We’ve finally made it, hoops fans. It’s opening day.
After a long and busy offseason, the 2026–27 NBA season is set to tip off Tuesday afternoon in Detroit. It’s shaping up to be one of the most intriguing and competitive seasons in recent memory with both conferences loaded with teams who have a legitimate chance to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in June.
That means it’s time for us to put our preseason picks in ink. Here are our NBA writers making picks this season:
- Chris Mannix, senior writer (follow on Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky)
- Liam McKeone, senior news writer (follow on Twitter)
- Blake Silverman, NBA writer (follow on Twitter)
- Tom Dierberger, deputy news director, NBA (follow on Twitter)
Chris Mannix
2027 NBA Finals: Spurs over 76ers in six games
- Most Valuable Player: Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
- Rookie of the Year: Cameron Boozer, Grizzlies
- Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
- Coach of the Year: Sean Sweeney, Magic
- Sixth Man of the Year: Dylan Harper, Spurs
- Most Improved Player: Kel’el Ware, Bucks
Victor Wembanyama’s rise to MVP feels like an inevitability, close to a mortal lock so long as the minutes shackles come off Wemby and he doesn’t miss significant time with injury. I’m not convinced Cameron Boozer will be the best rookie to come out of this class, but his NBA-ready game coupled with plenty of available minutes in Memphis make Boozer an easy pick for top rookie honors. And, yes, for the third year in a row I am all in on the Magic. Sean Sweeney strikes me as just the kind of taskmaster this Magic team needs to claim a top-six spot in the Eastern Conference.
Bold prediction: Kyrie Irving will finish the season in a Pistons uniform. Is this bold? Call it bold-ish. The vibes are good in Dallas but the Mavs don’t have the talent to compete for a playoff spot in a loaded Western Conference. The market will be there for Irving and it says here the Pistons, armed with draft capital, moveable pieces and a couple of interesting young pieces are at the front of it and will enter the postseason with Irving and Cade Cunningham as its 1-2 punch.
Bolder prediction: Nick Nurse will not last the season. It’s not exactly David Blatt-in-Cleveland vibes, but Nurse has a boss (Mike Gansey) who didn’t hire him and two new stars (LeBron James, Jaylen Brown) who never played for him. A 1–3 preseason isn’t cause for concern but this Philadelphia team will need time—maybe a lot of time—to figure out how to play together. Will Nurse be given the rope to figure it out? Or will the 76ers look elsewhere for a coach for a team with a small window to win?
Oddly specific prediction: Jason Kidd will coach the 76ers. It will surely be tempting for Kidd to kick back and collect the $40 million he is owed by Dallas over the next four years, while mixing in some analyst work with ESPN. But if Philly opens up, who better to take over than Kidd? He has a relationship with LeBron James (his former USA Basketball teammate) and Jaylen Brown (a fellow Cal Bear) and the cache as a Hall of Fame point guard and an NBA Finals coach to earn the respect of the rest. A return to the northeast, where Kidd played and coached for many years, with a shot at winning a championship could be of great interest.
Liam McKeone
2027 NBA Finals: Spurs over Cavaliers in four games
- Most Valuable Player: Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
- Rookie of the Year: Caleb Wilson, Bulls
- Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
- Coach of the Year: Nick Nurse, 76ers
- Sixth Man of the Year: Alex Caruso, Thunder
- Most Improved Player: Payton Pritchard, Celtics
My Victor Wembanyama MVP pick and Spurs championship pick go hand-in-hand. If Wemby levels up again and joins rare company in winning MVP plus DPOY, he’ll officially be the best player in the NBA without a doubt. As such there will be little hope of stopping his San Antonio squad in the playoffs at full strength. But if the young star hits a speed bump in his progression or deals with another round of nagging injuries similar to last season that prevents him from hitting 65 games, I’d take the field when it comes to who will be left standing. All that is to say, while the Spurs are a popular and straightforward championship pick as the season approaches, they aren’t runaway favorites. Far from it. We should be in store for another extremely competitive race to raise the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Bold prediction: Anthony Davis will finish the season with the Warriors. I do not think the Davis situation is shaping up to have a happy ending in Washington despite the Wizards’ desires. Maybe they can find an extension number that works for both sides but to me it’s more likely AD tries to land with a team more in line with his own timeline—in other words, a team motivated to give him as much money as possible immediately. What other team could that be than the Warriors, in constant search of an all-in move to lift Steph Curry’s final seasons in Golden State? Between his on-court skill and injury history, Davis is just the sort of risky impact player that a desperate, asset-short team like the Dubs can realistically pursue. Whether it’s wise is a different conversation. But the time has finally come for the Warriors to take a swing and until Davis signs a long-term deal with Washington, his future remains very much in question.
Bolder prediction: Nikola Jokić won’t finish top-three in MVP voting. In each of the last six seasons, Jokić has never finished worse than second in MVP voting. It’s been an outrageous run. But this year, the stars are aligning for the streak to break. We can always count on the superstar center to post mind-boggling stats but the other two factors in MVP voting (team record and the intangible “narrative”) will work against him more than in years past. The Nuggets face an uphill battle to rack up wins in the regular season due to the talent drain of the last few offseasons, and voter fatigue is very real—not even Jokić being the first center to lead the NBA in rebounds and assists per game moved voters last year. The superstar center should finish top-three again because he is a singular offensive talent, but a strong campaign by a newcomer to the MVP conversation in tandem with a lower Denver win total will edge him out. Because the NBA is unfair like that sometimes.
