NBA Insiders Pick Celtics over 76ers as Knicks' Top East Challenger in New Poll from Zach Lowe

While the Philadelphia 76ers built a superteam this offseason by signing LeBron James and acquiring Jaylen Brown, they will have some competition in trying to dethrone the 2026 NBA champion New York Knicks.

NBA insider Zach Lowe said on Thursday's episode of The Zach Lowe Show (5:00 mark) that he polled 30 Eastern Conference coaches and executives on the team besides the Knicks that would most likely represent the East in the 2027 NBA Finals, and they chose the Boston Celtics as the "overwhelming winners of the poll."

"I was actually shocked at the level of optimism for Boston as a Finals team," Lowe said. "... A lot of it was simply based on the fact that they felt safest about Boston, alongside the Knicks, being a top-three seed in the conference when the regular season is over."

Lowe went on to say that there was a three-way tie behind the Celtics between the Sixers, Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat in the poll. The Indiana Pacers finished with the third-most votes.

The Celtics added veterans Paul George and Mitchell Robinson this offseason, the latter of whom defected from the Knicks in free agency. With Jayson Tatum fully recovered from his torn Achilles, he's expected to help lead Boston back to title contention.

It will be exciting to see how things play out when the 2026 NBA season begins later this month, as the East appears deeper than it's ever been with multiple title contenders.