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The 2025-26 regular season has ended, the Play-In Tournament is over, and we now know the 16 participants in the 2026 NBA Playoffs. At the same time, we also know (and have known for quite some time) which teams are at the other end of the league standings. It was an equally intense race to the bottom as an unprecedented eight teams finished the 2025-26 regular season with 55 or more losses in an attempt to increase odds of snaring top talent in this June’s NBA Draft.

With the focus now squarely on the battle for the 2026 Larry O’Brien championship trophy, we consider the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who just finished the 2025-26 regular season with the best record for the second consecutive season. We also give consideration to the nine biggest threats to dethrone them, comprising our playoff edition of the Top 10 Best NBA Teams 2025-2026 rankings list.

With the unprecedented eight teams with 55 or more losses, the back-to-back games, the load management, and lack of practice time out of the way, we now focus on the remaining teams now using their full available rosters for playoff games with the time to zero in on one opponent to make adjustments between games. This changes everything.

Honorable Mention

Philadelphia 76ers

The Philadelphia 76ers won 45 games during the 2025-26 regular season, resulting in a 7th place finish, and their home victory in the Play-In tournament kept them there. This came despite their two highest-paid players, Joel Embiid and Paul George playing less than a full 82-game schedule…COMBINED. Should both players manage to show up for postseason play, the Sixers can make things difficult for an early-round opponent.

So, of course, after making progress with knee injuries, Embiid is forced to undergo an emergency appendectomy during the last week of the regular season, putting his playoff participation in doubt once again. It’s too bad, because the roster is built to make noise otherwise. Their guards Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe quick and athletic, but small. They have serviceable backup centers in Andre Drummond and Adem Bona. But the Sixers can only go as far as their star veterans take them, if they can only get them on the court.

Orlando Magic

Prior to the 2025-26 NBA season, many basketball pundits took a hard look at the Eastern Conference and saw the injuries to star players like Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum, the subsequent (what turned out to be a perceived) dismantling of the Boston Celtics roster, and the injury to and buyout of Milwaukee’s Damian Lillard. When the conversation turned to which teams were the best candidates to make a run at the upper regions of the Eastern Conference, the Orlando Magic were one of the teams prominently mentioned.

After gaining postseason experience losing a rugged first-round matchup to the Boston Celtics in 2025 and adding some much-needed scoring by adding Desmond Bane from Memphis, not many argued with the idea of the Magic moving up. But the 2025-26 season was once again littered with injuries to top players along with some alleged internal strife involving their star player, Paolo Banchero, resulting in an 8th place finish. Still, the Magic have the defensive chops to cause problems in the postseason should they band together for the cause.

Their first round matchup with Detroit will spill some blood.

Top 10 Best NBA Teams 2025-2026 Rankings

10. Cleveland Cavaliers

This might seem like a low ranking for a team like the Cleveland Cavaliers, who followed up a 64-win 2024-25 regular season campaign with 52 wins in 2025-26. Their tall and talented front line players, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley remain, and late season acquisition James Harden joined Donovan Mitchell in the backcourt. Looks like a potent foursome. Scoring has never been an issue since Kenny Atkinson came aboard last season.

But for the postseason, things change a little. The games become slower and more physical, more of a halfcourt game. The Cavs’ inside players are long and athletic, but they’re not very physical. Their backcourt tandem are both skilled ballhandlers and potent scorers, but they’re both small. And James Harden’s best performances haven’t always come in the postseason.

The Cavs will always have a puncher’s chance because they can score, but in order to avoid a premature playoff exit, they’ll have to avoid getting manhandled under the basket and guard folks on the perimeter.

9. Minnesota Timberwolves

The Minnesota Timberwolves have quietly advanced to consecutive Western Conference finals the past wo seasons, but the level of competition in the conference has gotten stronger with the emergence of the San Antonio Spurs, and the resurgence of the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers.

