Cue “Roundball Rock” — the NBA is again.
The 2025-26 season opens Tuesday with a doubleheader on NBC and Peacock — backed by the percussive theme music final heard in 2002, when NBC final had broadcast rights — from Oklahoma Metropolis, the place the Thunder will obtain their championship rings, and Los Angeles, earlier than opening league-wide within the coming days.
This season might be a collision between youth and expertise. In June, the Thunder turned the youngest crew to win a title for the reason that 1977 Portland Path Blazers. To do it once more, nevertheless, they should undergo opponents led by veteran superstars together with Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Houston’s Kevin Durant, Golden State’s Steph Curry, LeBron James of the Lakers and Kawhi Leonard and James Harden of the Clippers.
“All people is saying ‘defending,’ however we’re attempting to be on the offensive as properly,” Oklahoma Metropolis star Jalen Williams stated throughout preseason. “So we’re coming in with extra motivation to do this yearly.”
NBC Information reporters Rohan Nadkarni and Andrew Greif and three-time NBA champion Danny Inexperienced focus on what they’re looking ahead to because the season begins.
Who’s your MVP decide and why?
Inexperienced: I’m going to go together with Nikola Jokić. He had an unbelievable 12 months final 12 months however they didn’t wish to give him his fourth one. This 12 months he comes again on a tear and makes the league give him his fourth MVP. Denver has a extremely good squad this 12 months, and I really feel like they’re going to be a kind of groups on the prime. The one factor that form of harm him final 12 months was not being one of many top-seeded groups. They’re going to be a top-three seed this 12 months. They’ve actually good squad, in the event that they keep wholesome. However I’m seeing Jokić coming again with a vengeance, as a result of folks didn’t wish to give him his fourth.
I bear in mind taking part in him in San Antonio, even after I was in Toronto, he wasn’t MVP Jokić simply but. However I bear in mind these occasions once we didn’t guard him with the double crew like we should always have. We had sure guys on him that most likely shouldn’t have guarded him. We had Kawhi [Leonard] guard him at one level. That’s undoubtedly a mismatch. Myself, I’ve tried to protect him sufficient occasions. He was excellent at drawing fouls, however his passing potential has been unbelievable since then. He was clearly passer, however he’s change into among the finest passers the sport has seen. After which, in fact, how he can rating the ball.
Nadkarni: Give me the participant who has completed first or second in MVP voting in every of the final 5 seasons: Nikola Jokić. The Joker arguably ought to have received the award in 2025, when he averaged 29.6 factors, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per sport whereas taking pictures 57.6% from the sphere. Voter fatigue, whether or not voters wish to admit it or not, is actually an element right here. However Jokić’s brilliance is simple, and after the Nuggets beefed up their rotation with a sequence of sensible strikes in the summertime, Denver ought to have the crew success to improve Jokić’s case.
Greif: Is there any participant seemingly extra intent on in search of revenge than the Lakers’ Luka Doncic? After final season’s beautiful commerce from Dallas, the Mavericks appeared intent on telling anybody who requested that his physique wasn’t proper. Luka has since acknowledged that the out-of-nowhere nature of the commerce left his head not in fairly the best place, both. Now, he’s coming into his first full season with Los Angeles in significantly better form and with the safety of each a contract extension and the information that the franchise is successfully constructing round him.
Who’s your championship decide?
Inexperienced: OKC. It’s important to give them that respect. Getting everyone again and being the most effective crew final 12 months. What impressed me final 12 months was how mature they had been or how briskly they grew up. Often you bought to take a 12 months of getting your lumps. I nonetheless thought they had been very inexperienced, and so they wanted some extra maturity or one other 12 months of taking lumps earlier than they might do it. However to see them develop up in actual time and truly bounce again.
