Summer forecast NBA 2025-26: the most important questions

What teams will bloom and which will they stumble? What superstar will ask for change? NBA Summer Forecast answers some of these questions towards the 2025-26 season.

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NBA Summer Forecast 2025-26: Rumbo changes, turbulent equipment, and the most important questions

What NBA teams will reach new heights and which will they stumble? What superstar will ask for change? The NBA Summer Forecast of AM850 answers some of the most important questions for the 2025-26 season.

The 2025-26 season of the NBA is less than two months, and the emotion already grows for what promises to be another season full of changes.

While the League prepares for the impact of stars such as Kevin Durant, Myles Turner and Kristaps Porzingis in their new templates, other teams such as the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers prepare for a season without their stars. Could these new faces in new positions and injuries give way to an unexpected NBA champion?

The “Summer Forecast” Panel of AM850, composed of our NBA experts, answers the most important NBA questions for the 2025-26 season, including which team is expected to take a turn, what stars will probably leave their current teams and if we will have a new team crowned champion for the eighth consecutive season. (Here are the calculations: a vote for the first place received five points, a vote for second place three points and a vote for third place one).

Here are the results:

Note: Our NBA 2025-26 summer forecast continues Tuesday with predictions for all the main awards.

E1. San Antonio Spurs/Atlanta Hawks: 55 points

2. Philadelphia 76ers: 49 points

3. Orlando Magic: 48 points

4. Minnesota Timberwolves: 6 points

5. Houston Rockets: 5 points

The Spurs achieved a streak of 22 consecutive apparitions in postseasonfrom 1997-98 to 2018-19, and could finally be about to end their six-year drought after having selected players among the 10 best of the draft for four consecutive years. The health and development of the young talent of San Antonio, especially the consecutive winners of the NBA year, Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle, They will be crucial to lead a renewed template that now includes another rookie candidate of the year, Dylan Harper, the second selection of the draft, together with veteran incorporations such as Luke Kornet and Kelly Olynyk.

But do not forget the Atlanta Hawks, who ended up matched with the Spurs in the survey, or the Philadelphia 76ers. Just five years ago, 76ers and Hawks faced themselves in the semifinals of the East Conference, with BRING YOUR YOEL EMBIID scoring 39 and 37 points, respectively, in the seventh game. The future of Philadelphia depends largely on the health of their veterans Embiid and Paul George, as well as the continuous growth of Tyrese Maxey. The Hawks, meanwhile, achieved a potentially transformative preseason incorporating scorers such as kristaps porzingis and Luke Kennard to complement Young, in addition to a reliable defender as Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

The young and ambitious Orlando Magic also stalks here, since he seeks to overcome the first round of the playoffs for the first time since the 2009-10 season. – Michael C. Wright

Change of course: What team will a fall suffer this season?

1. Milwaukee Bucks: 41 points

2. Los Angeles Lakers: 32 points

E3. Boston Celtics/Phoenix Suns:28 points

4. Philadelphia 76ers: 25 points

5. Indiana Pacers: 19 points

Bucks lead this list due to the growing uncertainty that surrounds the franchise apparently at the end of its contest window. Giannis Antetokounmpo It is still one of the best players in the world. Even so, the difference in talent between him and the rest of the squad is remarkable, even after Milwaukee made an unprecedented play by signing Myles Turner in free agency. To sign Turner, the Bucks released the base Damian Lillard And they stretched the remaining 110 million dollars of their contract over the next five years, which gave them flexibility to find a short -term solution; A sign that the rival teams interpreted as an act of despair by the Bucks to hold on to the latest of the cusp of the Antetokounmpo career.

The Bucks Plan for Success this season will be to rely strongly on Antetokounmpo. The two -time MVP has assumed huge tasks in the past, but to make this template a contender without a second clear star will require, perhaps, its greatest effort. Milwaukee started last season with a 2-8 record, but then found a way to trace and reach the playoffs before being eliminated in the first round. Will Bucks have patience and confidence to recover if they have a slow start this season again? – Jamal Collier

The next superstar in requesting an exchange will be …?

