NBA 2025-26: Predictions, key changes, and season surprises

The NBA Prepares for a Season Full of Changes in 2025-26

With less than two months until the start of the 2025-26 NBA season, the excitement is already in the air. This new season is expected to be full of moves and surprises, with several teams reconfiguring their rosters. The league is preparing for the effects of new star additions like Kevin Durant, Myles Turner, and Kristaps Porzingis, who will join new teams. Meanwhile, teams like the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers are preparing for a season without their main figures. Could these new faces and injuries open the way for an unexpected champion? An Alofoke Deportes expert panel, composed of NBA specialists, answered the most important questions ahead of the 2025-26 season, including which teams will take an unexpected turn, which stars could leave their current teams, and whether we will see a new champion for the eighth consecutive season. (To calculate the results, five points were assigned to first place, three to second, and one to third).

Analysis of the Predictions

Here are the survey results:

Revelation Team: Which teams will make a big leap?

Alofoke Deportes experts voted for the San Antonio Spurs as one of the teams with the greatest potential for improvement in the 2025-26 season.

• San Antonio Spurs/Atlanta Hawks: 55 points
• Philadelphia 76ers: 49 points
• Orlando Magic: 48 points
• Minnesota Timberwolves: 6 points
• Houston Rockets: 5 points

The Spurs, with a streak of 22 consecutive playoff appearances between 1997-98 and 2018-19, could finally end their six-year drought, after selecting in the top 10 for four straight years. The development and health of San Antonio’s young talents, especially back-to-back NBA Rookie of the Year award winners, Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle, will be crucial in leading a revamped roster that now features another Rookie of the Year candidate, Dylan Harper, along with veteran additions like Luke Kornet and Kelly Olynyk. The Atlanta Hawks, who were very close to the Spurs in the poll, and the Philadelphia 76ers cannot be ruled out. Just five years ago, the 76ers and the Hawks faced off in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with Trae Young and Joel Embiid scoring 39 and 37 points, respectively, in Game 7. Philadelphia’s prospects depend heavily on the health of veteran stars Embiid and Paul George, as well as the continued growth of Tyrese Maxey. Meanwhile, the Hawks have had a potentially transformative offseason by adding scorers like Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kennard to complement Young, in addition to a reliable defender like Nickeil Alexander-Walker. The young and ambitious Orlando Magic are also in sight, looking to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2009-10.

Team in Crisis: Which team will decline this season?

Will Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks be the team with the most problems in the 2025-26 season?

• Milwaukee Bucks: 41 points
• Los Angeles Lakers: 32 points
• Boston Celtics/Phoenix Suns: 28 points
• Philadelphia 76ers: 25 points
• Indiana Pacers: 19 points

The Bucks top this list due to the growing uncertainty surrounding the franchise as they approach the end of their competitive window. Giannis Antetokounmpo remains one of the best players in the world, but the talent gap between him and the rest of the roster is notable, even after Milwaukee made the unusual decision to sign Myles Turner in free agency. To sign Turner, the Bucks gave up point guard Damian Lillard and distributed the remaining $110+ million of his contract over the next five years, giving them future flexibility to seek short-term solutions, a sign seen by rival teams as an act of desperation by the Bucks to hold onto the last of Antetokounmpo’s prime. The Bucks’ plan for success this season will largely depend on Antetokounmpo. The two-time MVP has taken on important tasks before, but leading this team to contention without a clear second star will require, perhaps, his most Herculean effort. Milwaukee started last season with a 2-8 record, then found a way to recover and make the playoffs before exiting in the first round. Will the Bucks have the patience and confidence to recover if they have a slow start again this season?

Which will be the next superstar to request a transfer?

Zion Williamson has played only 214 games since he was drafted by the Pelicans in 2019.

• Zion Williamson: 10 votes
• Giannis Antetokounmpo: 7 votes
• LeBron James: 6 votes
• Ja Morant: 1 vote
• Trae Young: 1 vote

(Note: This category was scored on the basis of one point per vote).