The Wolves still have Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle to handle a bulk of the scoring along with the interior defensive presence of Rudy Gobert and the two-way play of Naz Reid.. But with Mike Conley nearing the end of his career and unable to play much, the Wolves’ still have a hole as the point guard position. The Rob Dillingham experiment ended with a trading deadline deal, and they hope Ayo Dosunmo can solidify the position during the postseason.

The Wolves are still formidable, but the competition in the Western Conference is insane, as evidenced by a first-round matchup with the Denver Nuggets.

8. Houston Rockets

Last season, the Houston Rockets won 52 regular season games, good enough for 2nd place in the Western Conference. This season, the Houston Rockets won 52 regular season games, good enough for 5th place in the Western Conference.

Last offseason, the Rockets addressed the scoring droughts that plagues them during the 2024-25 campaign by bringing in Kevin Durant, at the cost of the talented but inconsistent scorer Jalen Green and the defensive antagonist Dillon Brooks. The defensive-minded Rockets would admit to missing Brooks’ impact on defense as they spent the entire 2025-25 season trying to find the right balance and, like the Minnesota Timberwolves, a true floor general.

Alperen Sengun is the other potent offensive weapon, but it appears whenever an opponent scores, everyone give HIM the side-eye. Amen Thompson would be unleashed even more were he not saddled with point guard responsibilities in the absence of Fred Van Vleet. Reed Sheppard can score but is a defensive liability for now.

And now the Rockets have to figure out a first-round matchup against one of the hottest teams in the NBA down the stretch, the Los Angeles Lakers.

7. Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers spent much of the 2025-26 season hovering around the middle of the pack in the NBA’s Western Conference, and even looked like a Play-In candidate for a time. But they ended the season winning 19 of their last 24 games to secure the 4th seed and homecourt advantage in the first round against Houston.

With the trio of Lebron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reeves on the court together and healthy, scoring is not an issue for the Lakers. But with all that firepower, their fortunes rely on the performance of center DeAndre Ayton who can be a major force at times and disappear at others. Marcus Smart gives them some point-of attack presence as well. The Lakers spent much of the season looking to fortify their bench, and contributions from unexpected sources will be needed, particularly on the defensive end, if the Lakers hope to advance to the second round and possibly beyond.

Houston will be a tough out in the first round.

6. Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets 2025-26 took on a similar path to that of the Los Angeles Lakers. They finished just one game apart in the Western Conference standings, and after a mid-season wobble, finished strong winning 15 of their last 17 regular season contests. This included a 12-game winning streak to end the regular season. They averaged 130 points per game during that streak.

With Nikola Jokic having a hand in nearly every scoring play, offense is not an issue for the Nuggets. They were the only NBA squad to average more then 120 points per game for the season. Guard Jamal Murray had a career season, earning his first All-Star spot.

But if the Nuggets hope to advance to the latter stages of the Western Conference playoffs, they will need to find a consistent third scoring option in addition to finding some clamps on defense. A more assertive Cam Johnson would help immensely.

Their first-round matchup with Minnesota is an absolute tossup.

5. New York Knicks

It’s difficult to imagine the Knicks facing any pressure on the court in the 2025-26 NBA playoffs that matches what they will face from a demanding fan base. Having lost an Eastern Conference Final series in 2025 to Indiana many were expecting them to win after dethroning the champion Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semis, anything short of an appearance in the NBA Finals would be considered an underachievement to many.

Considered by many to be the preseason favorites in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks lifted the NBA Cup in December, then staggered through the regular season to a 3rd place finish. For the first time, guard Jalen Brunson had some criticism directed his way, as there were whispers of him being too ball-dominant. There were also some team-wide defensive issues to iron out.

But the Knicks remain a dangerous squad in the Eastern Conference playoffs, but teams that play physical defense with big guards tend to give the Knicks trouble. Their perimeter defenders are good, Josh Hart does the dirty work, Karl Anthony Towns is the other scorer, and Mitchell Robinson provides dominant offensive rebounding off the bench.

The Knicks are as much of a threat as anyone in the Eastern Conference, but they’ll likely have to beat the Celtics (again) just to reach the conference finals.

