture is disappointing. Tobias Harris' expiring salary makes for a good matching tool, and Jaden Ivey is the type of second-draft prospect other teams often covet. Throw in another mid-tier salary and some picks, and the Pistons could get into the bidding for a big name.
At the same time, Detroit's confidence in its personnel is admirable. Better still, it might be well-founded. Between Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, Ausar Thompson, Isaiah Stewart and Ron Holland II, the Pistons have significant upside. That's no small thing when you're already leading the conference.
Golden State Warriors: Fading
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Head coach Steve Kerr's words; not ours.
"We are no longer the 2017 Warriors dominating the NBA," Kerr told reporters on Dec. 24. "We are a fading dynasty. We know that. Everybody knows that."
That assessment matches what observers have seen since the Warriors won the 2022 championship, their fourth and a feat that now feels very clearly like the cherry on top of the core's extended run. There almost certainly won't be another. Golden State is several steps slower, often cannot compete athletically with the league's rising powers and has yet to develop credible young replacements for its aging stars.
Kerr's comments were part of a broadly optimistic exchange in which he also said "we still have potential" and "we can beat anybody on a given night"āboth true, but not the kind of thing you hear about truly great teams.
Hovering around .500, battling the turnover bug and still unable to consistently put up points whenever Stephen Curry is off the floor, the Dubs aren't what they used to be.
Houston Rockets: Relentless
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If the Houston Rockets are defined by one thing, it's their unparalleled pursuit of their own missed shots. No team comes close to their 39.7 percent offensive rebound rate, a figure that spikes by almost six more percentage points whenever Steven Adams is on the floor.
Adams personally corrals 21.5 percent of Houston's misses when he's in the game, a figure bettered by only the New York Knicks Mitchell Robinson, who is arguably the greatest offensive rebounder of the modern era.
It's not just Adams who creates so many extra possessions. Amen Thompson is elite for his position, as is veteran Clint Capela. Josh Okogie and Tari Eason are also among the best board-hoarders on the wing.
As The Athletic's Fred Katz noted in a stellar writeup about the rise of board-crashing, Houston has room to get even better. Per Katz, the Rockets get the offensive board 56.3 percent of the time when they send at least three bodies to the glass, which they only do 15.2 percent of the time.
Indiana Pacers: Historic
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The Memphis Grizzlies used a record 33 different players in 2023-24, a result of myriad injuries. That's not the kind of mark most teams want to chase, but this year's Indiana Pacers are in hot pursuit anyway.
Through less than half of 2025-26, Indy has cycled through a league-high 23 different bodies. Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard and Pascal Siakam have been relative pillars of reliability, each starting at least 20 times. Indy's injury-driven revolving door shows up in another stat: Fifteen different players have logged at least one night in the first unit, including guys like Garrison Mathews, who wasn't even on the roster to begin the season.
Everyone knew the Pacers were in for a difficult season without Tyrese Haliburton running the show, but nobody could have foreseen such a "when it rains, it pours" injury situation. At least Indiana has a chance to set a record of some kind, undesirable as this one may be.
LA Clippers: Exhumed
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It was only mid-December, but the L.A. Clippers' 2025-26 obituary was already written. Losers in 10 of their 11 games from Nov. 23 to Dec. 18, James Harden and Co. were done. Chris Paul was gone, Bradley Beal was already out for the season, and the league's oldest roster somehow looked even more ancient than its posted age.
Then came five straight double-digit wins to close out the calendar year, one of which, a 16-point road drubbing of the Portland Trail Blazers, included a career-high 55 points from Kawhi Leonard.
The Clips are still a long way from the 50-win pace some saw coming into the season, but they're only a couple games out of the Play-In at the moment and certainly have the star power to put a little fear into the teams precariously positioned ahead of them in the standings.
Maybe last year's No. 3 finish in defensive efficiency is unrepeatable, but it's worth noting the Clippers' offensive rating is actually better than it was last season. With Harden and Leonard still producing and Brook Lopez appearing reanimated, L.A. is far from finished.
Los Angeles Lakers: Frustrating
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Even though the Los Angeles Lakers have strangely struggled to produce on offense when Luka DonÄiÄ, LeBron James and Austin Reaves share the floor, as evidenced by their 24th-percentile offensive rating during those minutes, that's not the problem currently vexing fans and much more important figures in the Lakers orbit.
Like head coach JJ Redick for example, whose comments after a Christmas loss marked by another desultory defensive effort were among the strongest he's made since taking control of the team. He framed defensive effort as a choice to reporters.
"Too often, guys don't want to make the choice, and it's pretty consistent who those guys are. Saturday's practice is going to be uncomfortable. ā¦ I'm not doing another 53 games like this."
