10 Most Intriguing Eastern Conference Players, 2026-2027
We're so back. The more I think about this season, the more excited I am, because there's a chance that the new tanking rules work. And that would mean that the entire regular season will be awesome, which would be a welcome change to teams racing to the bottom in March and April. I can tell that I'm more excited because when I put together my list for this exercise – which is my favorite annual exercise (see 2023, 2024, and 2025) – my list was 20 deep, a new record. Some years I have really struggled to get to 10 names. This year, I struggled to narrow it to 10.
Standard disclaimer of tipping my hat to Zach Lowe, as this is his construct. He doesn't restrict his to the East, and he doesn't consider star-level players, which are two differences. Also, he gets paid to talk/write about the NBA, and I write when I absolutely have to have a break from my real job. So there's that. Plus, he talks to people around the league to get its pulse, and I talk to precisely nobody. Well, that's not entirely true. I sometimes talk about this stuff to my wife and people at the bookstore, and they smile politely and nod, waiting for me to get distracted and change the subject.
As always, we start with a Celtic.
Hugo González
I wrote this back in May, but I think Hugo should be the fifth starter this year. Payton Pritchard is amazing, and I love him very much. He led the 2023 iteration of this column. But the things he does well, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White also do well. Pritchard is a better passer than White, but White is the far superior defender, so White needs to start. Pritchard is a starter, but on this team he should come off the bench. Hugo should start, because the things he does are not duplicated by others on the team. His burst, his motor, his fearlessness. They are all in desperate need in the starting group. I don't think Tatum, White, Paul George, and Neemias Queta are lacking in burst, motor, or fearlessness, but there is a smoothness and suaveness to all four of them that makes Hugo a welcome change of style. There's a jaggedness, a roughness, to the way he plays that would just be a really good fit on the first unit.
Last season, Hugo only averaged 14.6 minutes per game. The C's are crowded at wing, but if the team is able to start looking at him more as a big guard, he could and should see a big uptick in minutes. As I wrote in May, I remain intrigued by the possibility of him being Boston's Stephon Castle or Josh Hart. There is little statistical evidence to support the view that he should play more, but I know that it's true anyway.
Jaylen Brown
Let me make one thing perfectly clear – I am about to root for a player on the Philadelphia 76ers for just the third time in my life. I rooted for Charles Barkley (though more after he was traded to Phoenix). I rooted for Allen Iverson (though more after he was traded to Denver). I will root for Jaylen Brown. That doesn't mean I want the Sixers to be good, necessarily, but I do want JB to be good there.
Whether he is remains an open question. JB doesn't suffer fools, and Joel Embiid is a fool. It took him less than one game to almost injure JB flopping to the ground like the fucking idiot that he is. Aside from Embiid's oafishness, JB has to fit into a new team with a new coach (who is certifiable) in a new city, and do so with three other major stars on the roster, a star on the rise, and a bunch of other new guys who haven't played together before. I believe JB can and will do all of this, but it is going to be fascinating to watch. JB is an amazing player and person, and the Celtics certainly changed a lot around him. But he always had Brad Stevens as a constant. For nine of his 10 seasons, he had Jayson Tatum. He had Al Horford and Marcus Smart for a lot of the run, and for the last few seasons, he had Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, and Sam Hauser. He was comfortable. There will be very little comfortable about the 76ers this season. It's all new, and he's expected to win right away. Yet if anyone is up for all that, it's JB, and I think he'll really burgeon his legacy this season.
Karl-Anthony Towns
You know who never gets enough credit? Karl-Anthony Towns. It's so easy to point his past issues with foul trouble, or his affable personality, and take him for granted, or overlook his greatness (it's not his fault he's a nice guy who makes people laugh). But did you know that KAT now has scored 16,384 points and pulled down 8,025 rebounds in his career? And that that makes him one of just one of 45 players in NBA history to reach those 16k/8k thresholds? And one of just 13 players to do so through their age-30 season? Here's that list:
If you're scoring at home, that's 10 Hall of Famers, two guys universally considered to be first-ballot Hall of Famers in Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and KAT. Yes, KAT has been less valuable overall than these other 12 players, but he also toiled for years on an also-ran team where he was one of the few (and sometimes only) bright spots.
Last season, his new coach told him he needed him to shoot less, and shoot less he did – his 13.8 field goal attempts per game were a career low. This helped the team coalesce, but it didn't limit KAT's effectiveness. He led the league in defensive rebounds, and precisely one person pulled down more overall rebounds than KAT (Donovan Clingan – you might say Donovan was Clingan to those rebounds! Sorry not sorry). In his two seasons in New York, KAT's defensive rebounding rate is 31.7%. Only Victor Wembanyama and Jokić have also exceeded 30% in this time. Perhaps last year when they had Mitchell Robinson to augment him, KAT was not the most important Knick. But with Robinson off to greener pastures, KAT might be the most important Knick this season. And with the team already cutting off negotiations with him, they're not off to a great start in showing him how important he is to them. I don't think KAT will let James Dolan's sudden thriftiness affect his on-court play, but if he does, or if he gets hurt, the Knicks could be in big trouble, because they absolutely can not replace him.
