26 Things To Be Excited About for the 2025-2026 NBA Season, Part Deux
A couple of weeks ago, I dropped Part One of this gimmick, and now we're back with 13 more reasons to be excited for next season. If you missed part one, I'm basically looking for as many different story lines as I can, since there's not a lot of reason to analyze the C's roster right now.
With Georges Niang traded (and Chris Boucher signed), I think we're officially on Anfernee Simons Watch. If the team can save another ~$12 million, they move all the way under the luxury tax threshold, and can begin the two-year process of resetting the tax repeater penalties, as I suggested would be the best strategy in a prior piece. I thought this would only happen if they traded Derrick White or Jaylen Brown, but now there is a chance they can do it by trading Simons. I maintain it probably won't happen until Sept. 7th, so it'll be a long time to be on said watch.
In other words, I think the C's have at least one more trade to make. So instead of focusing on that let's talk about more fun things, and we'll get back to the C's roster when it looks more concretely set.
Another chance for a repeat champion
Do I think the Thunder are going to win it all again? I do not. But then, I didn't have a ton of faith in them to begin with. Having said that, they are set up about as well as any champ in recent past has been, and you could argue that they could be even better this coming regular season since Chet Holmgren missed so much of it last season.
Jrue and KP landed in great spots, actually
If you love someone, let them go. I think that people may be handwringing a bit unnecessarily about Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis being traded away from the Celtics. There were many times in the playoffs where Porzingis was not Boston's best option, and Holiday couldn't stay in front of Jalen Brunson, whose lead trait is definitely not speed. But it still stinks to see them go. The good news is that they both landed in great spots. Porzingis immediately has a chance to contend again, if at the very least just for the Eastern Conference championship. And while Holiday is back in the loaded West for the first time in six seasons, I really like what Portland is building. If they can sneak into the play-in this season and make a little noise, they could be primed for a jump into the top six when they get Damian Lillard back next season. Both Atlanta and Portland are going to be high on my watch list this season.
Orlando's out of excuses
I wrote back in June after the Desmond Bane trade that the Magic have learned nothing, because they still can't pass. They then went out and signed Tyus Jones, and people lauded the move. But Jones is a first-half player. Over the course of his career, he has scored more than half of his points in the first half, and his FG% drops by quarter: .460 in the first, to .450, .450, and .418 in the fourth. Much like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope last season, if Jones gets burn in the fourth quarter, he's going to have to prove he can hit open jumpers, because no one is going to bother guarding him.
Either way, the Magic are out of excuses. For two straight seasons, they have failed to make it out of the first round. Now, two of the four best players in the conference won't see the court all season, and the Magic pushed all their chips in as a result. If they can't win at least one playoff series this year, there will be big changes, likely starting with the coach, but possibly involving Franz Wagner as well.
Can the Pistons be relevant when people are paying attention?
The Pistons were a fun story last season because no one took them seriously. "Aww, look at Detroit, being all competitive!" That will not be the case this season. Can they stay relevant? They lost their energy sparkplug in Malik Beasley, but they are a solid eight deep, and that's before you get to Ron Holland, Paul Reed, or Marcus Sasser, who are three bench guys I do like.
Will Cooper Flagg be good enough to save Nico Harrison's job?
I was so ready to fall in love with Cooper Flagg (did you know he's from Maine?!?!?). And then the Mavericks won the lottery. I do not care for the Mavericks in general, and specifically them under Nico Harrison.
This Mavs team though, is set up to have Flagg be the savior. The team is thick with solid talent, but lacks star power in general, and in particular from a ball creation standpoint, at least until Kyrie Irving comes back and shows he's healthy and elite again (I don't think that it should be taken for granted that he will). If Flagg is the dynamic star creator he's billed as right out of the gate, the pieces for this team could fall into place, and keep Harrison employed. If Flagg turns out to be regular mortal rookie, and the Mavs slip back out of the play-in, it could be Harrison who takes the fall, because it certainly isn't going to be Anthony Davis, Flagg, or Irving. And it seems unlikely you'd fire a coach for failing to coach up a rookie, as much as I don't like Jason Kidd.
Will LeBron torpedo the Lakers?
We're in completely uncharted territory with LeBron, in that he is a living legend who is now firmly not in control of his team. Will he handle it with class, even if the Lakers do poorly? I believe that he will, because he knows all too well the legacy he will carry with him into retirement, and I don't want to see him torpedo his team. But if he's going to torpedo any team, it's nice that it'd be the Lakers.
Will Amen Thompson make "The Leap"?
I had the privilege of attending the game last season when the Rockets came to town. The game had a great final minute that was punctuated by Thompson easily dislodging Jaylen Brown for the game-winning bucket. I still expect Jaylen to square up on him when I watch the replay, and yet.
In his second season, Thompson improved from averages of 9.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game – solid numbers that when paired with elite defense will make you an NBA player for a long time – to 14.1, 8.2, and 3.8. Only 14 players averaged 14-8-3 last season, and the only other player among the 14 to make either of the All-Defensive teams was Evan Mobley. And Thompson did all of this without having the ball in his hands much. He had a 17.5% Usage in 2,225 minutes played. Thompson ranked 68th out of 91 in terms of Usage% for those who played more than 2,000 minutes last season.
