26 Things To Be Excited About for the 2025-2026 NBA Season, Part One

It might be a hard season for the Green Team. While Brad Stevens did amazing work to get to this point, the Celtics, as currently constituted, are going to have to fight like hell to get a playoff seed. The only thing I would rule out is a top-three seed, but being good enough for four through six wouldn't exactly be a picnic. And that is with the current roster. It's tempting to think of the roster as complete now that it's been a few weeks since there was an acquisition, but I don't think it is. And I can give you a date for when I think the next acquisitions will be: September 7th.

If you look at the Celtics' Spotrac page, you'll see a little flag next to the names for Anfernee Simons and Georges Niang. When you click on their individual pages to see what that little flag means, it says the following:

Aggregate Trade Restriction: This player cannot be traded with other players until Sep 07, 2025.

Why is this restriction in place? Who knows? I'm not smart enough to know why this exists. But it seems like the C's are still shopping both players, and now that they have waived JD Davison (a move that made me very sad, I love JD Davison) they are under the second apron, which means they can aggregate multiple players in a trade again. Except it just so happens they can't aggregate these two specific players in a trade until Sept. 7th.

So, until then, I'm trying to think about the NBA more globally, because thinking about the makeup of the Celtics seems absolutely pointless. To that end, I have come up with 26 reasons why the 2025-2026 season will be exciting. I'm splitting it into two pieces because otherwise it would be one obscenely long piece.

These aren't in any kind of order, these are almost all kind of random, and I re-ordered a bunch of them once I had my final list. But the first one here is certainly the first one that came to mind.

Victor Wembanyama making "The Leap"

In his first two seasons, Wemby averaged 22.5 points, 10.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 3.7 blocks per game. He's the only player in NBA history to hit the 20/10/3/2 marks, respectively, in his first two seasons. If you make it a little more fair and remove assists, he's one of eight players in NBA history to average a 20-10-2 (with the 2 being blocks), joining David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Bob McAdoo, Alonzo Mourning, and Ralph Sampson. Sampson might have had a legendary career if he had stayed healthy, but the other six guys are widely considered six of the ~100 best players to play this game. And Wemby is also a good passer to boot.

Last season, Wemby really hit a sweet spot of dropping his usage rate 2 percent back to a healthier 30.4%, while at the same time upping his scoring average nearly three points, to 24.3 points per game. In other words, he had the ball less, and did more with it when he had it. Extrapolate that out to year three, with a really good and interesting crew around him, including a legit No. 2 option in De'Aaron Fox, and you have a team that could legitimately make the top six, even in a stacked Western Conference. Year three is when we think of guys making "the leap." Wemby could have one of the biggest. I've never really made official League Pass rankings, but suffice to say San Antonio is going to be high on my list.

The Clippers embracing one trend while trying to buck another

On the one hand, the Clippers saw that depth, and the ability to use options to both create multiple lineups and not overtax your players – especially during the grueling regular season – is super important. They have embraced that this offseason, and run 11 deeps in proven players (to say nothing of their young, unproven guys). That's seemingly a step in the right direction to get on trend. But where they have diverged wildly is that almost all of those 11 guys are all old (for athletes). The youngest of the 11 is John Collins, at 27. Ivica Zubac and Derrick Jones Jr. are 28. The other eight guys range from 31 to 40 years old. If there's a coaching staff that can figure out how to properly stagger these guys and work in young guys like their first-round pick, Yanic Konan Niederhauser, it's Ty Lue, Jeff Van Gundy, & Co.

The most important season of Jaylen Brown's career

I want to write a longer piece on this at some point, but JB has walked up to the line a couple times this summer of saying he's always deserved to be The Guy, and he hasn't been in the past because he's a team-first guy. You want your highly paid players to think like that. Whether he can be The Guy will have me tuning in to all 82 Celtics games once again, because I want it to be true for his sake.

The future coming into view for Charlotte and Washington

Both teams have been in the playoff wilderness, or even the good team wilderness, for decades, as Tom Ziller detailed the other day. Both teams are finally, seemingly well-run, and have been making the appropriate moves to contend as early as next season if things break right for them. I think Charlotte has an argument for getting into the Play-In this season, especially if Joel Embiid/Philadelphia has another disastrous season.

Is Mickey Arison going to put Pat Riley out to pasture?

Did you know that Pat Riley is 80 years old? It's true! He was born March 20, 1945. In a related story, the Miami Heat have been an afterthought the past couple of seasons, having won a grand total of one playoff game. Three seasons ago, they reached the NBA Finals because Jayson Tatum rolled his ankle on the opening play of Game 7, but the team has almost completely turned over since then. Of the 13 players who suited up in the 2023 NBA Finals, only three players remain in Miami: Bam Adebayo, Haywood Highsmith, and Nikola Jović. Tyler Herro is also still in tow, but famously didn't play in that series.

