Setting Expectations for Every NBA Team in 2025-26

Photo via ABC7NY.com

Another NBA season has come to a close, and after a relatively anticlimactic ending (unless you’re a Thunder fan), the Oklahoma City Thunder have claimed their first NBA championship since moving from Seattle. For any non-Thunder fan, game seven of the finals was a rather disappointing way to end a great regular season, playoffs and finals series with the Tyrese Haliburton first-quarter injury and dominant second half by the Thunder, leaving us asking what-ifs after Haliburton’s electric start pre-injury. As a huge Tyrese Haliburton fan due to my ties with Iowa State, game seven was a very tough watch and so much worse than watching the Pacers and/or Haliburton struggling, as he/they never got a chance at full strength. But injuries are a part of the game, and I have to give props to the Thunder, who were the best team in the league all season long.

But with the season and draft over, and free agency in full swing, we now look to the start of the 2025-26 season. With that being said, what should every team’s goals and expectations be entering next season? Here’s a brief outlook on every team to answer that question.

Like this content? Subscribe at the bottom of the page!

Atlanta Hawks

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Appearance

The Hawks have already made a big offseason move in trading for big man Kristaps Porzingis from the Celtics. If he can stay healthy, the addition of Porzingis should help a bottom five Atlanta defense in 2024-25 with his length and rim-protection. Offensively, Porzingis should be able to help the Hawks’ floor-spacing, and give Trae Young more room to operate as a scorer and facilitator. I believe this is a great trade for Atlanta, who has been hovering around the play-in for the last couple years, so the expectation for 2026 should be to earn a top-six seed in the east and secure a playoff spot.

Boston Celtics

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Appearance

The Celtics are an interesting case in terms of what the expectations for next year’s team should be. After winning an NBA championship in 2024 and looking like a possible dynasty, an early exit in 2025 that included a Jayson Tatum ruptured achilles that will likely keep him out all of next year, combined with the need to sell important assets to create cap space, leaves us with many questions about Boston’s franchise entering this upcoming season. But they still have healthy, all-star caliber players in Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, along with solid young and veteran pieces around them, so I think the expectation should still be for the Celtics to make it back to the playoffs.

Brooklyn Nets

2025-26 Expectation: Lottery Team

Ever since the failed Kyrie Irving/Kevin Durant/James Harden experiment a few years ago, the Nets have been in complete rebuild mode, and this upcoming season should be no different. Trading Cam Johnson to the Nuggets for Michael Porter Jr. and picks was an interesting trade that I could see going either way for Brooklyn. MPJ is great at creating his own shot at 6 '10 and can go for 30 any night, but he also has way too many cold shooting performances to be a number one option like he probably will be.

Charlotte Hornets

2025-26 Expectation: Play-In Appearance

I’ve gone back and forth between if the Hornets should expect a play-in appearance or not in 2026. While they haven’t made any big-time moves yet this offseason, I think it may be time for LaMelo Ball and company to take the next step and at least make it to a play-in game. Charlotte had the worst offense in the league this past season, but were middle of the pack on defense. If Ball, Brandon Miller, Miles Bridges and the new addition of Collin Sexton can stay relatively healthy and keep making strides as they enter their prime, that could be enough to avoid the bottom five in the east.

Chicago Bulls

2025-26 Expectation: Lottery Team

The Bulls have been stuck in the middle for pretty much the entirety of the 2020s thus far. Too good to get a high draft pick but not good enough to make noise in the playoffs, which may be the most frustrating position to be in. But after shipping off DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine in the past year, Chicago may be able to break out of middling…by missing the play-in all together. Though if Coby White can continue developing into a solid number one option, the Bulls could be back to where they’re used to again.

Cleveland Cavaliers

2025-26 Expectation: NBA Finals Appearance

After earning the No. 1 seed in the east this past season, the Cavs suffered a second-round exit to the Pacers to cap off a great season with bitter disappointment. But the window is still wide open for Cleveland to make a run to the NBA Finals and an NBA championship, especially with the unfortunate achilles injuries to eastern conference stars Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard that will cause all three of them to miss next season. Unless one of those teams with a star injured can still make a run, the east is likely between the Cavs and Knicks in 2026.

