Who Are The Biggest CONTENDERS And PRETENDERS This NBA Season?

This summer shook up the landscape of the NBA a ton, and as a result of all of the crazy moves we saw, there are now way more teams looking to get into the mix to win a championship. There's arguably more parity now than there's been in quite a while, but realistically, there can't actually be about 10 real contenders. And that brings us to today's video. Today we will be going through the teams that are expected to be at or near the top of the standings, and we'll be placing them into one of two categories, contender or pretender. The Contenders obviously are the teams that I believe have a real chance at winning a title this year as currently constructed. The Pretenders are the teams that will still probably win a lot of games in the regular season, but do not have enough to actually go all the way with what they have. Now with that being said, let's dive right in. We'll start with the first team that I have firmly planted into the Contender category being the New York Knicks. We'll start with the obvious ones as the Knicks are the league's defending champions, and they will return largely the same team ready to defend their title. They're still led by Jalen Brunson, who has solidified himself as someone who is as big time as anybody in the NBA in crunch time. It doesn't matter how he's playing leading up to the fourth quarter, he can flip a switch and take over a game when it's on the line, and that is a real weapon that this group has over most. Their starting lineup is also still intact from last year, with Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Ananobi, Mikael Bridges, and Josh Hart rounding out one of the most well-rounded lineups in the league on both ends of the floor. Things may not be perfect for them, but no team's perfect. They did lose Mitchell Robinson, which is a tough blow to their frontcourt, but the rest of their key bench players were re-signed. There's also some tension between Karl-Anthony Towns and the team regarding his potential contract extension, but ultimately things like that aren't enough to count out the defending champions. Now to the first team that we have in the Pretender category, it's the Minnesota Timberwolves. It hurts to put them in this tier because I know they're going to be incredibly entertaining this season after some big changes that they made this offseason. The point guard position has been their biggest weakness for years, and they finally addressed it by trading for LaMelo Ball, who I am genuinely excited about in this lineup next to Anthony Edwards. Having another reliable creator next to Ant will alleviate his workload and could help get the most out of him, which is huge, and overall, this new lineup is a lot more cohesive for the modern NBA than in last year's with more shooting, length, and defense. However, they lost quite a bit of useful depth, and I'm not sure I trust this team's bench enough to go all the way. Io DeSumo is one of the best two-way role players in the game, but after that, there are just too many question marks. Yohan Baranje will be the backup center after barely getting any run as a rookie, Terrence Shannon will be stepping into a bigger role than he's ever had, and Bones Highland has been one of the more streaky shot creators throughout his career, so it's tough to fully rely on him. The next team that finds themselves in the contender category for the season is the San Antonio Spurs. We said we were going to be discussing the obvious ones first, so of course the team that represented the Western Conference in the NBA Finals will still firmly be in the mix, with a legit shot at winning a championship. Victor Mbanyama is a year older, with the experience of what it's like to get there and then fall short motivating him to level up even further, and he's obviously the type of talent that can do that. I expect him to be in the mix for the MVP award this season, and around him is still an incredibly strong and deep squad. Dylan Harper's year two leap will be exciting to watch. Stephon Castle's work as a lockdown defender and improving playmaker every year was huge last season and could even grow further this year, and the hope is that De'Aaron Fox can shake off his rough showing in the playoffs and return to all-star form. They added veteran Tobias Harris to the rotation too this summer, who will bring plenty of veteran experience, having just helped elevate the Pistons' core for two years as well. A lot of their shortcomings in the finals came down to the lack of experience in big moments, and the hope is that, now that they've been there, they can learn from it and grow even more. Now for the next pretender for the upcoming season, we have the Boston Celtics. The Celtics will still win a lot of games this season, so this isn't me saying they're due for an incoming falloff. Everyone counted them out last season and they ended up finishing as the two-seed in the East, and under Joe Mazzulla, with this general core, I don't expect any kind of sinking down the standings. This video is about winning a championship, though, and similar to how their regular season success didn't amount to anything in the postseason last year, it feels like a similar year is incoming again. Jason Tatum is further removed from his injury and can hopefully return to his pre-injury form, but this Celtics roster as a whole is just not as talented as it once was. There is a lot of pressure on Paul George, who has not looked anywhere close to an All-Star in the last few years, and he misses a ton of time with injuries every season. Derek White struggled with his scoring efficiency in a bigger role last year, and is still in that same role. And their bench isn't as