Oddly specific prediction: Jason Kidd will be a head coach again by the end of the year. Kidd just joined ESPN as an analyst, and there’s never been a more obvious candidate to be the next Doc Rivers. Kidd’s time in Dallas ended abruptly and seemingly against his will. He has a successful track record of developing young talent and winning games with a contending roster. The way his Nets, Bucks and now Mavericks tenures all ended should be a flashing red flag to prospective suitors, but a strong enough résumé can often blind decision-makers to such flags. I think a contender is going to get desperate by midseason, fire their coach and give Kidd a call immediately to step in in an effort to salvage what was supposed to be a winning season—just like with Rivers and the Bucks back in 2024.
Blake Silverman
2027 NBA Finals: Spurs over Cavs in five games
- Most Valuable Player: Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
- Rookie of the Year: Darryn Peterson, Jazz
- Defensive Player of the Year: Ausar Thompson, Pistons
- Coach of the Year: Darko Rajaković, Raptors
- Sixth Man of the Year: Ajay Mitchell, Thunder
- Most Improved Player: Davion Mitchell, Heat
Boy, the East is stacked. That’s no secret, but it becomes especially clear once you map out the playoff picture. No matter how much of a gauntlet the East is, I think Wemby’s time is officially here. It started last season with San Antonio’s trip to the Finals during Wembanyama’s first playoff campaign. With the experience, roster improvements both internally and externally, my gut says Wemby gets his first MVP and title this season as long as he stays healthy. In the Rookie of the Year race, although Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson are getting much of the early buzz, and rightfully so, I like Darryn Peterson as the first-year player who can have the biggest immediate impact on winning.
Bold prediction: Luka Dončić averages 35-plus points per game. We haven’t seen a player reach that threshold since James Harden put up 36.1 points a night with the Rockets in 2018–19. Before that, it was Kobe Bryant back in 2006. The Lakers’ roster is fully catered toward Dončić after Rob Pelinka retooled the team in light of LeBron James’s departure over the offseason. Last year, Dončić was the scoring champ with 33.5 points per game. With the new-look team, he should put up silly numbers.
Bolder prediction: The Pistons trade for Kyrie Irving. Mannix and I are on the same page, and I think calling a big trade, let alone the exact team, is pretty bold! I like the Irving-and-Cooper Flagg pairing, and I think the Mavericks will be better than expected. It’s no secret that the two players are on totally opposite timelines, though. If Irving becomes available, the Pistons make a lot of sense. Detroit didn’t take a big swing over the offseason, but locked down Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson. The franchise has flexibility and assets to make a big move if it chooses to. Kyrie helped Luka make a trip to the NBA Finals two years ago, maybe Cade Cunningham is the next young star he lifts over the top.
Oddly specific prediction: Caleb Wilson will win the slam dunk contest. It’s incredibly difficult to predict who will be in the dunk contest, let alone the player who will win it. Last year, Miami’s Keshad Johnson took home the honor after Mac McClung decided to end his reign as the NBA’s dunk champion. Wilson, the No. 4 pick of the Bulls, immediately arrives as one of the league’s best high fliers. He just has to accept an invite. I’m just endlessly hoping for the revival of the dunk contest.
Tom Dierberger
2027 NBA Finals: 76ers over Thunder in six games
- Most Valuable Player: Luka Dončić, Lakers
- Rookie of the Year: Cameron Boozer, Grizzlies
- Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama, Spurs
- Coach of the Year: Chris Finch, Timberwolves
- Sixth Man of the Year: Ajay Mitchell, Thunder
- Most Improved Player: Kel’el Ware, Bucks
Welcome to the Year of Luka Dončić. A season that began with Dončić as the cover athlete for Sports Illustrated’s basketball preview magazine will conclude with him hoisting the Michael Jordan Trophy as a first-time MVP winner. This will come after Dončić wins another scoring title for a team in Los Angeles built around him, and him only. I’ve got his former teammate, LeBron James, winning the ultimate prize, though, in his fifth career NBA championship to cap off his first season in Philadelphia.
Bold prediction: The Thunder and Spurs won’t match up in the Western Conference finals. Remember the years when it was a given that the Cavs and Warriors would meet up in the NBA Finals? It feels that way with the Thunder and Spurs in this year’s Western Conference finals. Last season’s WCF went to seven games, and I’m sure those two teams will meet again on that stage down the road. But it won’t be this season. The Lakers, Nuggets, Rockets and Timberwolves are all capable of taking those two teams down in a best-of-seven series. One of them will do it.
Bolder prediction: A No. 8 seed will beat a No. 1 seed in the playoffs. It’s only happened six times in NBA history, most recently in 2023 when the No. 8 Heat beat the No. 1 Bucks in five games and cruised through the Eastern Conference to the Finals. It’ll happen in the East again. The gap between the best team and the eighth-best team in the East has never been smaller. I wouldn’t be surprised if any of these seven teams represented the East in the Finals: the 76ers, Cavs, Celtics, Heat, Knicks, Pistons or Raptors. And then you’ve got the Pacers, Magic, Hawks, the Wizards with Anthony Davis and Trae Young and up-and-coming Bulls. That’s a lot of talent! Whoever ends up with the No. 1 seed will not have a free pass to the conference semifinals. (As you can see above, I predicted it’ll be the Pacers dethroning the Knicks in the first round. The return of MSG Villain Tyrese Haliburton would be cinema.)
Oddly specific prediction: Rudy Gobert will knock down three (3) three-pointers this season. Gobert has never made a three-pointer in his NBA career. He’s 0-for-22 in the regular season and 0-for-3 in the playoffs. But he’s been working on his three-point shot and, I’ve got to say, it looks good. To hit three, let’s say he’ll have to take about 10 triples throughout the year. He attempted a career-high five last season. If he plays 70 games, that’s one three-point attempt every seven games. I think he can do it.
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