Dallas Mavericks

2025-26 Expectation: Play-In Appearance

After one of the most chaotic few months an NBA franchise has ever had, the Mavericks are another team in an interesting spot heading into next season. Just a few months after making the headscratching Luka Doncic trade, the draft lottery gifted Dallas with another shot at a generational player by giving them the first overall pick and draft rights to Cooper Flagg. If Kyrie Irving weren’t likely missing the entire season with an ACL tear, I’d say the expectation should be, at minimum, a playoff appearance. But because of Irving’s injury and Anthony Davis’ lack of ability to stay healthy, the Mavericks should be satisfied with a play-in appearance in Flagg’s rookie year.

Denver Nuggets

2025-26 Expectation: Western Conference Finals Appearance

After winning the 2023 NBA championship, the Nuggets have slightly declined each of the two years since. Losing great role pieces to free agency like Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have been big factors in the slight decline, but good news for Denver is that Brown is returning to the Mile High City this season. Despite losing important pieces, the Nuggets have still gotten one win away from the conference finals in both years via Nikola Jokic’s brilliance. I’m a really big fan of trading MPJ for Cam Johnson as well, as Johnson provides better spot-up shooting than Porter, which is what’s needed around Jokic.

Detroit Pistons

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Series Win

The Pistons were maybe the most surprising team in the league in 2024-25, making the playoffs after having one of the worst teams in recent memory just one year prior. And with maybe the best young core in the league in Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren, Detroit should be here to stay for the near future. After nearly taking the Knicks to seven games this year, the next step for this squad should be to win a playoff series or two, especially with the injured east; along with developing Cunningham into a superstar.

Golden State Warriors

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Series Win

After a sluggish start to the 2024-25 season, the Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler, went on to finish the regular season 24-9, win a playoff series and possibly would have won another if it weren’t for Steph Curry’s hamstring injury against the Timberwolves. With bringing virtually the same roster back this season, Golden State should be back in contention to win the western conference again, but with aging stars in Curry and Butler, the Warriors championship window is closing in a hurry.

Houston Rockets

2025-26 Expectation: Western Conference Finals

Before trading for Kevin Durant, the Rockets were in an almost identical situation to the Pistons – a young team who vastly improved in one year and fell short in its first round playoff series. But after the Durant trade, Houston’s expectations skyrocketed overnight and its franchise has a completely different outlook. The Rockets had a ton of great, developing talent on the rise, but were lacking the true No. 1 option to be a contender, but now they have that with Durant, and he’ll be surrounded by young stars in Amen Thompson and Alpren Sengun to create one of the best big threes in the league. 

Indiana Pacers

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Appearance

As mentioned before, the Pacers will be without Tyrese Haliburton for the entirety of next season. But with solid pieces like Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith in a Rick Carlisle system, I can still see Indiana making the playoffs in 2026. This will give the franchise a great opportunity to develop its young talent and hopefully give them some playoff experience as well, as well as giving Nembhard more of the keys to the offense to see if he can make a jump by the time Haliburton returns.

Los Angeles Clippers

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Appearance

The Clippers franchise is putting all its eggs in the baskets of aging stars, with Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and now Bradley Beal and Chris Paul headlining the team. The team performed about relative to expectations this past season, making the playoffs and taking the Nuggets to seven games in round one, but the question is whether Tyronn Lue’s squad can take the next step in the next couple years as Leonard and Harden slowly exit their primes. Brook Lopez and Ivica Zubac should be one of the best big tandems in the league, but I don’t see enough depth on this team to make a playoff run in 2026.

