Featured Video
Kings Open to Trading Sabonis 👀
Cleveland Cavaliers v Los Angeles Lakers
Adam Pantozzi/National Basketball Association via Getty Images

1 Hot Take for Every Team After 2026 NBA Offseason

Grant Hughes
Sep 7, 2026

The 2026 NBA offseason is basically in the books, so we can now look at what all the trades, signings, draft picks, hirings and firings mean for the upcoming year.

The Los Angeles Lakers made moves to strengthen the supporting cast around Luka Dončić. We've got strong feelings about how much of a difference those changes will make.

Meanwhile, the New York Knicks face a difficult road ahead after winning the 2026 title. Worn down, shedding talent in free agency and facing a tougher set of East opponents, the odds of our first repeat champ in a decade are looking long.

Let's prep for the year by handing out hot takes for every squad in the league.

Atlanta Hawks: A Blockbuster Trade Is Coming

1 of 30
New York Knicks v Atlanta Hawks - Game Four

There's a lot to like about how the Atlanta Hawks are constructed, led by 24-year-old All-NBA forward Jalen Johnson and his annual salary of just $30 million. Most Improved Player Nickeil Alexander-Walker is on arguably the most valuable mid-level contract in the league. Onyeka Okongwu is now a spacing, switchable center earning only $17 million per year.

All of those bargain starters are great, but none profile as first-option superstars. They're ideal support for exactly that kind of player, which the Hawks can get with $54 million in expiring salary between CJ McCollum, Lu Dort and Jock Landale.

The Hawks have a roster ready to accommodate an alpha with the resources to get one. It's pretty easy to see where this is headed.

Boston Celtics: Jaylen Brown Won't Be Missed...That Much

2 of 30
With Jayson Tatum sidelined, Celtics' fourth-quarter comeback falls short in Game 7 loss to 76ers

OK, sure, if the Boston Celtics find themselves deep in the playoffs, they're going to wish they had Jaylen Brown's ability to generate tough shots as a bailout option. There'll certainly be specific situations in which his one-on-one defense will also be missed.

Hasn't Boston earned the benefit of the doubt in a much broader sense? Why shouldn't we assume it knew what it was doing when it dealt Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George and a pair of picks? Shouldn't we trust that the Celtics correctly judged the tradeoff between the positives and negatives (relative to his salary) that Brown provided?

We learned last year not to bet against a one-star Boston team led by maniacally competitive head coach Joe Mazzulla. With Jayson Tatum now taking Brown's place in that single-star setup, theoretically supercharging exactly the style Mazzulla wants to play, might the results be even better than they were a year ago?

Boston traded Brown mostly for long-term reasons, but the results this coming season will be far better than most expect.

Brooklyn Nets: Egor Dëmin Will Break Out

3 of 30
2026 NBA Summer League - Brooklyn Nets v Houston Rockets

You can make a lot of mistakes by overvaluing Summer League play, but Egor Demin's growth was too obvious to ignore.

After shooting 38.5 percent from deep as a rookie and providing exactly the kind of connective passing the Brooklyn Nets hoped for when they picked him at No. 8, Demin flashed offensive dimensions in Vegas that could make him a dangerously complete weapon.

Demin averaged 21.0 points per game despite his three-point shot falling at only a 30.0 percent clip. He compensated for that with a new emphasis on attacking the basket, shooting 11-of-17 on two-pointers and getting to the foul line eight times. Last summer, he made only a single two-pointer and drew just one shooting foul.

Brooklyn targeted multiple guards in the first round last year. It looks like it found at least one true keeper in Demin.

Charlotte Hornets: No LaMelo, No Problem

4 of 30
Boston Celtics v Charlotte Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets decided they didn't want to be in the LaMelo Ball business. Everyone assumed the trade that sent him to the Minnesota Timberwolves was part of a deliberate retrenchment that would hurt the Hornets in the standings and delay the rest of the ascent that started last season.

This is a bet that Ball's departure was partly about financial prudence and capitalizing on his unusual health last year. It was also about the Hornets believing they could be better in the short term without him.

