1 Bold Prediction For All 30 NBA Teams Before The 2027 Season

Ladies and gentlemen, we made it to the month of October. The NBA season officially begins at the end of this month, training camp is already underway, and preseason games have already gotten started giving these groups their first taste of real action together on the court. With that being the case, it's prime time to throw out some predictions for the new season, which is exactly what we're here to do in this video. Today, more specifically, we will be going through all 30 NBA teams and we'll be dishing out one bold prediction for every group this year, meaning these aren't necessarily things that are expected to happen by most and would probably shock a lot of people if they did happen, but I still think they can happen anyway. Now with that being said, let's get started. We'll start in the east then run through the west after, so first up is the Atlanta Hawks and my bold prediction for their season is that they will have a top five ranked defense this year. The new era of Hawks basketball is clearly prioritizing the defensive side of the ball, but they're not necessarily one of the fully established juggernauts on that end yet. Last year, they were the 10th ranked defense, just sneaking into the top 10, which is a good start, but the jump to fifth is lofty. With another year of gelling together and the addition of Lou Dort to the mix, who comes in as a tone setter on that end with championship pedigree and influence on Oklahoma City's top ranked defense, there is room for even more growth. Next is the Boston Celtics and my prediction for them is that Jason Tatum will lead this team in points, rebounds, and assists this year. The Celtics have been a group that share the wealth really well over the years, experiencing dominance via strength in numbers, but this year's Celtics squad is pretty different than years past. It's no longer a 1A, 1B situation between Tatum and Jalen Brown. Brown is gone and in his place is an older Paul George who knows he's a role player at this point in his career. Tatum has also been taking major strides as a rebounder and passer over the years, becoming more well-rounded, so now, with everything officially running through him, I think he'll be padding stats quite a bit. Next is the Brooklyn Nets and my bold prediction for them is that both Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle will be traded this season. The Nets have become the dumping ground for the league's worst contracts that teams just want to dispose of, and with them early in a rebuild, they'll happily do it, but it's also in their best interest to try to turn that investment into a reasonable return. Michael Porter Jr.'s stock has skyrocketed after balling out in Brooklyn last year, and Julius Randle will also be getting heavy usage this year, so if there's a chance for them to bring in some assets better suited for the future on the market, they should happily be trying to make that happen. Next is the Charlotte Hornets, and my bold prediction for them is that Concanipple will make the all-star team this year. With LaMelo Ball gone, the Hornets' offense is going to look different, and after nearly snagging the rookie of the year award last season, Concanipple will be one of the prominent players spearheading this attack. With LaMelo gone, the ball will be in Con's hands a lot more as a ball handler and playmaker, which is an area that he definitely has more to offer than he showed last season, and I don't think it's crazy to say he could average about 22 or 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game while being the absolute lights out shooter that he was last season too, so if this team can stay afloat, he could get a surprise nod. Next is the Chicago Bulls, and my bold prediction for them is that Caleb Wilson will lead all rookies in scoring. This year's rookie class is loaded, with AJ DeBonsa being a walking bucket, Darren Peterson being a dynamic combo guard, and Cam Boozer being a well-balanced stud in his own right, but don't forget about Caleb Wilson. Wilson is on a Bulls team that may afford more usage than some of the other top rookies in their situations. He's also a lethal driver of the ball who will dunk any and everything around the rim, and he's a much better shooter than he showed in college at North Carolina, as evidenced by his summer league play, so the opportunity will be there for him. Next is the Cleveland Cavaliers, and my bold prediction for them is that they will not be a top 4 team in the east. The Cavaliers are fresh off of their best run yet in the Donovan Mitchell era, making it to the conference finals, but a lot has happened this summer to shake things up, and the landscape looks very new going into the new season. The Cavs lost some depth pieces, James Harden is another year older, and teams like the 76ers, Heat, Raptors, and Pacers all got better this summer, with the Knicks and Celtics also still being in the mix too. Next is the Detroit Pistons, and my bold prediction for them is that they will sink down to the play-in tournament. The Pistons were the one seed in the Eastern Conference last year, flying high, emerging as legit threats, but in the NBA, nothing is ever guaranteed, and if you don't keep trying to get better, it's easy to get passed up. The offseason, Detroit just had, to put it lightly, was not very good, making a bunch of lateral moves at best, and