4. Detroit Pistons

Just two seasons ago, the Detroit Pistons won just 14 of their 82 regular season contests and suffered through a 28-game losing streak as the league’s laughingstock. This season the Pistons finished their regular season atop the Eastern Conference while winning 60 games. The continued growth of Cade Cunningham and the emergence of Jalen Duren, combined with playoff-style defense, catapulted the Pistons to the #1 seed. With last season’s playoff experience gained in a tough first round series with the Knicks, the Pistons used the offseason to address some roster issues.

But the biggest gain for the Pistons was experience. Players like Duren and Ausar Thompson are now in Year 3, and vets like Javonte Green and Caris Levert were added for veteran leadership. But the Pistons will only go as far as their defense takes them. They are still lacking a third scorer behind Cunningham and Duren, and are prone to expended scoring droughts.

Because of their offensive struggles, especially when Cunningham isn’t scoring, the Pistons will not have an easy series for the duration of their playoff run, but they do have homecourt advantage throughout. If they can find another hot hand on the offensive end, they will be tough to beat and should advance to the conference finals.

3. San Antonio Spurs

For good reason, the central figure for the San Antonio Spurs is, and shall remain, Victor Wembanyama. But the Spurs ascent to 2nd seed in the Western Conference in 2025-26 is also a testament to the complimentary players on the roster. With the help of players like De’Aaron Fox and 2025 NBA Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, the Spurs won 62 games (3rd most in team history) which included two 11-games winning streaks and another of eight games.

Along the way, the Spurs fired some regular season salvos at the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, winning three of the four regular season meetings and leading many to believe the Spurs can provide a real challenge to OKC’s attempt to repeats as champs.

The Spurs also have important complimentary players like Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and Julian Champagnie, as well as the luxury of bringing last summer #2 draft pick overall, Dylan Harper, off the bench.

It’s not hard to imagine the Spurs and Thunder facing off for the Western Conference title, though the Spurs might still be a year away from possibly reaching the NBA Finals.

2. Boston Celtics

The voting for NBA Executive of the Year should be unanimous. Since last season’s conference semifinal loss to the Knicks, Boston Celtics’ President of Basketball Operations somehow managed to significantly reduce the team’s payroll (and moving them below the dreaded Second Apron) by moving on from established veterans like Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Al Horford. He brought some less expensive players and increased the responsibilities for other players already on the roster. And finally, without the services of All-Star forward Jayson Tatum for all but 16 regular season games, and written off by everyone with a preseason prediction, managed to assemble a roster, led by Jaylen Brown, that won 56 games and finished 2nd in the Eastern Conference.

With Tatum back in the fold, the Celtics appear ready to make a run at the NBA Finals. They have the Tatum/Brown scoring tandem, while complimentary players like Peyton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, among others used the regular season to become more acclimated to rotation minutes. Coach Joe Mazzulla will see to it that his guys defend. If they can avoid lapsing into the poor shot selection that cost them two homes games (and eventually the series) against the Knicks last spring, they’re a strong bet to head back to the NBA Finals for the second time in three years.

1. Oklahoma City Thunder

The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder quietly held their place at the top of the Western Conference once again, beginning the season winning 24 of their first 25 games and never looking back on their way to a league-high 64 wins. And they did this largely without the team’s second-leading scorer from last season, 2025 NBA All-Star Jalen Williams, who only suited up for 33 games this season due to injuries.

The Thunder have become machine-like. If a part is missing, they simply replace that part and the machine runs as normal. While they certainly couldn’t lose a guy like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for an extended period and continue winning, they feel confident that the “next guy up” in every other case knows exactly what to do and is capable of doing it. Coming into the season, if OKC had a weakness, it was outside shooting. That weakness, to a large extent, was addressed with the trade deadline acquisition of Jared McCain, the sharpshooting guard who came over from Philadelphia via trade.

The Thunder have SGA, they have size with Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, a two way wing in Jalen Williams, and several physical defenders including Lou Dort. And they also have championship experience.

They will likely return to the NBA Finals this June and eke out a tough series victory over the Boston Celtics.

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