There isn’t a simmering situation this summer that seems as destined for a mid-season split as Jimmy Butler’s tense marriage with the Miami Heat was last season. Williamson’s stay in New Orleans could have been extended by the change in the Pelicans’ front office, with Joe Dumars replacing David Griffin as the main decision-maker. If Williamson can get off to a good start to the season, and avoid the plague of injuries that has plagued his career, it is feasible that he will seek a fresh start rather than remain in a New Orleans franchise that seems stagnant. There has been radio silence since James, through his agent Rich Paul, tried to shake up the Lakers’ cages immediately after exercising his $52.6 million player option for this season. The all-time leading scorer and his team understand how complicated a trade involving him would be, at his age, earning so much money, with the contractual right to veto any deal. Speculation has swirled around Antetokounmpo asking to leave Milwaukee for several years. If he didn’t take that drastic step in the summer, it’s unlikely to happen mid-season.

Which superstar injury will have the biggest impact in the East?

Jayson Tatum suffered a rupture of the right Achilles tendon that will leave him out of play for the 2025-26 season.

• Jayson Tatum: 20 votes
• Tyrese Haliburton: 5 votes
• Joel Embiid: 1 vote

(Note: This category was scored on the basis of one point per vote).

Tatum’s Achilles injury was a catalyst for perhaps an even more aggressive liquidation and cost-cutting for the Celtics, who were already forced to break up their core and reduce their payroll to avoid the second apron. Boston certainly achieved that goal, trading both center Kristaps Porzingis and point guard Jrue Holiday. They also lost backup center Luke Kornet and are likely to part ways with beloved power forward Al Horford, who for now remains a free agent. Yes, the Celtics still have Jaylen Brown and Derrick White on the wings, and newcomer Anfernee Simons is certainly a capable scorer. Even so, no team in the association lost more high-level skill and talent than the Celtics this offseason. The team’s depth is no longer worthy of a championship, particularly in the post, and it’s clear that Boston is looking to next season to reopen its title window next season, once Tatum can return to the lineup.

Will we see a different champion for the eighth consecutive season?

Yes: 15 votes No: 11 votes

(Note: This category was scored on the basis of one point per vote).

The voting could be biased towards that trend continuing. The Thunder became the seventh consecutive new NBA champion this spring, and the Celtics became the sixth consecutive defending champion to not make it past the conference semifinals. However, the voting may be too backward-looking, looking at the past, instead of examining the case of the Thunder. Oklahoma City was the second youngest team to win a title in the last 50 years, behind the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers. This season, it has all its players back and presents a strong argument to believe it will be even stronger in 2025-26. Those in the league have said they would choose the Thunder to repeat as champions, and they don’t see a credible argument against it. That doesn’t guarantee that Oklahoma City will actually repeat. Last season, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics were expected to meet in the Eastern Conference Finals, but neither made it there. The Thunder were on the ropes in the second round against the Denver Nuggets and in the Finals against the Indiana Pacers. The inevitable increasing competitiveness of the league, plus some doubts about OKC’s staying power, led our panel to conclude that parity will reign over the NBA this season.

Which team is most likely to make a big move before the trade deadline?

• Golden State Warriors: 7 votes
• Los Angeles Lakers: 5 votes
• Cleveland Cavaliers/New Orleans Pelicans: 3 votes
• Philadelphia 76ers: 2 votes
• Memphis Grizzlies: 1 vote

(Note: This category was scored on the basis of one point per vote). The Warriors top this list because they have essentially spent the offseason signaling their desire for movement at the deadline. Their two-year, $45 million contract offer to restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga was designed to put him on a salary they can trade in January. The Lakers, who are transitioning to the Luka Doncic era, have held onto some first-round sweeteners that can be used to close a deal as LeBron James’ contract looms. For the Cavaliers’ situation, disappointment and desperation can breed movement. If they fear their high-value core won’t make it in the playoffs again, they may decide to shake things up and change the mix.