Coby White will provide most of what Ball did at a fraction of the cost, while Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller could thrive in larger on-ball roles. Perhaps Ball's absence will lead to better collective defense. It's not like the Hornets had any reason to believe he'd stay healthy going forward.

The bar here is last year's total of 44 wins. The Hornets can clear it without Ball.

Chicago Bulls: Caleb Wilson Will Explode

5 of 30
2026 NBA Summer League - Washington Wizards v Chicago Bulls

The seven threes Caleb Wilson hit in his Summer League debut got everyone talking. If the No. 4 pick could space the floor in addition to dominating the lane with his athleticism, it meant recalibrating expectations for both Wilson and the Chicago Bulls.

The 2026 draft class was loaded with top-flight talent in the lottery, but Wilson now appears to have as good a chance as anyone to win Rookie of the Year—an award he expects.

Wilson should have easier access to playing time than No. 2 pick Darryn Peterson and more quality talent around him than No. 3 selection Cam Boozer. Top choice AJ Dybantsa will have high-usage veteran stars soaking up scoring chances next to him in Washington.

Every report about Wilson's work ethic, drive and makeup has been glowing. Those should matter at least as much as the visual evidence that shows he has offensive dimensions most didn't expect.

Cleveland Cavaliers: Evan Mobley Needs to Take Over

6 of 30
New York Knicks v Cleveland Cavaliers - Game Four

We've trotted out some version of this take ever since the Cleveland Cavaliers landed Donovan Mitchell in 2022, but the fact remains that this team will go as far as Evan Mobley takes it.

Mitchell is a star, but he generally falls somewhere in the 6-10 range when ranking the league's best players in a given year. For Cleveland to improve on last year's Conference Finals run, Mobley must clearly surpass Mitchell in its hierarchy, marrying Defensive Player of the Year work on one end with at least All-Star-caliber offensive production.

Mobley regressed on offense last season, most notably by shooting 29.7 percent from deep after hitting 37.0 percent in 2024-25. He needs to reclaim the gains he made as a shooter, get back into the DPOY conversation and prove he can consistently create shots for others.

We wouldn't keep asking for so much if we didn't think Mobley was capable of delivering it.

Dallas Mavericks: Cooper Flagg Will Make the All-Star Team

7 of 30
Los Angeles Lakers v Dallas Mavericks

Picks as highly touted as Cooper Flagg are supposed to be great in a hurry, but keep in mind that only six 20-year-olds have made the All-Star team this century.

Kyrie Irving will be back after missing all of last year while recovering from a torn ACL. While it might feel right to assume he'll provide playmaking that takes the pressure off Flagg, it's probably a mistake to bet on a 34-year-old coming off a major injury. Especially one who hasn't played more than 60 games since 2018-19.

Between the uncertainty surrounding Irving and Ryan Nembhard moving on, Flagg will find himself on the ball just as often as he was during his rookie season. That'll give him the opportunity to build on averages of 21.0 points and 4.5 assists per game. He'll also hopefully improve his 29.5 percent hit rate from deep and showcase the defense everyone was so excited about before the draft.

Denver Nuggets: Get Ready for a Bottom-5 Defense

8 of 30
Denver Nuggets v Minnesota Timberwolves - Game Four

Just about everyone who mattered on the Denver Nuggets' defense slipped last year. Aaron Gordon couldn't stay healthy, Nikola Jokić seemed to lose a step, Christian Braun didn't play up to his hefty extension and Jamal Murray's steal rate fell to a career low.

The one regularly disruptive force on the team, Peyton Watson, is gone via a sign-and-trade deal with the Cavs. DeMar DeRozan will replace him in the rotation; he is considered one of the worst defensive wings in the league.

The Nuggets might get more than 36 games from Gordon, but he's on the wrong side of 30 even if he stays relatively healthy. Even if he beats expectations and Braun returns to form, it's very difficult to see Denver improving on last year's No. 21 ranking in defensive efficiency.