Moussa Diabaté
It had to be an interesting offseason for Moussa Diabaté. In his fourth season, and second with the Hornets, he not only seemed like he had firmly ensconced himself with a team but established himself as a starter. The five-man starting unit that Charlotte had with LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel, Miles Bridges, and Diabaté were among the most effective in the NBA. So how did the Hornets respond as spring turned to summer? They traded Ball and Bridges, and brought in two guys who could significantly cut into Diabaté's playing time.
The main return for Ball was Naz Reid, and Charlotte used the first of their two first-round picks on 6'11" Hannes Steinbach, who is supposed to be an extremely great rebounder. And you know, rebounding is Diabaté's thing. Ryan Kalkbrenner is still here. Grant Williams is going to try to keep inserting himself as a small-ball five. Theoretically, Tidjane Salaün needs some minutes. Is the plan to play two of these guys at the same time? That'd help, but Diabaté could be simultaneously striving to pump his per game averages from 7.9 points and 8.7 rebounds into double-double territory and worrying that his playing time is about to be cut. I enjoy watching Diabaté, so I'll hope for the former, but I'm not 100% sure what Charlotte's goal is this season, so you never know.
Justin Edwards
That's right, a second 76er. What a world. I wouldn't say I'm rooting for Justin Edwards necessarily, but I am terrified of him. He torched the Celtics last year. From my depth chart review piece:
I still remember the game last November when Edwards went nuclear in the fourth, hitting three straight threes that turned an eight-point Celtics lead into a one-point Philly lead, which allowed Philly to steal a game it looked like the C's were going to pull out with reasonable comfort. In the 12 games Edwards started last season, he averaged 12.4 points in 26.3 minutes per game on .487/.352/.824 shooting, with a .589 TS%. And this year, he's going to get a lot more wide-open shots. It could be a big season for Edwards, who is eligible for an extension.
So, I already was bullish on Edwards' season, and I am even more so after Ariel Hukporti's unfortunate season-ending injury. Because with Hukporti out, guys like Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow are going to spend less time at the four and more time at the five. Which should mean more of an opportunity for Edwards to play the four. Keep your eye on Edwards.
Kelly Oubre Jr.
What a journey it has been for Kelly Oubre Jr., who has lived many lives in his NBA career. The Indiana Pacers will be his sixth team, and I think as good as he fit with Philly, I think he may finally truly be home with the Pacers. It seemed a couple of years ago that Oubre was on the verge of falling out of the league. Despite averaging 20 points per game for the first (and thus far, only) time in his career with the Hornets in 2022-2023, he had to accept a minimum-salary gig with the 76ers heading into the 2023-2024 season. For a guy who had been paid at least $12 million in each of the preceding four seasons, that had to be humbling. And yet, Oubre just kept doing his thing – scoring when you don't expect it, rebounding in traffic, and being an irritant both on defense and just in general – and once again got a decent contract. He signed a second contract with Philly for two years and $16M, and signed a nearly identical contract with the Pacers this summer. He's worth at least twice as much.
Indiana ascended to the top with a tough as nails attitude. They lost a little of that when they traded Benedict Mathurin. Yes, Mathurin was a bench player. But he also ranked third in points scored for the Pacers during the 2025 NBA Finals. Oubre, I believe, will fit in seamlessly as a sort of more refined/less knuckleheaded Mathurin. He'll do so because Oubre was Mathurin. Because he used to make some, let's say rash decisions, Oubre has rarely been taken too seriously by the media, but I've always loved/hated him. Or hated/loved. Few players have consistently gotten under Jayson Tatum's skin the way Oubre has, and his contributions went way under the radar in Philly-Boston in the spring. Oubre pulled down 42 rebounds, second on the team, and he shot .564 inside the arc. It seemed like every time Oubre drove to the hoop, he bullied his way to a relatively easy finish at the rim. That toughness and scoring ability are going to be very welcome on a Pacers bench unit, and obviously he'll be perfectly capable of stepping in to the starting lineup when injuries or days off crop up. He's a big reason why I'm bullish on the Pacers.
CJ McCollum
For a brief moment this spring, it looked like CJ McCollum's moment had finally arrived. He was going shot for shot with Jalen Brunson, and had led his team to a 2-1 lead over the heavily-favored Knicks. Alas, it wasn't to be, and the Hawks had to once again reckon with plenty of questions as the offseason began. Are they every bit the team the dominant team they seemed in their 19-5 close to the regular season? Or was it just good timing that they got to pile up 11 of those 19 wins against the tanking Nets, Wizards, Bucks, Mavericks, Kings, and Grizzlies, plus a win against a Cavs team resting most of their regulars for at least half the game (and Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen for the whole game), a win against a Philly team resting Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe, and two wins against the thoroughly middling Magic?