And Shai being the chief that he’s for them, exhibiting psychological toughness by way of fatigue. I believed he ran out of fuel in that Finals. There was a really pivotal sport in Indiana the place they wanted to win to even the sequence. He had some large buckets towards the tip of the sport, however you possibly can inform him from the beginning of the sport — like he was off the ball. He was jogging, he was attempting to preserve his power. And he did, rightfully so. However that was that was a key, mature second for him and for that group to get by way of that sport 4 and even out the sequence.
Nadkarni: Properly, if I’m selecting Jokić to win MVP, I’m going to double down and decide the Nuggets to win the Finals. Is that this partly wishful considering? Maybe. However it feels tougher than ever to repeat within the NBA. And as a lot of a juggernaut the Thunder had been final season, they had been nonetheless pushed to seven video games twice within the playoffs. (Oklahoma Metropolis additionally benefitted from probably the most unlucky accidents in current league historical past when Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles in Recreation 7 of the Finals.)
This isn’t an anti-OKC case, although. It’s extra about what the Nuggets did within the offseason. Cam Johnson is a greater match than Michael Porter Jr. Jonas Valanciunas is an precise, honest-to-god backup middle. Bruce Brown is extra regular than Russell Westbrook. In most playoff sequence, Denver shouldn’t solely have the most effective participant, however precise playable depth the crew didn’t have final 12 months.
Greif: The NBA hasn’t had a repeat champion since 2018, a run of seven consecutive seasons with seven totally different winners. Given each main contributor returns from final season’s title crew, Oklahoma Metropolis seems as heavy a favourite as we’ve got seen in a while. They’re an unbelievable crew that might be fortified by the boldness of understanding what it takes to win. However so does Denver, from 2023. The Nuggets gave the Thunder their hardest matchup of the postseason of any West crew, then spent the offseason getting deeper. For as troublesome a time as I had splitting hairs between these two groups, I had an much more troublesome time arguing in opposition to Nikola Jokic, and Denver’s home-court benefit. Denver over New York for the title.
What’s one offseason acquisition you’re most excited to see?
Inexperienced: There’s a pair guys I’m biased to see I used to be teammates of. I’m a Desmond Bane fan and his scenario in Orlando. I’m excited to see what a few of my previous groups can do that 12 months. The San Antonio Spurs. I wish to see Wemby and De’Aaron Fox collectively, after which in fact Dylan Harper, the brand new draftee.
And regardless that Dallas will not be a former crew of mine, I wish to see when Kyrie comes again, what the Mavericks appear to be and with him and Anthony Davis.
I’m to see what Houston does with Kevin Durant, however I feel Fred VanVleet was a giant key to that. With him taking place, that is robust for them.
Nadkarni: Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets are a match made in NBA nerd heaven. Giving the rough-and-tumble, defensively charged Rockets one of many best scorers of all time goes to be extremely enjoyable to look at. Coach Ime Udoka will get to play mad scientist through the common season, determining the most effective lineup mixtures to unleash his roster’s distinctive mix of athleticism and dimension. Houston so clearly wanted a halfcourt bucket getter within the playoffs final season, and it added somebody who’s going to the Corridor of Fame due to that very trait. As a bonus, we may additionally get an opportunity to see Durant attempt to take down a few of his previous teammates and longtime rivals in a loaded West? I can’t wait to see him give the Rockets an additional dose of swagger.
Greif: Golden State is within the waning years of viable championship rivalry with Steph Curry now 37 and Draymond Inexperienced 35. Each season counts. How they try to maximise this one is especially fascinating.
Notable offseason signings embody Al Horford, a 39-year-old ahead who stays sturdy and efficient. On this crew of elders, one of many few younger potential brilliant spots is Jonathan Kuminga, however the relationship has been strained between the 23-year-old who views himself as an All-Star-caliber piece and a corporation and its coach who’ve been reluctant to present him large minutes up to now or cash this offseason. A free-agency negotiation that dragged on for months and whose particulars turned unusually public was solely resolved earlier than coaching camp, when Kuminga agreed to a deal that might be flipped right into a commerce.