There are several ways to arrive at the conclusion that Denver is done as a contender. The simplest one is to accept that this will be one of the five worst defenses in the league.

Detroit Pistons: They Didn't Solve Anything

9 of 30
Cleveland Cavaliers v Detroit Pistons - Game Seven

Secondary creation was a major problem for the Detroit Pistons last season. It's hard to see how their offseason addressed the issue.

If you think shooting cures all ills, maybe you can see a solution in the additions of Isaiah Joe, Gary Harris and Taurean Prince. Perhaps John Collins will be a mild upgrade over the departed Tobias Harris—not overall, but specifically on the strength of his 40.6 percent conversion rate from distance last season with the LA Clippers.

Wouldn't it be more comforting if Detroit had found someone who could dribble and pass? Cade Cunningham carried an exceptionally heavy playmaking load last season. While Daniss Jenkins was a nice story, he wasn't up to the task of running the offense whenever the MVP candidate sat.

Unless Ausar Thompson takes a major leap or Jalen Duren adds even more offensive creation to his profile, the Pistons will face many of the same deficiencies that produced the worst postseason offensive rating of any team to play at least 14 games last spring.

Golden State Warriors: The Warriors Owe Steph Nothing

10 of 30
Golden State Warriors v Los Angeles Clippers - Play-In Tournament

OK, obviously this take needs explaining because the Golden State Warriors would not have four championships since 2015 or be among the most valuable professional sports franchises in the world without Stephen Curry. He—not ownership, coaching or a great supporting cast over the years—is why the Dubs are what they are.

This gives rise to constant wailing about how the Warriors owe Curry. It's about them failing him by not shipping out every asset they have in a trade that still wouldn't turn the team into a contender.

What everyone seems to forget is that the two-time MVP has more agency than almost any star in the league. He's just fine with what the organization is doing.

If Steph felt he wasn't being treated with the appropriate respect, or if he believed the Warriors weren't properly balancing their present and future with his interests in mind, he could request a trade and upset absolutely nobody. Every executive, fan and teammate would completely understand and feel zero ill will.

And yet Curry hasn't made a peep.

If he's satisfied with what's happening in Golden State, what right does anyone else have to complain about it?

Houston Rockets: Steven Adams Matters Way Too Much

11 of 30
Houston Rockets v Sacramento Kings

Steven Adams has a legitimate superpower. His offensive rebounding was critical to the Houston Rockets' offensive survival last season. This was evident from a plus-8.3 net rating boost during his time on the floor. That was the best figure on the team among players who logged at least 700 minutes.

Houston had more difficulty scoring when a healthy Adams was resting. Their offensive rating fell from 120.3 through Jan. 18 to 117.6 after he went down for the season with an ankle injury on that date.

The Rockets added veteran defender Marcus Smart and injury-prone guard Bogdan Bogdanović over the summer. Those two won't solve the team's half-court scoring issues on their own, which means Houston needs Kevin Durant to hold on, Reed Sheppard to explode and Amen Thompson to figure out how to shoot a basketball. If all that happens, maybe Adams won't quietly be the key to scoring success.

If it doesn't, a bruising 33-year-old backup big man will once again be too prominent in Houston's offensive fate.

Indiana Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton Will Have a Career Year

12 of 30
Indiana Pacers v Oklahoma City Thunder

Part of this is an effort to speak Tyrese Haliburton's full recovery into existence. The NBA is better when singularly transformative offensive forces like him are healthy. The trickle-down effect is that the Indiana Pacers also get right back to serious contention in this hypothetical.

In addition to Haliburton entering his age-26 season at (hopefully) full speed, the Pacers' mid-year addition of Ivica Zubac could help create an even better version of the All-NBA point guard. Though he's mostly known for his interior heft and rebounding, Zubac is quietly a much more adept facilitator than Myles Turner, who was Indiana's starting center when Haliburton was last healthy.

The Pacers made the 2025 Finals on the strength of their dynamic offense. Zubac could add another dimension by working in concert with Haliburton. For this take to hold up, Hali would only need to make the All-NBA Second Team, which he's never done before.