The Lakers are 25th on defense and may not have the personnel necessary to meet Redick's standardsāunless he's right that defense is more about will than ability.
Memphis Grizzlies: Returned
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Jaren Jackson Jr. didn't just forget how to play, but that seemed to be the case for the first several weeks of the season. An early return from offseason turf toe surgery may have been the explanation for Jackson's struggles, which caused him to look nothing like the All-Star and All-Defensive performer he was in 2024-25.
Midway through December, Jackson began to round into form. He was suddenly moving better defensively, he cracked the 30-point mark for the first time on Dec. 15 and went on a tear of 47.8 percent shooting from deep across seven games from Dec. 15 to Dec. 28.
In other words, the Jackson we all came to know over the last handful of seasons is back. We'll see if any other formerly effective Grizzlies players, like Ja Morant, follow suit in 2026. He put up a season-high 40 points on Dec. 30 against the Sixers, a good way to close out the year.
Miami Heat: Familiar
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For all the early fuss about their revamped and innovative offense, the "new" Miami Heat are starting to look a lot like the old version.
Miami continues to utilize the pick-and-roll less than any other team, but that innovation isn't producing nearly the same results it was in November. The Heat ranked among the bottom 10 in offensive efficiency during the month of December, dropping their overall offensive rating below the league average for the season. That's a comfortable situation for a Heat team that has only rated above 17th in points scored per 100 possessions twice in the last decade.
The good news is that the Heat are staying on brand in a more positive way. They're third in defensive efficiency, continuing a trend of ranking among the top 10 every year since 2015-16.
Whether the offense works or not, the Heat are always going to get stops.
Milwaukee Bucks: Limbo
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Until it resolves itself in a trade, the Giannis Antetokounmpo situation will remain the Milwaukee Bucks' defining feature. All other anglesāa refusal to offensive rebound, an inability to get to the foul line, Ryan Rollins' emergenceājust won't get the same shine as long as the two-time MVP's future remains undecided.
For the moment, Antetokounmpo is outwardly committed to the Bucks. Nobody fully buys that because Giannis is playing the "you didn't hear it from me" card when asked about rumors he'd like to chase championships elsewhereāan excuse that rings hollow because Antetokounmpo's representation keeps letting word slip to certain national reporters that his client is open to moving.
Giannis doesn't want to ask for a trade, and the Bucks don't seem willing to initiate a deal themselves, leaving the franchise in an in-between state that makes contending hard and rebuilding impossible.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Overlooked
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Clutch performance is a legitimate issue for the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it'd be a mistake to define this team by its late-game struggles.
After a handful of conspicuous fourth-quarter flops in November, the Wolves continued to endure occasional giveaway losses in December. An overtime stumble against the Nuggets on Christmas merely added one more tough defeat to the pile. Everyone is going to focus on the nine-point advantage Minnesota surrendered in that one, but let's not overlook their comeback from a deficit that grew as large as 15 points. And let's definitely not overreact and bury a Wolves team that lost to Nikola JokiÄ as he produced the second 50-15-15 line ever recorded.
More broadly, the Wolves are still among the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Their overall net rating is fifth in the West, and their most-used lineup of Anthony Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert is a plus-9.6.
Minnesota has reached the last two Western Conference Finals, Edwards is an elite top-line superstar and the team's overall profile is still that of a contender. Close-and-late losses are just a flaw in need of correcting, not the defining characteristic of this overlooked team.
New Orleans Pelicans: Soothed
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That 2026 first-rounder is never coming back, but the New Orleans Pelicans appear to have snagged a pair of keepers in Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears. They'll help distract from the pain of trading that pick.
Queen has uncommon playmaking chops for a big. He assists on 23.0 percent of his teammates' buckets when in the game, a 94th-percentile rate for his position. At 6'9", the rookie can also generate offense by facing up on the perimeter or starting possessions from the mid-post. The only thing Queen doesn't do well on offense is shoot, but that matters less if he can operate as an on-ball fulcrum.
Fears turns the ball over too often and has real issues with his defensive awareness, but those are to be expected from a teenaged point guard. An elite handle and blinding quickness allow Fears to get wherever he wants on the floor, arguably the most unteachable skill for a young guard.
The Pelicans are still one of the worst teams in the West, that pick is likely to yield a major talent for the Hawks and the rookie duo is going to hit predictable slumps. But at least Fears and Queen give New Orleans fans a couple of reasons for optimism.
New York Knicks: Reinforced
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Even with new head coach Mike Brown moving Jalen Brunson off the ball more as part of an egalitarian offense, the New York Knicks spent most of the early season short on secondary ball-handlers. New York's overall offense is among the best in the league, but it was among the worst whenever Brunson was off the floor.