Since that series, the Heat have made plenty of good moves, but no great moves (and as exemplified by the Terry Rozier trade, some really bad ones). I actually do like a lot of what they've done this offseason, but they're not a lock to be a top six team even in a weakened East, and the hallmark of Riley's tenure there – the big-game hunting – has been missing for awhile. In fact, they were on the other end of it last year when they overplayed their hand with Jimmy Butler. Miami has plenty of tradeable contracts this season, but if the trade deadline comes and goes without a banner acquisition, will the Heat start talking about Riley's retirement? It seems they already are, according to this post from Hoops Rumors. As a big Riley detractor – read Chris Herring's book, Riley is a lunatic – it can't come soon enough, and I will have my popcorn out all season.

Billy Donovan's reign of mediocrity

Billy Donovan is a great coach. He won the Final Four in consecutive seasons, making him one of just three coaches to pull that off in my lifetime. He also was great at OKC, and rightly got out of dodge when it was clear they were going to start tanking. His time in Chicago, however, just does not fit the narrative of him as a great coach. Some of it, no doubt, is because the Reinsdorf family just will not spend money. (The best thing that could happen to the NBA is the Reinsdorf's selling the Bulls to someone who will give a damn.) But some of it has to be on Donovan, right?

In his five seasons with Chicago, Donovan has led four losing campaigns, including three in a row. His winning percentages are .431, .561, .488, .476, aaaaand .476. That's right, the Bulls finished 39-43 in each of the past two seasons! They've played one playoff series in those five seasons, which they lost four games to one. And yet, when the Knicks asked to speak to Donovan this summer, the Bulls told them no, and are apparently working on a contract extension for him as well. While it is probably no comfort to Bulls fans, it is oddly comforting to me to know exactly who the Bulls are, and I'll be fascinated to see if they can finish precisely 39-43 for a third straight year!

The Revenge of Ice Trae?

There are so many Trae Young doubters at this point that they're basically legion. And, to be fair, Young hasn't led his team out of the first round in five seasons, and the Hawks haven't even made the playoffs in the past three. That is going to change this season, and the Hawks are set up really, really well to make a deep run. In particular, the signing of Nickeil Alexander-Walker means that at any point when Young is on the court, the Hawks can pair him with an elite defender – either Alexander-Walker or Dyson Daniels. They can even close with a lineup of Young, NAW, Daniels, Jalen Johnson, and Kristaps Porziņģis (or Onyeka Okongwu when KP is hurt). That is Young and four plus defenders, and if Young is on his game, the offense will take care of itself. The Knicks have to be considered the favorites to emerge from the East on paper, but if the fit with Mike Brown isn't seamless, or if there are injuries, etc., Atlanta has a real chance to be lurking right behind them to steal the belt.

The Cavs revamped their bench – will it matter?

You'll notice I didn't mention the Cavs in that prior sentence. I won't believe in them as contenders until I see it. I got sucked into the majesty of last year's team, and then they completely fell apart. Again. One of the fascinating things about their upcoming season is the bench turnover. Ty Jerome had an impact beyond the numbers last season, leading their bench units, and one of the big reasons they lost to Indiana was because Jerome collapsed, and the Indiana bench completely outplayed Cleveland.

In total, gone from the Cavs since the start of last season are Jerome, Georges Niang, Isaac Okoro, and Caris LeVert. They ranked sixth, ninth, 10th, and 11th in minutes played for Cleveland last regular season. De'Andre Hunter came in last season, and this season they'll add Lonzo Ball, Larry Nance Jr, and Chuma Okeke. The plan will almost certainly be to play Dean Wade more, but Wade has never played more than 63 games in a season. Health is also always a question mark for Ball and Nance. Okeke was healthy last season, but couldn't crack the Knicks roster, and spent most of the season in the G League before he got some run with a tanking 76ers team toward the end of the season. I kind of like Okeke, but that's still a downgrade.

The Cavs should be able to count on Hunter, Max Strus, and Sam Merrill as their fifth- through seventh-best players, but after that there are a lot of questions. This is not what I consider a championship-caliber bench, at least not on paper, so it will be fascinating to see how coach Kenny Atkinson molds them into a winning unit. Certainly, no one had Jerome as a sixth-man candidate at this time last year, but even still, I can't make an argument for the Cavs being better than the Knicks and Hawks.

The Play-In is working exactly as hoped

One of the reasons the Play-In was created was to give the ninth- and tenth-best teams in the conference a shot at making the playoffs. But the real genius of it was the demarcation between the six seed being automatically in the playoffs and the seventh seed needing to earn it in the play-in. The quest to be in that top six has made the end of each season so much more entertaining, and if you spend some time tiering out each conference, you'll see that that affect is going to be there again this season.

Who Will Step Up and Claim Jayson Tatum's First-Team All-NBA Spot?

For four consecutive seasons, Jayson Tatum has made first-team All-NBA. That's as many first-team selections as Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, and David Robinson, and more than Bill Russell and John Stockton. I will write more about this – I'm saving it for the middle of the season when I really get sad about him missing the whole season – but the point is that this upcoming season, he won't make first-team All-NBA.