Seems doable.

LA Clippers: Darius Garland Is On the Block

13 of 30
Golden State Warriors v Los Angeles Clippers - Play-In Tournament

The LA Clippers lost five of their own future first-rounders as a penalty for violating the salary cap circumvention rules, which increases the odds of trading for someone else's.

Two future firsts came back in the deal that sent Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors, which may lead to turning their attention to Darius Garland next. A two-time All-Star with two years and $87 million remaining on his current contract, Garland looked pretty close to his best self in limited action with LA last season.

He may not be an All-NBA superstar, but the 26-year-old is in his prime and probably ranks inside the top 10 at his position overall. Plenty of teams would happily give up a first-rounder or two for his services.

The Clippers are in for a long season either way, but they won't build anything sustainable without replenishing all the picks they lost.

Los Angeles Lakers: Expect a Top-5 Offense

14 of 30
Chicago Bulls v Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers lost LeBron James, league-leading three-point marksman Luke Kennard, 67.1-percent shooter Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura's scorching outside sniping...and they're still going to finish with one of the league's five best offensive ratings.

That's a big deal because Los Angeles hasn't cracked the top five in scoring efficiency since way back in 2010-11, when Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol were coming off back-to-back titles.

Luka Dončić has his preferred roll man and offensive rebounder in Walker Kessler, as Austin Reaves proved last season he could be a first option when called upon. Add some improved shooting from new additions Quentin Grimes and Sandro Mamukelashvili. That can create the makings of a dominant attack.

Memphis Grizzlies: Cam Boozer Will Tie Magic Johnson

15 of 30
2026 NBA Summer League Championship - Golden State Warriors v Memphis Grizzlies

The rookie record for triple-doubles is 26, set by Oscar Robertson in 1960-61. Nobody's touching that, largely because defense was optional in that era and the pace of games was astronomically high.

The modern record belongs to Ben Simmons, who racked up 12 in 2017-18. Luka Dončić is third with eight, and all-time great Magic Johnson is fourth with seven.

That last figure feels about right for Cam Boozer, who was a double-double machine at Duke while averaging 4.1 assists per game. Great feel and court awareness are Boozer's defining traits. He will be surrounded by far better finishers in Memphis than he was in college. Assuming the Grizzlies give their prized rookie all he can eat in a key on-ball role, Boozer should be able to match Magic's seven triple-doubles en route to an easy All-Rookie nod.

Miami Heat: This is the League's High-Variance Champ

16 of 30
Miami Heat Introduces Bobby Portis, Jr. and Giannis Antetokounmpo

The presence of a hopefully healthy and potentially very motivated Giannis Antetokounmpo means the Miami Heat have to be taken seriously as a threat to win the whole thing. There may only be a half-dozen players with a serious chance to win MVP in 2026-27. Giannis must be counted among them.

Aside from concerns about how Miami strip-mined the roster to get Antetokounmpo, the potential issues with depth, shooting and health shouldn't derail them. If you have Giannis, the spectacular is possible.

Now, reframe your thinking. Give real weight to Antetokounmpo's injury issues last year. Acknowledge his age. Appreciate the scary level of dependence the Heat have on a 36-year-old Klay Thompson. Stress the odd fit between Giannis and Bam Adebayo. Question Davion Mitchell's fitness as a full-time starter. Bookmark Andrew Wiggins' iffy status as a stopper in what will be his 13th season.

Given all that, it's possible the Heat could miss the playoffs entirely.

No team has a bigger delta between its floor and ceiling than the Heat. It doesn't feel particularly close.

Milwaukee Bucks: Consensus Is Way Too Low

17 of 30
Miami Heat v Charlotte Hornets - Play-In Tournament

The Milwaukee Bucks have a pretty good chance to win more than the 32 games they did a year ago. This possibility isn't reflected in a projected win total in the mid-20s.

When you trade away a two-time MVP, expectations tend to dip. But the Bucks' loss is getting an outsized amount of shine compared to what they gained: multiple legitimate starters. That starts with Tyler Herro, who has been an All-Star, followed by a handful of rotation-worthy pieces.

