Last season, the Eastern Conference was considered wide open for the Philadelphia 76ers. Unfortunately, they didn’t benefit the way they had hoped. The Sixers finished seventh in the standings and cracked the seventh seed with a win in the NBA Play-In Tournament.
While a first-round comeback series win against the Boston Celtics brought a lot of hope to Philadelphia, the eventual champions stomped all over their dreams. A New York Knicks sweep gave the Sixers a message they needed to hear: Everything you have going on is simply not good enough.
The Sixers fired Daryl Morey and Elton Brand, replacing them with a hungry Mike Gansey and Jameer Nelson. Aggressive doesn’t even begin to explain how this new front office’s tenure has gone so far. No team wins in the offseason, but the Sixers are surely sending a message across the conference. They plan to hit back after a rough ending, and they are getting better on paper, while last year’s top five has enough questions to wonder whether a regression is coming for them.
Are the Raptors going to play distraction-free?
After finishing No. 5 in the East last year, the Raptors saw enough from their core group to want to go out and make a blockbuster trade. The Raptors are supposed to have Kawhi Leonard back on the team for a second stint. Due to the NBA’s seemingly never-ending investigation into Kawhi Leonard’s no-show jobs during his Los Angeles Clippers tenure, the deal hasn’t been finalized.
Nobody can guess what’s about to happen with Leonard, and there hasn’t been a concrete timeline on when it could all end. Heading into the 2025-2026 NBA season, it seemed like everything would be resolved. Here we are, nearly one year later, and Kawhi can’t officially land on the Raptors until the NBA closes the case. The Raptors seem confident that everything will turn out just fine, and Kawhi will bring magic to Canada once again, but this has a distraction-filled season written all over it.
Did LeBron James leave the Cavaliers high and dry?
Almost the entire NBA world expected LeBron James to go to the Cavaliers at one point. Last week, former Sixers star James Harden spoke so confidently about the idea that James would be going back to Cleveland for a third stint. Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson had a similar demeanor when discussing their open roster spot in Las Vegas.
If you take a look at most offseason grades from top publications, the Cavaliers were typically graded poorly unless LeBron James went to Cleveland. Now that we know that LeBron won’t be headed to Ohio, the Cavaliers have some work to do. The expectation is that James Harden will return to play with Donovan Mitchell after yet another uninspiring playoff run from The Beard. Cleveland will have some Plan Bs to consider, but the league knows they were banking big on LeBron’s return.
Will the Knicks have a hangover?
Most of the time, championship hangovers are real. However, I wouldn’t bet on some major regression from the Knicks. They remain stacked up top, and their biggest loss was their backup center, Mitchell Robinson. As productive as Robinson was during their championship run, his absence shouldn’t break the champs. Even if there is an early hangover, the Knicks need to be respected. And because of that, they will get each team’s best night in and night out.
Can the Celtics survive without Jaylen Brown?
Jayson Tatum was healing from an Achilles injury last summer when everybody assumed that Boston was staring down a gap year in 2025-2026. Many questioned if the Celtics could survive most of the upcoming season without Tatum. Jaylen Brown led the pack, and the Celtics wrapped up the year with a 56-26 record. Somehow, the Celtics convinced themselves that Brown wasn’t all that impactful. And Giannis Antetokounmpo couldn’t come if the price tag included specific role players.
Well, the Celtics will get to find out if they can survive without Jaylen Brown. While they landed a seasoned veteran with Paul George, everybody in Philly can confidently say that the veteran wing is unreliable when it comes to availability and production at this stage of his career. Is the system truly as great as advertised without two prime superstars on the court? Oh, we’ll see.
Can the Pistons avoid the drama?
After Jalen Duren had an All-Star and All-NBA season, the Detroit Pistons told the veteran center that he wasn’t worth the max. Now, they are in a standoff. The Pistons’ team chemistry has been sky-high over the past two seasons. They’ve been a young team with low expectations, and most of the squad playing on rookie deals, hungry for a big break. A 60-22 season to snatch the No. 1 seed was impressive after they won just 14 games in 2023-2024.
Success and money suddenly play a factor, though. Cade Cunningham got his big deal two summers ago. Jalen Duren wants his. Ausar Thompson will be next in line. Credit to the Pistons for standing firm on how they value a player after a lousy playoff run, but if they get too close to the fire, they are bound to get burned. Even if Duren returns on a deal that makes him unhappy—or with the qualifying offer—will the Pistons go through 82-plus games without drama? Let’s not forget, some culture-setters (Isaiah Stewart, Tobias Harris) have also left the building. The young team will get tested next season like never before.
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