overpaying Jalen Dern, who doesn't even seem to want to be there in the first place. As I just said, so many teams in the east have drastically improved around them, and they didn't with an already flawed roster that teams seemed to have caught up to in the playoffs. Next is the Indiana Pacers, and my bold prediction for them is that Ivica Zubac will lead the NBA in rebounding. The Pacers specifically brought Zubac in as Miles Turner's replacement because they were looking for more of a bruiser inside, both on defense and on the glass. Zubac ranked amongst the league's top rebounders back in 2025, and last year he was dealing with a bit of injury, so he had a down year. In Indiana, playing in a more up-tempo system, there will simply be more possessions, more shots going up, and more rebounding opportunities, and with him being the one down there in the paint, the usage of his big strong body to command the glass will allow him to be snagging quite a few of them as a proven rebounder already. Next is the Miami Heat, and my bold prediction for them is that Pel Larson will be a finalist for the Sixth Man of the Year award. I haven't made my official predictions for awards yet, but every year the top three vote-getters get invited to the awards show as finalists, and I think this year Pel Larson is a sneaky candidate to explode off of Miami's bench. Larson already started to break out last year as a well-balanced guard who plays both on offense and defense very hard, finishes very efficiently around the rim, and can be a secondary playmaker in this summer too. He's been dominating on the international scene in World Cup qualifying. The Heat are thin at guard right now, so he'll have a bigger role, and I think he's ready to explode in it. Next is the Milwaukee Bucks, and my bold prediction for them is that Ryan Rollins will average at least 20 points per game this season. Rollins is one of the most underrated guards in the entire league right now. Last year he was producing at a level nearly on par with all-star caliber guys around the league, but the Bucks just kind of stunk, so not as many people took note of it. Now that the Bucks are officially rebuilding without Giannis Anadokoumpou, Rollins' usage will increase even more, and he's genuinely talented and crafty enough as a creator, while also being efficient, to score the ball at this kind of level. Next is the New York Knicks, and my bold prediction for them is that Karl-Anthony Towns will get traded. The Knicks are the defending NBA champs, and obviously they don't have any reason to shake things up, but behind the scenes, trouble could be brewing. Karl-Anthony Towns' representation and the Knicks have begun to engage in some talks about a contract extension, but the two sides are very far apart in what they're expecting for a price. Towns himself literally just said publicly in a recent interview that it's not looking good in those talks, and when players are that publicly negative, it usually means things are worse behind the scenes. If the two sides can't come to an agreement, it may mean that the Knicks don't prioritize him, and if they don't end up wanting to extend him, he could hit the block. Next is the Orlando Magic, and my bold prediction for them is that they will miss the playoffs. The Magic have made the playoffs three years in a row, but they've also lost in the first round all three of those years, and have consistently had the worst ranked offense of the teams that make the playoffs. They're skating by on very thin ice right now, with a group that may have maxed out as a middling side, and Paulo Banqueiro doesn't seem to be the superstar talent they hoped he could be to lead the way. They lack creativity and playmaking on offense, their best players have clunky, inconsistent play styles that don't mesh great together, and despite their dominant defense, there are just so many other good teams in the mix in the east right now. Next is the Philadelphia 76ers, and my bold prediction for them is that LeBron James will lead the NBA in assists. At LeBron's age, nobody is really expecting him to stuff the stat sheet like he used to in his prime, and he went to Philly specifically so he wouldn't have to do that anymore, which, in the case of his scoring, makes a lot of sense. However, LeBron will still serve as one of their primary orchestrators of offense, and as an all-time great passing talent, he now has a lot more firepower around him to distribute to than he's had in quite a while. He's also led the NBA in assists before, so he is capable of this, it's just not something that's expected of him. Next is the Toronto Raptors, and my bold prediction for them is that Scottie Barnes will lead the team in all primary main stats except for scoring. That means rebounding, assists, blocks, and steals. I don't think many people realize this, but Barnes was already very close to doing this last season, with Emmanuel quickly beating him out in assists ever so slightly. In the playoffs, Barnes leveled up as a playmaker though, and he averaged nearly 9 assists per game in their series, dishing out over 10 assists in 3 of those games too, and he's still going to be a high usage player even with the arrival of Kawhi Leonard. Barnes gets better and better every year, and this is an area that he's shown glimpses of big improvement coming in. Next is the Washington Wizards, and my bold prediction for them is that they will have