Kel'el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis and Jamie Jaquez Jr. are all capable of leveling up. They'll join quality players like Myles Turner, Ryan Rollins and AJ Green. Brayden Burries looks like a real find at No. 10 in the draft.

Toss in the fact that Milwaukee doesn't control its 2027 first-rounder and therefore has no reason to lose on purpose. You've got a team that could easily nudge up toward 40 wins with a good break or two.

Minnesota Timberwolves: LaMelo Ball's Career Hangs in the Balance

18 of 30
LaMelo Ball Minnesota Timberwolves Portraits

LaMelo Ball led the Charlotte Hornets to their best season in a decade. It wasn't enough to keep them from trading him.

That's the kind of thing that should make a player think.

Clearly, the Hornets didn't view Ball as someone they could trust in a major role going forward. Maybe extension-cost concerns had something to do with that, but durability, seriousness, defense and a broader worry about the type of team Charlotte wanted to be were all factors behind the move.

Now tasked with optimizing Anthony Edwards on a revamped Minnesota Timberwolves squad that views itself as a contender, Ball has everything to lose—or gain.

Stay healthy, drive winning, and prove the character-related and on-court warts are of the past. Ball can cement himself as a star in all the ways that matter. Missed time, staying lazy on defense or carrying over the maturity issues that marked his Charlotte tenure could leave Ball abandoned as a player worthy of a franchise's trust.

New Orleans Pelicans: Something, At Some Point, Will Happen

19 of 30
New Orleans Pelicans Introduce Jamahl Mosley

In the wake of an offseason where the New Orleans Pelicans' biggest move was retaining DeAndre Jordan, predicting the franchise will do anything transactionally certainly counts as bold.

Though the Pels have held off on moving Trey Murphy III, dangling Herb Jones or otherwise making an effort to retrench around Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen (an iffy proposition), their static status won't last forever.

When the season starts and the injuries New Orleans mostly avoided last year begin to crop up, it'll become clear to whoever is paying attention—which hopefully includes Joe Dumars and Troy Weaver—that there's nothing special brewing. At that point, trade talks should intensify as the overdue rebuild finally begins.

Better late than never.

New York Knicks: This Is Not a Conference Finalist

20 of 30
New York Knicks v Atlanta Hawks - Game Four

Look, it's really hard to recover from a championship run. Everybody cites financial rules that create parity as the reason for nine different title winners over the last nine years. Sheer fatigue must be acknowledged as a major factor.

The New York Knicks thumbed their noses at win-probability statistics throughout the 2026 playoffs, stealing victories through some combination of grit, experience, sorcery and collective will. You could cite the sheer unlikelihood of repeating that feat to justify this hot take on its own.

But toss in a core that is mostly on the wrong side of 30, the loss of Mitchell Robinson, last year's exhausting march to the chip, improvements to multiple other East contenders on top of it, and you've got a recipe for a second-round exit.

Flags fly forever, but the Knicks won't be adding another this season.

Oklahoma City Thunder: Cason Wallace Won't Be Viewed As a Core Piece

21 of 30
San Antonio Spurs v Oklahoma City Thunder - Game Seven

There's long been a sense that Cason Wallace could do more. More self-created scoring, more pick-and-roll orchestration, more on-ball agency—surely the three-year vet would have flashed a wider array of skills if not for the stars ahead of him in the pecking order.

Wallace is a terrific defender against most guards and wings. He's been a serviceable three-point shooter on looks created for him by teammates. Those are valuable skills. But he has yet to showcase several others. It's getting harder to argue that the environment and surrounding talent in Oklahoma City are suppressing them.

Wallace's effective field-goal percentage has decreased over the last two years. He averages just 3.5 assists per 36 minutes while never getting to the foul line. Ajay Mitchell plays a different position, but he's a worthwhile comparison because his abilities to score and facilitate emerged immediately in the same circumstances that allegedly hid Wallace's.