You could make the argument that it is two spots are up for grabs, as I don't think Donovan Mitchell can lay sole claim to his spot, but I think of Mitchell as having slid into Luka Dončić's spot, and I fully expect Dončić to reclaim it from Mitchell this season. But who will claim Tatum's spot? Anthony Edwards and Jalen Brunson have to be strong contenders, as does Mitchell. Curry could make a run if he stays healthy, and you absolutely can't count out Kevin Durant if he plays a full season. Same with LeBron James.

It could be someone who has never made All-NBA before, namely Victor Wembamyama. Wemby would be the biggest long-term threat to the first team current world order of Jokić, Giannis, SGA, Dončić, and Tatum, and thus would be the most fascinating person to claim the spot this season. Either way, I not only can't wait to find out, but to see a hopefully more lively discussion about it this season, as it's been pretty rote and predictable for awhile.

Nikola Jokić may have his best team ever

It's hard to say that a team that hasn't played a single game together is better than a team that won the NBA championship, but I still maintain that the Nuggets championship team wasn't that good, and that Miami was a pushover of an opponent. The Celtics – with Malcolm Brogdon, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown banged up, and Al Horford running on fumes – would have been as well.

Refocusing on the present, the Nuggets are going to be so, so good this season at full strength. A starting five of Jokić, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, and Cam Johnson is not only going to be devastating, but everyone is going to know their role. Jonas Valančiūnas, Bruce Brown, and Tim Hardaway Jr. are a great veteran bench core. Then you have Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, and Jalen Pickett, who will all be asked to do only what they're capable of doing. And then finally, DaRon Holmes, who missed all of last season, will play his rookie season this season. He suited up for Summer League, and the Nuggets are high on him. If he is able to be effective for ~10 minutes per game, the Nuggets go 12 deep. They only went eight deep in the playoffs last season. And as an added bonus, none of this season's 12 are chaos agent Russell Westbrook!

It's too bad the Nuggets didn't bother trying to be good the last two offseasons, but they seem to be heading into this season, and we could really be in for a treat.

Can Kevin Durant resuscitate his legacy?

I have rarely been on the side of marveling at Kevin Durant's greatness. I just do not care for his attitude, one. Two, he has two championships because he's a frontrunner who joined what was already an all-time great team. In his stops before and after, he's never lived up to the hype, and since Jayson Tatum bodied him in the 2022 first round, he's won just one playoff series, and just six of the 15 playoff games he's played in. It's been a pretty brutal beating for his legacy, even if is now eighth all-time on the NBA scoring list, and at his average scoring output (average of 1,526.2 points per season since returning from his Achilles injury) he'll pass Wilt Chamberlain and Dirk Nowitzi to move into sixth place. With a good season, he even has an outside shot of passing Michael Jordan for fifth place.

That would be the cherry on the sundae, because a good season would mean that the fit with the Rockets has really worked out, and they are contending for a championship. That is what Durant is really after, or should be. He doesn't need to win a championship to rehab his legacy, not in my opinion. It's all set up for him in Houston to do the hard work of making a good team a great team. The Rockets should have beaten the Warriors last season, but couldn't swing it. Golden State got by on guile. Durant is the guy who's supposed to possess that guile. If he can be a good teammate once again, and fill the Kevin Durant-sized scoring void the Rockets need him to fill...maybe he will really be in the conversation for one of the 10 best players in NBA history when it's all said and done. I wouldn't bet on it, especially because I think the Rockets have too many guys, and I don't trust Ime Udoka to properly manage a rotation, but I'm fascinated to see it play out.

Will the discourse surrounding the Celtics, Pacers, and more lead the NBA to making a season-ending injury exception?

Is this what the NBA wants? To have teams face one of two very bad choices when a star player on a big contract gets hurt? One, they are forced to take a gap year, or two, they waive and stretch them, and take the pain from one season and spread it out over many. This is the NBA's plan? Wouldn't it be far better to create an injury exception? It would be so simple to create an exception:

• If a player is to miss the whole upcoming season due to injury, you can declare him out for the season and have his salary wiped off your cap sheet.
  • You still have to pay the player their salary.
  • If for some reason, they are physically able to come back during the season, the player immediately comes back onto your cap sheet, and if this puts you into tax penalties, so be it, you have to pay them.

Look at that. So simple! Most teams would still probably do nothing. As I've written before, there was a decent chance that the C's were going to gut the team this offseason even with Tatum healthy. Tatum's injury simply gave them the cover to do it now. But this didn't need to be the way. It didn't need to be the way for the Celtics, the Pacers, or the Bucks. The NBA will willingly let an inferior product go out on the court this season because a small subset of owners are so petty and greedy that they put in these first and second apron rules that essentially amount to a hard salary cap.

Is it a perfect storm that three Eastern Conference teams are dealing with this all in the same season? Yeah, it is. But if it cripples the season because the East is that bad, it's going to be the talk of the league. In the event that that happens, the one silver lining would be the league creating this full-season injury exception, so that future teams don't have to deal with this pain. It really would be the easy way out. The hard way out, of course, is having a season with fewer games, so fewer catastrophic injuries happen, but the league is merrily pretending that that wouldn't happen, when we all know otherwise. So, the easy solution is the exception. Unless the league doesn't want a solution. We'll have to see.