deep as it's been in the past either, so while I do still see them finishing as a higher seed, I don't think they have the roster capable of going all the way. Now for the next contender of next season, we have the Oklahoma City Thunder. Still no surprises in this category, but I promise this whole video isn't just filled with the vanilla answers. The Thunder have been the one seed in the Western Conference for three straight years, and they might just do it again for a fourth year in a row, because they're a well-oiled machine with reason to believe they might have gotten even better this summer. Not only do they have the defending two-time MVP of the league, they were already a top five ranked offense and the number one ranked defense last season while dealing with quite a few key injuries, and none of them were as prevalent as Jalen Williams, who looked like a shell of himself all season long when he was available. After having a full offseason to take it easy and fully recover, there's reason to believe that Williams could get back to being the all-star two-way star that he was in 2025 when the team won the championship, and he was named to the all-defense team that year. The Thunder also drafted well this summer, adding Ade Mara and Bennett Sturtz. Jared McCain will get to play a full season in the team's rotation and get more comfortable with his teammates, and despite losing Lou Dort and Aaron Wiggins this summer, they are still arguably the deepest team in the NBA. Now for the next pretender, we have the Los Angeles Lakers. I don't even mean this in a way that intends to disrespect LA, because based on what I've seen from the general public, I do still believe I am higher overall on this group than the consensus seems to be, but there's a difference between believing that and believing that they can win four series in a row in the playoffs. They have the firepower on offense to go blow-for-blow with any offense in the league, and without LeBron James there anymore, it will be the Luka Doncic show to the fullest. The team even got him a legit center to run with, with Walker Kessler returning from his shoulder injury ready to pick up where he left off as a top-five shot blocker and top-five rebounder in the whole NBA. Additions like Collin Sexton, Quinton Grimes, and Sandro Mamoukalashvili bolster their offense as well, and Austin Reeves could be primed to break out for his first all-star nomination on top of it. But there are a lot of red flags with this team's perimeter defense. Luka and Reeves might be the worst defensive backcourt in the league, their center depth behind Kessler is really not ideal, and their best defensive forwards all struggle with injuries. Now for the next team in the contender category, we have the Indiana Pacers. Finally a team in this category that wasn't blatantly obvious, right? The Pacers finished in 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings last year, but we're all aware of the fact that Tyrese Halliburton is returning this season after missing last year with a torn Achilles. Achilles tears aren't exactly easy injuries to just return to the court from and pick right up where you left off, though, so it is reasonable to be wary of this Pacers squad. I'm not even saying that they'll necessarily be one of the top seeds in the East, with a finish around 5th or 6th in the standings or even the planned tournament being an actual possibility, but once the playoffs actually begin. This is a group that has shown they can lock in, having made it to the finals in 2025, and this year's roster might actually be stronger than that team. Replacing Miles Turner with Ivica Zubac is actually a huge upgrade at center defensively and on the glass. It'll take Halliburton a bit of time to get used to the speed of the game again after missing a whole year and to fully trust his body after so much time off, but by playoff time, I won't be phased by whatever seed they come into the playoffs as. They would not be a team that I would want to see early on in the playoffs if I were a top seed. Now for the next pretender, we have the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons were the one seed in the Eastern Conference last season and are led by a true superstar point guard in Cade Cunningham. Last year, they thrived in the regular season with the added shooting around him, a breakout from Jalen Duren having an all-star season at center, and a level of toughness that they set the tone with night after night. Unfortunately, the way that they dominated in the regular season didn't translate to the postseason, with them nearly being eliminated by the eight-seed Magic in the first round, and then going down in the second round to Cleveland. The playoffs exposed just how limited Jalen Duren can be on offense when defenses actually prioritized shutting him down, because his playoff scoring output was cut in half last year. Then, his summer contract negotiations expose the fact that he's not even in love with being in Detroit. The team also lost two of their biggest leaders in Tobias Harris and Isaiah Stewart, and the players that they brought in to replace them are arguably downgrades. This team just doesn't have enough creation around Cade Cunningham to go bucket for bucket with the best teams in the league on the biggest stage, and it's been clear in each of the last two postseasons. They didn't address that need, so I still don't buy into them as contenders. Now for the next contender, we have the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors built a strong foundation last year that saw them return to the playoffs for the first time since 2022. Their success stemmed from being a dominant defense that ranked top five in the NBA on that end last