There may be expertise right here however the size of the dug-in negotiations hinted at stress. Getting one other crew to supply one thing important in return for Kuminga would require him taking part in properly. But when he will get such alternatives, how will he reap the benefits of them?
What participant ought to followers regulate?
Inexperienced: Cade Cunningham could also be a family title now, however I really feel like he’s going to be a kind of guys that might be within the All-NBA First Group or MVP dialog. He’s one other mature child. He’s past his years. He’s clearly an unbelievable expertise, however the way in which that he’s progressed in his first three or 4 years has been unbelievable.
Within the playoffs final season, he confirmed some maturity, however he additionally confirmed some indicators of, ‘I have to study.’ And I feel he’s going to take these issues again to the drafting board and are available again with a chip on his shoulder. That was a sequence that I felt like Detroit had an opportunity. Clearly, there was a missed name or so, however even with that, I really feel like they’d an opportunity. They’ll come again totally different.
Nadkarni: As soon as one of many most-hyped gamers coming into the NBA, Lonzo Ball’s profession has been beset by accidents. After lacking two straight common seasons, Ball returned in 2024-25 to play in 35 video games for the Chicago Bulls. In July, Ball was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the place he might be an ideal match on a crew with title aspirations.
Earlier than the accidents, Ball had blossomed into such participant, hitting share of his outdoors photographs on excessive quantity, making performs for his teammates and defending a number of positions. With Darius Garland recovering from toe surgical procedure, Ball might get an awesome alternative to make an affect for the Cavs. If he can regain his earlier kind, I wouldn’t be stunned to see him closing large video games.
Greif: On the subject of promising younger NBA skills price monitoring, there are virtually too many. However could we curiosity you in Toumani?
Obsessive basketball followers have been noticing Toumani Camara’s potential for 2 seasons, since he was a throw-in by Phoenix to a bigger commerce and despatched to Portland, the place he blossomed right into a 6-foot-7 terror on the defensive finish. He’s one of many league’s greatest and most versatile wings on that finish, however there’s nonetheless time to hitch the Path Blazer wing’s bandwagon, nevertheless. At solely 25, Camara might make an offensive leap ahead this season.
Almost definitely to exceed expectations?
Inexperienced: Indiana. Even with Haliburton being out, they’re nonetheless going to be fairly stable. They nonetheless have some nice level guards, with Andrew Nembhard and T.J. McConnell. I’m very impressed with what Rick Carlisle has completed all through the years, to adapt and alter, that’s what makes him a basketball genius. He has an attractive thoughts even outdoors the sport. He’s very a lot properly revered all through the league.
Indiana has a extremely good crew. They’ve some nice guys who can hoop — Pascal Siakam is unbelievable — and a crew camaraderie. There’s a motive why Carlisle has been profitable over so a few years in several organizations and capable of deliver a number of teams to the Finals.
Nadkarni: Caw-caw! The Atlanta Hawks had an awesome offseason, and I consider they’ve an awesome likelihood to play spoiler within the Jap Convention. After buying Dyson Daniels earlier than final season, the Hawks added Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Kristaps Porzingis this summer season, bringing in gamers with playoff expertise who can play on each ends of the ground. Mix these guys with younger ahead Jalen Johnson (who was breaking out final 12 months earlier than an harm) and rising second-year participant Zaccharie Risacher (the 2024 first total decide who improved considerably after the All-Star break), Atlanta appears to have discovered the best expertise to enrich star guard Trae Younger. If this crew gels shortly, they might be nearly as good as anybody within the East.
Greif: Some oddsmakers have pegged Orlando with the third-best likelihood of constructing the Finals out of the East, a quantity that suggests a specific amount of confidence within the Magic; the expectations aren’t low, in different phrases. However to totally flip the nook after two seasons of respectability right into a full-blown contender able to problem Cleveland and New York, the Magic should cease being routinely restricted by their offensive shortcomings. I feel that is the season it occurs, with Desmond Bane including a menace for defenses that might create house for Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.