As the calendar flipped from November to December, second-year guard Tyler Kolek made himself a more consistent presence in the rotation. Though his Christmas outburst against the Cavs generated attention, he'd been a helpful playmaker for several weeks before that.Ā
The result: New York's numbers with Kolek on the floor and Brunson off are actually excellent.
Three of the four most-used lineups with Brunson out and Kolek in are scoring at rates higher New York's full-season figure.
Let's not overstate the impact of a backup point guard. Kolek is still posting a true shooting percentage well below the league average, and a lot of the success the Knicks have had during his minutes comes from strong defensive work that he has relatively little to do with.
Still, Kolek appears to be a legitimate reserve ball-handler who can keep the offense running. That's something the Knicks have needed for a while.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Vulnerable
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You don't hear as much talk about OKC breaking the single-season wins record these days. The San Antonio Spurs took care of that, handing the Thunder three losses (two of which actually count toward their record) in a 12-day span.
It turns out Oklahoma City actually has a vulnerability or two. While it'll be tough for the rest of the league to attack the Thunder with the weapons so successfully utilized by the Spursāa 7'5" shooting guard who plays on a different vertical plane than everyone else, plus a handful of young and aggressive guardsāat least we know the blueprint exists.
The Thunder bleed when cut. They feel pain. They lose games. They're mortal.
For a while there, it seemed like none of the above was true. San Antonio took it to OKC three straight timesātwice by double digits. The Thunder are still the best bet to come out of the West and to win the whole thing, but San Antonio showed those outcomes are no longer the foregone conclusions they seemed.
Orlando Magic: Insufficient
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The Orlando Magic made a significant win-now trade to acquire Desmond Bane over the summer, and they've more recently gotten a breakout stretch from former lottery pick Anthony Black. Due partly to injuries, an offensive scheme that still stalls out and a defense that has surprisingly slipped, the Magic still aren't good enough.
Orlando is on pace to win 42 or 43 games, slightly better than the 41 it managed last year and well short of the 47 it secured in 2023-24.
Paolo Banchero has been a major disappointment, and his shooting struggles have only intensified. More than ever, it's hard to imagine him being the best player on a true postseason threat. All the free throws are nice, but they don't offset the fact that he misses three out of every four triples he attempts.
Franz Wagner has missed time as well, which doesn't help Orlando's bottom line. If he returns at full strength, Banchero figures out how to make a jumper and the defense recaptures its form of a year ago (a healthy Jalen Suggs would help there), maybe the Magic can change their fate. For now, they're among the more disappointing teams in the league.
Philadelphia 76ers: Squandered
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The 2025-26 NBA season has been about the possession battle, with teams crashing the offensive glass, upping their pace and/or applying major defensive pressure in an effort to accumulate more scoring chances than the opponent.
The sheer number of possessions matters, but it's just as important that a team actually does something with them. For instance, a squad that wastes those chances by missing some of the easiest shots on the floor is going to have a hard time surviving.
This feels like a good time to mention that the cobbled-together Pacers are the only team in the league converting a lower percentage of shots inside five feet than the Philadelphia 76ers.Ā
Driven by Tyrese Maxey's leap and strong guard depth, the Sixers have done well to finish 2025 above .500. Imagine what they could achieve if they made a layup once in a while.
Phoenix Suns: Irritating
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This is a compliment, as the Phoenix Suns harass, annoy and generally torment opponents with their cranked-up pace and pressure-heavy defensive approachātactics their personnel seem ideally suited to execute.
Dillon Brooks has never met a confrontation he didn't like (or, probably, initiate), Collin Gillespie plays with the rugged intensity of a guy who had to fight for every second of his career. Because he did.
Ryan Dunn is a rangy pest, Grayson Allen might still be best known for borderline unsportsmanlike aggression and Mark Williams' length makes him unusually disruptive.
Phoenix is among the early adopters of increased full-court pressure. It picks up opponents higher on the floor than almost anyone. The Suns rank first in steals, third in deflections and fourth in loose balls recovered per game.
Nobody enjoys playing these guys, which is one of the nicest things you can say about a non-contender.
Portland Trail Blazers: Disorganized
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Chaos is part of the plan for the Portland Trail Blazers, a team that plays best when it's pressuring opponents on defense and pushing the ball up the floor at a rapid pace in search of its own scoring chances.
The benefits of that style come with costs. Portland turned the ball over more often than any other team in December, and it now leads the league in full-season turnover percentage. The team isn't generating quality looks because the offenseāwhich has operated for much of the season without a true point guardālacks players with shot-creation skills.