a top 10 ranked offense. Last season, the Washington Wizards had the second worst ranked offense in the entire NBA, so this requires a massive leap. That's how much I trust Trey Young as a playmaker on the offensive side of the ball. Say what you want about Trey's defense, but offensively, he is as crafty and creative as they come, ranks near the top of the league in assists every year, and has led the Hawks to being some of the top ranked offenses several times during his tenure there. Now over to the teams in the West, next up is the Dallas Mavericks, and my bold prediction for them is that Cooper Flagg will make one of the All-NBA teams this year. Honestly, I'm not even sure if this fully counts as a bold prediction, but I really do believe Flagg is on the kind of trajectory that the best of the best begin on. The Mavericks may not be a real playoff threat right now, but Flagg is still about to have a monster year. Fresh off of winning rookie of the year, he's a beast on both ends of the floor with defensive versatility that gives him all defense upside, along with being a far more advanced scorer than initially advertised as well. He needs to improve as a three-point shooter, but he is still someone who's capable of explosive scoring outings, and the ball is going to be in his hands a lot this year. Next is the Denver Nuggets, and my bold prediction for them is that DeMar DeRozan will be waived before the season ends. The Nuggets were desperate for any kind of addition to their weak and had to settle on DeRozan, who I just don't think is a good fit for them at all. DeMar DeRozan's playstyle is the exact opposite of how Denver have run things, with DeRozan lacking as a spot-up shooter, being a bit lazy, operating off the ball rarely making useful cuts, and he often gives pretty bad effort on defense. Sure, he is still able to score in bunches, but the negatives seem to outweigh the positives, and with DeRozan being signed to a league minimum contract, waiving him if things go south isn't difficult for the team to do. Next is the Golden State Warriors, and my bold prediction for them is that they will miss the playoffs again. The Warriors missed the playoffs last season, and as a team with a long proven track record of bouncing back, I don't think that will be the case this year. Their offseason was uneventful. Jimmy Butler is out most of the year injured, Christaps Porzingis is out indefinitely with the illness that has impacted his availability over the past two years, and Draymond Green just showed up to training camp looking pretty out of shape. Nothing about this group changed enough for them to pass up previous playoff teams, which is unfortunate, with Steph Curry approaching the end of the road. Next is the Houston Rockets, and my bold prediction for them is that Fred VanVleet will get benched at some point. Fred VanVleet has been a good starting point guard in the NBA for a long time, and he's this season after missing all of last year with an injury. The hope is that he can be a big boost that they need at the point guard position where they were lacking last year, but in reality, I have my doubts. Fred VanVleet had a pretty bad season the last time that he was healthy, and now he has red flags with his health. There's a world where he continues down that road while his defensive work rate also takes a hit as a result of aging and injury history, so his starting spot is by no means locked up for the whole year. Next is the Los Angeles Clippers, and my bold prediction for them is that Darius Garland will average at least 25 points per game. Garland is a multiple-time all-star in his career so far, but he's always been more of a balanced floor general with a ton of nifty creativity and playmaking instincts, while also being able to give you about 20 points per game. His career high for a season is 21.7 points per game, so 25 is a big leap, but the Clippers simply don't have anybody else around him with the creation talent necessary to keep up, especially now that Brandon Ingram is missing significant time, so Garland is about to have way more usage than he's ever had before. Next is the Los Angeles Lakers, and my bold prediction for them is that Luka Doncic will have his most MVP-worthy season yet. I'm not putting out my official predictions for awards yet, but this year, everything is setting up for the best of Luka Doncic that we've seen to this point. The team is now fully built around him, he has a high-end center to operate with in Walker Kessler, he has tons more shooting around him after the Lakers had a strong offseason, and this might be the year that we see him approach the average triple-double in a season club. The Lakers are going to surprise folks as a group that remains in the mix near the top of the West, and if that's the case, then it's an MVP-caliber combo. Next is the Memphis Grizzlies, and my bold prediction for them is that Ty Jerome will average at least 20 points per game. This one may sound random, but the Grizzlies don't really have a set-in-stone go-to guy right now, with them embarking on a rebuild, and Ty Jerome is one of the most league-proven scorers that they do have at the moment. Last season, he only played in 15 games because he was injured for most of it, so the sample size was small, but he did average a little over 19 points per game, and while doing that over the course of 82 games is much different than 15 games, I do believe he's