Los Angeles Lakers

2025-26 Expectation: Western Conference Finals Appearance

I wasn’t sure where to put the league’s most popular team’s expectations at entering the season, but I settled on a WCF appearance. Though we’ve seen LeBron on a slow decline the last five or so years, he’s still absolutely good enough in his 40s to be a No. 2 option on a championship team behind Luka Doncic. Speaking of Doncic, he’s offensively skilled enough to carry a team to the finals like we saw in 2024, but bad enough defensively to cause his team to lose first round like we saw in 2025. With the great addition of center DeAndre Ayton to anchor the paint, the Lakers are a Doncic defensive improvement away from being a championship contender.

Memphis Grizzlies

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Appearance

The Grizzlies were a top three seed in the west before making the surprising move of firing head coach Taylor Jenkins. Memphis then slipped down to the final playoff team before getting swept by the Thunder in round one. If the Grizzlies are going to take a step forward in 2025-26, it’s going to need to start on the defensive end, where they finished near the bottom of the league this past season. But if Jaren Jackson Jr. can stay healthy and Zach Edey can develop as a rim protector, that should help things.

Miami Heat

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Appearance

The Heat snuck their way into the playoffs this year, becoming the first 10-seed to win both road play-in games and make the playoffs. But they did that just to get embarrassed by the Cavs in the first round, only keeping one game close out of a four-game sweep. I really like the offseason move of acquiring Norman Powell from the Clippers though, and I think that makes them more of a legit playoff threat with the big three of Powell, Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo.

Milwaukee Bucks

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Series Win

The Bucks have had one of the most interesting offseasons in the NBA so far, starting with the Giannis trade rumors, to the releasing of Damian Lillard, to signing longtime-Pacer Myles Turner to a huge contract. Without Lillard, Milwaukee may have the worst roster of guards of any team in the league, but they still have a top three player in the world in his prime, and have now paired him with another elite rim protector in Turner. If Giannis stays healthy and the Bucks don’t win at least one playoff series with the injured east, the season will be considered a disappointment.

Minnesota Timberwolves

2025-26 Expectation: NBA Finals Appearance

After back-to-back conference finals exits, the pressure is now on the Timberwolves to make the Finals in 2026. It’ll be difficult to do with the Thunder in the west, but if Anthony Edwards and the young core can keep developing, and Julius Randle can consistently play like he did in the first two rounds this year, it’s possible. Re-signing Naz Reid was huge for their chances as well, but they now have less cap space if they want to add more pieces.

New Orleans Pelicans

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Appearance

It seems like every year we’ve – or at least I’ve been high on the Pelicans, believing they could make some noise during the season. However, because of a combination of bad injury luck and straight underperforming, they never seem to live up to preseason expectations. But I may be higher on New Orleans this heading into this season than ever, if they can actually stay healthy. Adding great pieces in Jordan Poole, Kevon Looney and Derik Queen to an already solid core of Zion Williamson, Dejounte Murray and developing star Yves Missi turns this team from a fringe play-in/playoff team to a legit contender to win a playoff series. Because of the continuous injury woes though, I’m not placing my expectations higher than a playoff appearance.

New York Knicks

2025-26 Expectation: NBA Finals Appearance

Firing head coach Tom Thibodeau after making the conference finals for the first time since the turn of the century was certainly an interesting choice, but I can kind of understand the reasoning behind it. Thibodeau was great at coaching teams to good seasons, but his philosophy on consistently playing his top guys 40-45 minutes per game has continuously made his team run out of gas after a series or two. To me, the firing is a high-risk, high-reward move to try and take advantage of having the core of Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and other key role players all in their primes. With the injured east, New York will be a co-favorite with the Cavs to make the Finals in 2026.

Oklahoma City Thunder

2025-26 Expectation: NBA Championship

The Thunder are coming off one of the best seasons in NBA history, winning a total of 84 games en route to a championship in – for the most part – dominant fashion. And the craziest part about this OKC championship is they’re both the youngest team in 50 years to win the title and still have the most draft picks out of any team in the league for the next five years. There’s not much else to say besides the expectation is obviously to win another championship after retaining every piece this offseason.