Portland does what it can to compensate by relentlessly crashing the boards and attacking the rim.
The Blazers are playing a style that suits their current personnel. The results suggest more organization and better ball control, both of which could come from a healthy set of point guards, are necessary to improve the bottom line.
Sacramento Kings: Hopeless
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It's much harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the Sacramento Kings than it is for the other teams bringing up the rear in the standings.
The Wizards have Alex Sarr and Kyshawn George; Indiana can await the return of All-NBA superstar Tyrese Haliburton; even the wayward New Orleans Pelicans can take heart in the performances of rookies Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears.
Meanwhile, the Kings haveā¦Keegan Murray shooting 26.3 percent from three? An injured Domantas Sabonis? A version of DeMar DeRozan whose greatest value lies in the partial guarantee on next year's salary?
Other than 22-year-old rookie center Maxime Raynaud, who's difficult to fairly judge because of the losing environment, Sacramento can't point to anything that indicates better days are on the horizon.
San Antonio Spurs: Unfair
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Maybe the San Antonio Spurs don't engage in the level of foul-grifting and "can't call 'em all" defensive physicality of their rivals in OKC, but there are certainly elements of the Spurs' makeup that even Victor Wembanyama might not deem totally ethical.
For example, the Spurs outscore opponents by 39.3 points per 100 possessions when Wemby plays with rookie Dylan Harper and second-year standout Stephon Castle. How is that fair? De'Aaron Fox is a former All-NBA point guard currently averaging 21.9 points and 6.1 assists while shooting an easy career-best 39.4 percent from deepāand the Spurs barely even need him. That also seems rather unsporting.
What about the fact that Wemby's height and length allows the Spurs to play on a plane no other team can? San Antonio can fire lobs higher than opponents can reach them; it can press up higher in its point-of-attack coverage because his unparalleled length provides back-line help no one can replicate. None of that is fair.
No one's here to say the Spurs are cheating. But their talent, potential and uncommon advantages have nearly the same effect.
Toronto Raptors: Bench
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Scottie Barnes is the only regular Toronto Raptors starter with a positive on-off differential, a fact that doesn't matter as much as it should because several bench players behind him are more than pulling their weight.
Toronto thrives when Gradey Dick, Jamal Shead or Sandro Mamukelashvili is in the game. Though he's played far less than those three, Jamison Battle is actually the Raps' on-off king. Toronto's net rating is a sure-to-regress but nonetheless fascinating 25.1 points per 100 possessions better when the frontcourt sniper is on the floor.
Toronto's most-used lineup is its preferred first unit, and that groupāImmanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram, Barnes and Jakob Poeltlāis a plus-6.3 per 100 possessions, roughly that of a 56-win team. It's just that one or more of the quintet has been sidelined by injury for a good chunk of the year. Good thing the Raptors have a bench capable of picking up the slack.
Utah Jazz: Precarious
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The Utah Jazz will send their 2026 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that needs no extra help or assets, if it falls outside the top eight. Thanks to another stronger-than-expected start to the season, the Jazz are in danger of conveying that selection.
Utah ended 2025 with the ninth-worst record in the league, basically an ideal scenario for OKC.
The Jazz will have to decide whether to engage in some soft tanking, which they've professed wouldn't be part of the plan. Alternatively, they could make a move to improve the roster now, chase a Play-In spot and hope their pick slides far enough down the first round to ease the sting of losing it.
With Walker Kessler out for the year, the defense is unlikely to escape the bottom five. But Utah has a legitimate offense, led by rising third-year guard Keyonte George and fringe All-NBA forward Lauri Markkanen. With that pick dangling in the most precarious position, Utah may need to make a decision on its direction in a hurry.
Washington Wizards: Bystander
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There are probably ancient sequoias that have been more active than the Washington Wizards' defense. Ditto for those huge rectangular rocks that form Stonehenge. Even they seem more dynamic than the Wiz on D.
Washington ranks dead-last in points allowed per 100 possessions, but it's also 30th in opponent turnover rate and opponent offensive rebound rate. So yes, the Wizards allow other teams to make a very generous percentage of their shots. But the real defensive damage stems from a complete lack of forceful, disruptive activity.
The Wizards don't deflect passes, pressure the ball or box out. They fail to trap dribblers, they don't rotate with purpose, and they almost never speed up opposing playmakers.
Veterans CJ McCollum and Khris Middleton are at a stage where high defensive activity is beyond them, but what's the excuse for the rest of an otherwise spry young core?
Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Salary info via Spotrac.
Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, where he appears with Bleacher Report's Dan Favale.
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