a dark horse to lead this team in scoring. Next is the Minnesota Timberwolves, and my bold prediction for them is that Jonathan Kuminga will get benched at some point again. With Kuminga going to Minnesota and being promised a spot in their starting lineup when he signed there, the narrative is that he has finally found a team willing to buy in on him and his talent. That very well may be the case at the start, but I'm not fully sold on Kuminga magically just becoming a different player now. Yes, he's always been someone who has shown flashes of brilliance as an athletic wing with intriguing scoring upside and explosiveness, but the mental side of the game has always been his downfall, and the Timberwolves, like the Warriors where he played most of his career previously, will not have patience for the amount of errors that he's prone to making on defense that get him in the doghouse throughout his career because they're also trying to compete for a championship. Next is the New Orleans Pelicans, and my bold prediction for them is that they will finally blow up the roster this year. Around the trade deadline, I foresee the Pelicans being the biggest sellers because enough will finally be enough, and they'll be forced to admit that this core, as constructed, has no hope to accomplish anything meaningful. Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, Jordan Poole, and more, these are all guys that could and probably should get moved so the Pelicans can recoup assets for a necessary rebuild. Next is the Oklahoma City Thunder, and my bold prediction for them is that they will have multiple 6th Man of the Year candidates on their team. The Thunder have arguably the deepest and most talented roster top to bottom, to the point where both AJ Mitchell and Jared McCain may find themselves in the mix for the 6th Man of the Year award. AJ Mitchell was already one of the best bench scorers last season, and Jared McCain really found his footing again after being traded to this team. Now that he is further removed from his injury, McCain will look to capitalize on that momentum even more, and together those two will lead what will probably be the best bench attack in the NBA. Next is the Phoenix Suns, and my bold prediction for them is that Jalen Green will be traded. The Suns surprised the world last season making the playoffs through a strong defensive identity that they established. They also did that without Jalen Green playing pretty much the whole year. Jalen Green has also been a pretty bad defender most of his career to this point, need I say more? I just don't think Green's playstyle is conductive to winning basketball games, and ultimately they could use him as trade bait to find a better fit for their system. Next is the Portland Trailblazers, and my bold prediction for them is that they will make the playoffs without even having to go through the play-in tournament. I don't think they'll necessarily be a top seed in the west, but I believe they can once again surprise a lot of people and finish around 5th or 6th in the conference standings. They made the playoffs last year and only got better this upcoming season. Damien Lillard will be back on the floor, Ja Morant was brought in as a wildcard that still has star talent when he's right, Denny Avdia gets better every season, and their defensive core is rock solid in their frontcourt. Next is the Sacramento Kings, and my bold prediction is that they will be the worst team in the NBA this year. Not just near the bottom of the standings, the Kings will be the worst. They'll likely have the league's worst ranked defense, their offense will lack cohesion with players that all like to dominate the ball just like we saw last year, and like the Pelicans, they'll also eventually be inclined to trade away some of their better players like DeMantis Abonis, which will only send them further down the pecking order of the league. Next is the San Antonio Spurs, and my bold prediction for them is that De'Aaron Fox will get benched at some point this season. Fox has been an all-star caliber point guard for most of his career, producing at a level on par with the best at his position, but his best days seem to be behind him. He was a liability in the playoffs and arguably cost them the NBA finals, and the biggest reason for this prediction of all is that the Spurs already have his replacement ready to break out in Dylan Harper. Harper wasn't an ordinary rookie last year, he was one of their most reliable players on the biggest stage, with real star upside, and it's in the best interest of the team to hand Harper the keys of that backcourt sooner rather than later. And finally, the last team is the Utah Jazz, and my bold prediction is that they will have multiple all-stars this season. Teams with multiple all-stars are usually top teams in the conference, so while I'm not necessarily saying that the Jazz will be breaking out like that, I do think they'll be much improved due to the influx of talent that came in. Laurie Markkinen has put up all-star caliber production in Utah for many years already, and if Jaron Jackson Jr. can help sure up this team's defense, he could also definitely get the nomination. And with that being said, that's all I have for you today. Make sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and comment down below what your bold predictions for the new season are. Thanks for watching and I'll see you all next time.