season, featuring a whole lot of size and length to throw at opponents at every position, and Scottie Barnes being the ultimate Swiss Army Knife of versatility, he was rewarded with finally being named to the all-defense team because of it. The Raptors also just so happened to have traded for Kawhi Leonard, who is already a great defender in his own right, and he's now added to this great defense. And he's also coming off of the best scoring season of his career, so he can serve as that true elite number one option on offense in crunch time that they were severely lacking last season. Brandon Ingram is fine, but he's not that. Colin Murray-Boyles was one of the most underrated rookies last year, also providing high-end defensive impact and using interior scoring to his advantage. R.J. Barrett improved a ton as a driver and finisher. The one thing that scares me with this group is that center Jakub Pertl's back injuries may impact the rest of his career, putting added pressure on Colin Murray-Boyles to be able to play more minutes at center, despite being a bit undersized. Now for the next pretender, we have the Miami Heat. The Heat made the biggest splash of the entire summer, they pulled the trigger on a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo, and any time you add an MVP winner who is still producing like one of the best players in the entire NBA, you're going to have more eyes on you expecting dominance. Giannis wanted out of Milwaukee specifically to get back into contention, and the Heat will definitely win a lot of games in the regular season, but they are a bit of a flawed roster in a few areas. For one, their guard rotation has a lot more question marks than other top teams. Davion Mitchell starts at point guard who is a great perimeter defender and an improving passing talent, but he offers very little scoring or creation on the ball. Behind him, the team's backups at point guard are Drew Smith and Ryan Conwell, so not great. Their shooting guard spot will be split between Klay Thompson and Tim Hardaway Jr., and both can heat up shooting the ball in a heartbeat, but they're also both pretty streaky at this point in their careers, and Klay Thompson especially has regressed a ton since leaving Golden State in most other aspects of his game. The pairing of Giannis and Bam Adebayo in the same frontcourt is also a bit clunky as two subpar shooting bigs, and while they will win a lot on talent alone, cohesiveness is needed in the playoffs to win four series in a row and win a championship. And finally, the last contender we will be discussing today is the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers made the most splashes this summer and are coming into the season with nearly a whole new group compared to last year. Of course, the important bones of this squad from last year are back with Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Vijay Edgecombe, but adding LeBron James and Jalen Brown makes this one of the most talented lineups you will see on paper. That alone is not the reason that they are going to be able to compete for a championship, though. It is reason to be very excited regardless. The Sixers also, on top of that, did a terrific job adding quality, experienced depth to their bench, and they drafted well to give them some production in the ways that a bench player should be able to. Dean Wade is the ultimate glue guy as a 6'10 high-end defender who can lock up out on the perimeter and hold his own against more physical forwards. Contavious Caldwell-Pope may not be good enough to be a starting shooting guard anymore, but as a backup is great to have in limited minutes as a 3 and D guy. Anthony Simons is an electrifying scoring threat as a sixth man, whose sharpshooting prowess will be vital to this team's rotation, and there's a lot to like about rookie LeBaron Phylon's playmaking skills as well, even if he's inconsistent like most rookie guards tend to be. The Sixers, like the Indiana Pacers, could be a group that need time to figure out how to mesh together early in the regular season, but by the time the playoffs roll around, I would expect them to be as dangerous as anybody. And finally, the last pretender we'll be discussing today is the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets won the NBA Finals back in 2023, and ever since then, they've neglected their depth more and more every offseason, which is just confusing. They have one of the best starting lineups in the league when healthy, but last year Aaron Gordon was dealing a ton with health issues, and now there are fewer reliable reinforcements behind him. Nikola Jokic is the most dangerous offensive threat in the entire NBA, but he can't literally do everything. DeMar DeRozan was brought in to be their saving grace off the bench and can definitely still get buckets at his age, but the way that he plays feels like a major clash in style from how the Nuggets like to run things because he doesn't really ever spot up as a shooter, and he also isn't very active as a cutter or mover off the ball when he doesn't have it in his hands. Tyus Jones is the backup point guard, and he hasn't really had a good season in years. Julian Strother is a quality wing depth piece, but he's not much of a game changer. And with there being dominant contenders at the top of the West that have also got elite depth, it's really tough to see this group keeping up after having been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last year, only to follow that up by arguably getting worse on paper in the offseason. 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 which teams you think are real contenders or pretenders. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you all next time.