Because Wallace probably doesn't have a set of untapped skills and is due for a hefty extension that the Thunder can't justify paying alongside all their other expenses, he's going to conclude the upcoming season outside OKC's long-term plans.

Orlando Magic: Orlando Will Have the Best Lineup in the NBA

22 of 30
Orlando Magic v Philadelphia 76ers

We're making two bets here. The first is that the Orlando Magic's five best players will finally stay healthy enough to give this take some real weight. That feels much riskier than the second bet, which is that Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bane, Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr. will dominate when they share the floor.

Last year, that group produced a net rating of plus-11.1 in 408 possessions—very good, but quite a bit short of the plus-15.0 territory to be in the running for the unofficial title of the league's best lineup in a given season.

Ideally, new head coach Sean Sweeney will coax better offense out of a group that is mostly young enough to improve. The possession total will increase to nearly 1,000.

Do that, hope for no ridiculous outliers like Charlotte's starting five putting up a plus-27.4 net rating last year, and Orlando's first unit has a real shot to grade out as the best of the best.

Philadelphia 76ers: VJ Edgecombe Will Be Philly's Second-Best Player

23 of 30
New York Knicks v Philadelphia 76ers - Game Three

Joel Embiid will miss at least half the season, if history is any guide. LeBron James is closer to 50 than 30. Jaylen Brown, by some (specious) accounts, is no better than the Philadelphia 76ers' seventh-best player!

The path is clear for second-year guard VJ Edgecombe to produce more value than any Sixers teammate not named Tyrese Maxey.

Sure, a lot of this volume-based take rests on the assumption that Philly's pair of former MVPs won't hold up physically. The only area Edgecombe is likely to outproduce Brown is in the host of advanced metrics and on-off figures that have pretty much always disfavored the latter.

That still counts, and the four-way race for the honor of Philadelphia's second-most productive player will only get more interesting if the postseason promise Edgecombe showed turns into a full-on second-year leap.

Why rule that out?

Phoenix Suns: Khaman Maluach Will Be the Best Center on the Roster by December

24 of 30
Golden State Warriors v Phoenix Suns - Play-In Tournament

Lottery picks are supposed to develop into starters, but Khaman Maluach's rookie season made a role of that size difficult to imagine. He barely played and appeared overwhelmed on the rare occasions the Phoenix Suns handed the big man any real playing time.

Summer League looked different. Maluach put up 19.5 points and 12.8 boards, drilling eight of 20 three-point attempts.

Do not expect a full smoothing of every rough edge. Maluach is going to keep making mistakes, occasionally looking lost and generally operating like most inexperienced 20-year-olds. That said, his production in Vegas felt like more than a blip.

Maluach looks and plays bigger than his listed 7'1" height. He has the potential to be physically overwhelming. That aligns nicely with his strong work ethic. Perhaps most importantly, he does that thing where he lets go of the rim after a dunk and ends up flat-footed.

Buy all the stock you can before the price goes up.

Portland Trail Blazers: Jrue Holiday Is Getting Traded

25 of 30
Portland Trail Blazers v San Antonio Spurs - Game Five

Portland Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon embraces his well-deserved "cheapskate" label, but the team's roster has so far been spared from cost-cutting measures that have hit other parts of the organization.

That's going to change this year—partly because Dundon's recent history suggests there's no lower limit to his thrift, but also because the Blazers' glut of guards is too costly to justify.

Portland traded for Ja Morant, adding him to a positional group that already had Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard. Don't forget that forward Deni Avdija has more right to on-ball reps than any of them. Sharpe is out with a torn meniscus. Lillard may be on a certain minutes restriction, but that's still too many guards.

Holiday is set to earn $34.8 million in his age-36 season. When the cost-cutting comes, that's where Dundon will start.

Sacramento Kings: A Terrible Contract Is Coming

26 of 30
New Orleans Pelicans v Sacramento Kings: Quarterfinals - 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament

The Sacramento Kings have just under $75 million in expiring money devoted to Zach LaVine and De'Andre Hunter this coming season. Chances are, they won't let those deals come off the books, intending to use cap space or take on unwanted contracts with picks attached.

