SGA's Thunder Voted to Win 2026 NBA Title the Most, Wemby's Spurs 2nd in New Anonymous Player Poll

Now that the 2025-26 regular season is over, players across the NBA have voiced their opinion on which team will take home the championship this year.

As part of an anonymous player poll conducted by The Athletic's Josh Robbins, Sam Amick and Joe Vardon, the Oklahoma City Thunder were voted as the favorites to win the NBA title for a second straight year, receiving 50 percent of the 146 votes.

"They're the most dominant team," a player who voted for the Thunder told Robbins, Amick and Vardon.

The San Antonio Spurs were second with 25.3 percent of the vote, while the Boston Celtics rounded out the top three at 8.2 percent. While those numbers pale in comparison to Oklahoma City's share of the vote, it was noted that the league isn't as confident in the Thunder as it was in past NBA title favorites.

"This is the fifth year The Athletic has conducted its Anonymous NBA Player Poll, and in each prior instance, the predicted champion earned a larger share of the vote than the Thunder did this year," Robbins, Amick and Vardon stated.

The Thunder finished with the best record in the NBA for the second straight year at 64-18. However, the Spurs weren't too far behind them at 62-20. San Antonio also won the five-game regular-season series against Oklahoma City 4-1.

"They have a really good shot," a player who voted for the Spurs told Robbins, Amick and Vardon. "I think the biggest problem they'll run into is their lack of experience at that point of the year. But (with) just their size, length, athleticism and shooting, I think they're a high-level team."

The path toward repeating as champion is never easy, but it's clear that the Thunder will be facing a tough road toward another title in this year's playoffs.