1. Zion Williamson: 10 votes

2. Giannis Antetokounmpo: 7 votes

3. LeBron James: 6 votes

4. Ja Morant: 1 vote

5. Bring Young: 1 vote

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

There is no latent situation this summer that seems as destined for a divorce in the middle of the season as was Jimmy Butler’s tense marriage with the Miami Heat Last season.

Williamson’s stay in New Orleans could have been prolonged with the change in the directive of the Pelicans, with Joe Dumars replacing David Griffin as the main responsible for decision making. If Williamson achieves a good beginning of the season and avoids the plague of injuries that has affected his career, it is feasible that he can look for a new beginning instead of staying with a New Orleans franchise that seems stagnant. He has remained silent since James, through his agent Rich Paul, tried to put the Lakers nervous immediately after exercising his 52.6 million dollars player option for this season. The maximum historical scorer and his team understand how complicated a transfer that involves it, at his age, earning so much money and with the contractual right to veto any agreement.

It has been speculated on the possibility that Antetokounmpo asks to leave Milwaukee for several years. If you did not take that drastic measure in the summer, it is unlikely to occur mid -season. – Tim Macmahon

What superstar injury will have the greatest impact on the east?

1. Jayson Tatum: 20 votes

2. Tyrese Haliburton: 5 votes

3. Joel Embiid: 1 vote

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

The injury Tatum Achilles tendon It was the catalyst for an even more aggressive sale and an expense cut for the Celtics, who were already forced to dismantle their nucleus and cut their payroll to avoid the second platform.

Boston certainly achieved that goal by crossing the pivot Kristaps porzingis and the base Jrue Holiday. They also lost the substitute pivot Luke Kornet and probably detach from the beloved pivot Al Horford, who remains as a free agent for now.

Yes, Celtics still have Jaylen Brown and Derrick White In the wings, and the newcomer Anfernee Simons It is undoubtedly a competent scorer. Even so, no team from the association lost more talent and first level skill than the Celtics is preseason. The depth of the team is no longer of championship caliber, especially in the post, and it is clear that Boston hopes to reopen his window to the title next season, once Tatum can return to the alignment. – Chris Herring

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

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

Earlier this month, I approached this same issue of parity and if it is good or not for the NBA not to have dynasties after being a league that has been built on them for most of its history.

It is understandable that the vote be tilted in favor of this trend continuing. The Thunder became the seventh consecutive champion of the NBA this spring, and the Celtics became the sixth consecutive defender who does not exceed the semifinals of conference.

However, the vote can be too reflective, looking at the past instead of examining the case of Thunder. Oklahoma City was the second youngest team to win a title in the last 50 years, behind the Portland Trail Blazers of 1977. This season, he has recovered all his players and has solid arguments to believe that it will be even stronger in 2025-26. In the League, some have said they would choose Thunder to repeat as champion, and do not see any convincing argument against him.

That does not guarantee that Oklahoma City really repeats. Last season, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics were expected to face the Eastern Conference final, but neither of them arrived. The Thunder was against the strings in the second round against the Denver Nuggets and in the final against the Indiana Pacers. The inevitable growing competitiveness of the League, added to some doubts about the permanence of OKC, led our panel to conclude that parity will reign in the NBA this season. – Tim Bontemps

What team is most likely to make a great movement before the deadline for changes?

1. Golden State Warriors: 7 votes

2. Los Angeles Lakers: 5 votes

E3. Cleveland Cavaliers/New Orleans Pelicans: 3 votes

4. Philadelphia 76ers: 2 votes

5. Memphis Grizzlies: 1 vote

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

The Warriors lead this list because, basically, the preseason has passed by signs of their desire for a movement on the deadline. His contract supply of two years and 45 million dollars to the restricted free agent Jonathan Kumina was designed to have a salary that could change in January. The Lakers, which are in transition to the era of Luka Doncic, have maintained some first round advantages they can use to close an agreement before the imminent expiration of the LeBron James contract. In the case of cavaliers, disappointment and despair can generate movements. If you fear that your valuable core of four players will not achieve success in the playoffs, they could decide to change one and change the composition.– Anthony Slater