More likely: Sacramento will chase a big name with one of the worst deals in the league, hoping for short-term relevance without a coherent long-term plan.

It's too early to guess exactly how the Kings will sabotage themselves, but we know owner Vivek Ranadive can't help himself based on the past. Keep an eye on Joel Embiid, Zion Williamson, Jalen Green, Anthony Davis (who they'd surely extend), Ja Morant and others.

If it's a bad deal attached to a starry name, it's on the Kings' radar.

San Antonio Spurs: Dylan Harper Will Win Sixth Man of the Year

27 of 30
2026 NBA Finals - New York Knicks v San Antonio Spurs

Not hot enough? OK, how about this: Dylan Harper will win Sixth Man of the Year unanimously.

That's never happened before. It shouldn't happen this year because the Spurs should simply start their second-best player and worry about what that means for De'Aaron Fox later. But all signs point to Harper coming off the bench in the spirit of Manu Ginobili—who happens to have come closest in history to sweeping the Sixth Man vote.

He got 123 of the 124 first-place votes in 2007-08, with Leandro Barbosa snagging the lone outlier.

Fun facts: Ginobili finished 10th in MVP voting and made an All-NBA team that year. Harper is going to have a similarly dominant season and will remain a perennial Sixth Man favorite until the Spurs get their act together and start him.

Toronto Raptors: The Kawhi Leonard Trade Will Be a Disaster

28 of 30
Toronto Raptors v Los Angeles Clippers

Maybe it's just the stench of the freshly completed investigation into the Clippers' malfeasance, or perhaps it's driven by the feeling that karma is going to play a role in the massive move. Then again, the idea that things could go south with Kawhi Leonard doesn't have to rely on stuff like that.

We could point to one of the league's more storied injury histories and cite Leonard's age (35) to justify the creeping worry that the Toronto Raptors' biggest offseason move will not pay off.

Two unprotected first-rounders and a swap is no small price for a player who comes with considerable baggage and mileage. If the Raps get something close to the 65 games Leonard managed last year, while he produces at the same All-NBA level that leads to a deep playoff run, perhaps that'll be enough to justify the cost.

Having laid all that out, though, it's hard to imagine it coming to pass.

Utah Jazz: Double the Wins

29 of 30
Utah Jazz v Boston Celtics

While losing Walker Kessler in a sign-and-trade hurts the Utah Jazz in the short term, the package they got from the Lakers was too good to ignore. We also need to acknowledge that his exit isn't the catastrophe oddsmakers seem to think it is.

The numbers are fluid, but Utah's over/under is currently falling somewhere in the mid-30s. That feels way too low in light of Keyonte George's leap, the addition of Jaren Jackson Jr. and another year of development for a youth corps led by Ace Bailey.

If George picks up where he left off, a non-load-managed Lauri Markkanen plays a full season and Jackson meets expectations, this team is going to smash that over. While the main offseason additions—Darryn Peterson, Jaxson Hayes and Josh Okogie—aren't likely to move the needle this year, the incumbent talent is enough to get Utah into the playoff picture.

Let's go with a tidy 44 wins, twice last year's total.

Washington Wizards: Alex Sarr Will Make 150 Threes

30 of 30
Oklahoma City Thunder v Washington Wizards

Alex Sarr shot 34.1 percent on catch-and-shoot triples last year. The presence of Trae Young means the quality and frequency of the third-year big man's open looks will increase.

Relatedly, Anthony Davis' window to prove he's a legitimate perimeter threat closed years ago. He'll do most of the screening and diving, which likely means Sarr spends more time outside the arc than he did last season.

As a rookie, Sarr hit 105 triples across 67 games. He lowered his volume last season while significantly improving his efficiency from 30.8 to 33.3 percent. Lest that make this take seem insufficiently hot, note that Lauri Markkanen is the only 7-footer to make at least 150 triples in a season since 2022-23.

Sarr is going to join the club.

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.