Adding to the intrigue around McCollum specifically is whether this is still his team or not. I don't think anyone is questioning that Jalen Johnson is the team's best player, but the team absolutely seemed to take its cues from McCollum once he arrived. He was the veteran organizer us crusty old cranks are always clamoring for. Will that continue now that Luguentz Dort and Kingston Flemings have been added to the guard rotation? The Hawks could seemingly make McCollum fourth in the guard pecking order behind Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, and Dort. But McCollum is a reliable shooter in a way that those three guys have rarely been. If the Hawks do decide they can live without McCollum, he could once again be a valuable trade chip, as his $21 million contract expires after this season. He could be packaged with another salary or two to finally get Atlanta the superstar they have lacked for so long. Or he could be the guy he's always been – quietly averaging 19-3-3 in the background but for the occasional clutch shot that gets him labeled a villain.
Egor Dëmin
The Nets famously had four first-round draft picks in the 2025 Draft, and came away with zero players that were consensus great picks. But I really like Dëmin. It's been hard to accurately assess the Nets the last few years, since they were so often trying to lose, but in the beginning part of the season, you could see the promise. After starting the season coming off the bench in his first seven games, Dëmin entered the starting lineup. In his first 23 games as a starter, the Nets went 10-13. Dëmin shot .400/.383/.909, good for 11.3 points per game, and a 1.3 +/-. An effective player, if not flashy. A good start, in other words.
The bottom would soon drop out. Did it drop out because the Nets were awful? Probably. But were they trying to be awful? Also probably. Part of that is that the team constantly was turning over personnel. Last season, a total of 77 players on 27 teams played at least 2,000 minutes. Only three teams didn't have a player suit up for 2,000+ minutes, and all were tanking teams – the Grizzlies, Jazz, and Nets. One reason Dëmin didn't get there is because the Nets rarely played him 30+ minutes in a game – he only did so eight times. And then they shut him at the end of February, so he missed the final 23 games of the season. They called it plantar fasciitis, which is a brilliant injury, because it sounds serious but usually doesn't require surgery. So it could be completely real or total bullshit, and the only people who'd know for sure are the player and/or his coaches and medical team. My guess is Dëmin was just fine, and as a 6'8" point guard who can see over just about any point guard defender and hit his threes, I think he's got the best chance of anyone currently on Brooklyn's roster to be part of their next playoff team.
Matas Buzelis
I'm not particularly high on Matas Buzelis. He throws down some artful/forceful dunks, to be sure. But thus far into his career, he doesn't strike me as a serious player. He is always going for the highlight, and he doesn't get to the free throw line much for a guy who likes to drive to the hoop. More than 31% of his shots came from 0-3 feet last year, which I'm guessing puts him in the upper echelon for players 6'8" and shorter. I picked three other players at random who are also listed as 6'8" – Scottie Barnes (.302), Pascal Siakam (.213), and Paul George (.115) – all three got to the rim less, but all averaged either the same rate or more free throws per game.
However, I am sympathetic to the view that Billy Donovan was not the best coaching fit for Buzelis, and that Tiago Splitter will get more out of him. I'm also sympathetic to the viewpoint that we expect too much from young players these days, and write a lot of players off too soon. Entering his third season and on a team where he should have a larger role and with a new coach who hopefully understands his strengths as a player and fit with his team better, this is a big year for Buzelis. I'm not convinced it'll help him achieve more success, but I'm open to being swayed in the other direction.
Tyler Herro
A phrase you hear a lot these days is "when people tell you who they are, believe them." It doesn't always filter its way to athletes. For instance, Jaylen Brown for years said he was capable of being a No. 1 option, and when he got the chance, he proved it, to the tune of 56 wins and an MVP campaign. Herro has also said many times over the years that he views himself as a No. 1 option. Well, now he's got the chance to prove it.
People are very down on the Bucks, but I will not be surprised if they win 30ish games. Tyler Jenkins is a great coach who constantly made lemonade out of the lemons that Memphis gave him. Even their best players – Ja Morant (knucklehead), Dillon Brooks (hothead, at least on the court), and Jaren Jackson Jr. (big guy who can't rebound) – all had severe limitations, and yet Jenkins constantly had the team in contention. This Milwaukee team is far less talented, but it does have talent, and Herro is chief among those talented players.
He's also playing for a contract. He makes $33 million this season and then he's a free agent, and the only way he sniffs that in his next contract is if he suits up for 70+ games this season. He's only done that once, in 2024-2025, which also not at all coincidentally was his lone All-Star season. It'll be hard to pull an All-Star bid out of a last-place team, but if Herro helps the Bucks surprise, he might earn the nod, and a whole lot more.