Orlando Magic

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Series Win

The Magic were one of the most injury-riddled teams in the league last year, causing them to slip to a seven seed in the playoffs after a promising start to the season. Their lack of offense was also a problem last year though, even when healthy; and that’s what held them back from pulling a first-round upset over the Celtics in the playoffs. Acquiring Desmond Bane from the Grizzlies should help the offense this year though, and if they can stay healthy, I could easily see them winning a playoff series in the injured east.

Philadelphia 76ers

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Appearance

I really have no idea what to expect from this 76er team in 2025-26. On paper, having Joel Embiid, Paul George, Tyrese Maxey and a developing Jarred McCain would make them one of the best teams in the east; but after the disaster that was this past year, Embiid never being able to stay healthy and an aging George, Philly could end up flopping again this upcoming season. Based on its roster though, I’m going to set the expectation at a playoff appearance.

Phoenix Suns

2025-26 Expectation: Lottery Team

Talk about a franchise who has gone from 100 to 0 in the last few years. Almost exactly four years ago, the Suns were up 2-0 in the Finals over the Bucks, looking like they were about to earn the franchise’s first-ever NBA championship. Fast forward to now after the whole Chris Paul/Kevin Durant/Bradley Beal fiasco, none of the three are on the team anymore and Phoenix looks like it’ll be tanking for the near future. Hey, at least they still have Devin Booker’s career to go back to wasting.

Portland Trail Blazers

2025-26 Expectation: Lottery Team

Ever since trading Damian Lillard to the Bucks a couple years back, the Trail Blazers have been one of the worst teams in the league. They did make improvements this past season as their young talent continues to develop, and now brought back Lillard and added Jrue Holiday, but I don’t see them being any more than a play-in team at their best, especially with Lillard likely being out all of this upcoming season. I’m a big fan of Scoot Henderson learning from Holiday though, and I think Donavan Clingan could reach all-star level within the next few seasons.

Sacramento Kings

2025-26 Expectation: Play-In Team

The Kings have gotten eliminated in the play-in tournament two years in a row, and I believe they’ll make that a third-straight season in 2026. The roster is pretty much the same as last season – good but not great. The trio of Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine is solid, but with all three entering the later stages of their prime, I’m not really sure what the thought process of Sacramento’s front office is at the moment. I do like the lottery pick of Nique Clifford, and think he can be a contributor right away, but not enough to push them to the playoffs.

San Antonio Spurs

2025-26 Expectation: Playoff Team

I think this season is going to be the Spurs’ first step to returning to a perennial championship contender. They weren’t great these past two years in Victor Wembanyama’s first two career seasons, but they showed flashes, and Wembanyama will continue to develop into one of the best players in the league. That’s not even mentioning the rookie of the year from this past year in Stephon Castle, and the No. 2 pick in this summer’s draft in Dylan Harper. If they can stay relatively healthy, I think San Antonio makes the playoffs this year, and turns into a championship contender within two or three years.

Toronto Raptors

2025-26 Expectation: Play-In Appearance

The Raptors are another team that I went back and forth on what the expectation should be in 2025-26. Ever since the Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam departures, Toronto has struggled to find its footing, missing the playoffs the last three seasons. But with the addition of Brandon Ingram and continuing development of their young talent, I’m setting the expectation at making the play-in tournament as a first step back to relevancy.

Utah Jazz

2025-26 Expectation: Lottery Team

The Jazz are coming off a season where they finished with the worst record in the league, and this upcoming year probably won’t be much different. I do like Walker Kessler to continue to develop as one of the league’s top shotblockers, and the Ace Bailey and Walter Clayton draft picks should help their future, but I don’t think it’ll change much for next season.

Washington Wizards

2025-26 Expectation: Lottery Team

It’s kind of ironic how the final two teams on this (alphabetical) list were the two worst teams in the NBA this past season and my pick for the two worst teams again in 2025-26. Like the Jazz and most teams that will likely be in the lottery, the Wizards have some decent young assets, but nothing much to help them compete in the present. They do have good veteran players in Khris Middleton and CJ McCollum though that could give them an outside shot to at least be better than last season.

Like this content? Subscribe below!