If he gets even remotely more comfortable with the ball in his hands, and he ups those averages to say 18-8-5, with elite D, it's going to be hard to keep him off the All-Star team. The big question of course is will he get the ball more. Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green are gone, and they were first and third on the team in minutes played. Kevin Durant should occupy one of those spots. Will Thompson be the next into the void, or is one of Jabari Smith Jr., Dorian Finney-Smith, or Tari Eason (or someone else???) going to have the ball more?
Is the Knicks coaching staff going to be OK?
As August kicks into gear, the Knicks still do not have a final coaching staff. Mike Brown is a solid-to-great coach, but he's walking into a tricky situation. One of his three primary assistants is holdover Rick Brunson, who as you know is Jalen Brunson's dad. Brown didn't pick him. The other is Brendan O'Connor, who it appears has never worked with Brown. He did, however, work with Knicks executive William Wesley (aka Worldwide Wes). Now, maybe Brown did pick O'Connor, I don't know. But usually coaches pick guys they've worked with before. And the third primary assistant is still theoretical, as the Knicks haven't signed anyone yet.
The best way I can describe this fit is awkward. Usually, a head coach gets to have his guys on the bench with him. Brown is down in the count, and a lot of teams have/are denying the Knicks permission to speak with potential coaches. It's almost like James Dolan pissing off most every other owner has had consequences for New York's coaching search. Who knew?!?!
This may not affect the way the Knicks play one iota, and if you're a Knicks fan, you have to be rooting for that. Because the Knicks should be the heavy favorite in the East on paper. But under Dolan, the team most likely to beat the Knicks is always the Knicks.
In its third year, is it make or break time for the NBA Cup?
Do you care yet? I want to care very much, but it's hard to remember specifics from the last two years, or think about caring for this season. Even though the C's winning the NBA Cup in their "gap year" would be a fun achievement. But the NBA Cup is just completely random, including the teams you play, which makes it much harder to care about. If it flops, is there another creative idea, or are we stuck this forever?
Can Giannis make a dollar out of 15 cents?
This will easily be the least talented team Giannis has played with this decade, and yet it's possibly the most talented team he'll play with during the remainder of his time in Milwaukee. In other words, it's all on him to make this something great. If not, he's either playing out the string in mediocrity, or asking for a trade. And he doesn't seem to want to do either of those two things. So we could be in for an epic Giannis season.
Are Joel Embiid and/or Paul George the biggest/best Ewing Theory candidates ever?
We could potentially do a really deep dive on this, and maybe we will in the unlikely event that the Sixers become really good. But I think the short answer is yes.
Will the Pelicans be so bad that moving them to another city actually gets on the table?
I sure hope so. It's bad enough that we have to watch the Reinsdorf's torpedo the Bulls, but at least they earned the benefit of the doubt by shepherding six NBA champions. The Pelicans are just about always in the bottom half/bottom third in the league in attendance (which is hilarious given New Orlean's tourist destination bonafides), they have only advanced out of the first round twice in their 24-season history, and have never made the conference finals. Their logo and mascot are completely forgettable, as is their color scheme. Their only memorable players – Chris Paul, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, and Zion Williamson – have either had much better career highlights elsewhere or have so much untapped potential as to render their time in New Orleans a disappointment.
In other words, there is nothing tethering the Pelicans to New Orleans. The Benson's either don't care about the team or are too incompetent to run it properly, otherwise they would have conducted a search that landed on someone other than Joe Dumars to be GM. With expansion seemingly off the table – at least for now – the best thing the NBA could do this year is force the Benson's to sell to a group in Seattle, and bring the Sonics home.
Can Jalen Brunson keep doing his thing?
I saved the best for last. As I stated earlier, the Knicks should be the heavy favorites in the East. There may be no clear cut favorite in the West, and voter fatigue may lead many voters away from Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Which means that one Jalen Marquis Brunson may find himself in the very thick of the MVP discussion this coming season. That is, provided he keeps doing his thing.
We have come to expect greatness to be repeated, and repeated often. As sports fans, we're incredibly spoiled. But history tells us that it is not that easy to be as good as Brunson has been consistently when you're so short. Brunson is listed at 6'2". In NBA history, Brunson is just one of just 14 players to be listed at 6'2", play at least 2,000 minutes in an NBA season, and average at least 25 points per game. Here's the list of players:
- Active: Brunson, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Tyrese Maxey, Trae Young
- Retired: Michael Adams, Tiny Archibald, Archie Clark, Gail Goodrich, Allen Iverson, Calvin Murphy, Kemba Walker
- Not sure: Isaiah Thomas
These 14 players have achieved this feat in 42 player seasons. Eight of the 14 players, Brunson included, have done so in consecutive seasons. But only Iverson (nine seasons), Lillard (six), and Young (four) have done it in three or more consecutive seasons. That's the place Brunson finds himself heading into this season. In the 2023-2024 season, he played 2,726 minutes and averaged 28.7 points per game. Last season, he played 2,301 minutes and averaged 26.0 points per game. So this season would be the third consecutive season if he can pull it off.
He's actually totaled more than 2,000 minutes in four consecutive seasons, so perhaps I'm being overly cautious to even bring this up. After all, more than half of the guys to achieve this have played in the past decade. But Brunson tends to throw his body around the same way Thomas did, and things unraveled for Thomas in his age-28 season, after two consecutive All-Star appearances. Brunson is entering his age-29 season, and has just had two consecutive All-Star appearances. So I worry.
Should he stay healthy, Brunson may be in the MVP conversation, and he may also enter rarified air for a short NBA player.