2026 NBA Season Preview: Ranking All 30 Teams by Tier

[00:00:00] All right, it's time to talk basketball. The NBA season is just a few days away and we are here to talk about the final few weeks of the NBA offseason. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at thepeachbasket.net. He's Steve Priscilla, host of Celtic Chalk Talk, a long-time educator, vice principal, high school basketball coach, and athletic director. And this is the Shot Clock Pod.

[00:00:21] The Shot Clock Pod was born out of content in Steve's 13 Rules, Random NBA Thoughts articles, which he publishes weekly. Steve and I have exactly 24 minutes to discuss what's on his mind around the NBA. Today we're discussing his latest 13 Rules, Random NBA Thoughts article. Again, it's the preseason slash offseason winds down.

[00:00:40] Now, if you've gotten this far, thank you. We wanted to let you know that you're listening to one of several independent fan-driven shows on the Peach Basket Podcast Network of Shows. We're now owned by a big media company, which means what you hear comes straight for real fans who live the game every day, just like Steve and I. And no doubt you, if you're listening or watching. If you believe voices like this should be heard, the best way to support us is simple. Keep listening, keep watching, comment, subscribe, tell a friend.

[00:01:03] And as soon as this episode ends, head over to thepeachbasket.net, check out more fan-run podcasts, videos, articles, and help this independent network grow the way it started organically. One Hoops fan at a time. We're glad you're here. Thank you, Steve. Are you ready? I'm always ready. Let's go. Clock is on and counting down. All right. This week, you ranked all 30 teams based on these categories.

[00:01:31] Definitive or definite title contenders. Title chasers. These are possible contenders, but they need a break or two to get there. Fall just short. Close, but no cigar. Stuck in the middle. Solid, but not quite there. Play in city. Fun, but flawed. These are teams that are not quite a playoff team, but fun to watch. And then the lowly, there was always next year.

[00:01:53] I love things like this because at the start of the season, everybody, they say in baseball, at the start of the season, everybody's got a shot at the World Series, but we know that's not true. We know that's not true. There's always an Oakland A. Oakland A's were pretty good this year, but there's always a bad team out there. And it kind of goes the same in the NBA. What's odd about the NBA is, unlike MLB, where there's an optimism at the start of the baseball season,

[00:02:18] there are teams that really, they know they got no shot. They know that they're not going anywhere, which is sad. But there are teams like that. Now, what we're going to do, we're going to talk about all of them, all 30 teams. We're going to do it from the bottom. Those are always next year to the top. We're going to go as quick as we can because we want to get through all of them. But we're saving an interesting little tidbit for last, and that's where you shared your thoughts on the strength of the two conferences, the Western and Eastern.

[00:02:44] So we'll save that for last. We'll start with the there is always next year group. You put three teams, and we'll start with apologies to each fan base. The Memphis Grizzlies, the Brooklyn Nets, and the Sacramento Kings. I got no argument there at all. Now, Grizzlies are going through a lot, right? They're resetting. The Nets have been resetting forever, and the Sacramento Kings have been a state of reset since the franchise moved from Kansas City.

[00:03:14] So I want to ask you this, instead of going too deep into each of them. Which of those three teams that you bundled at the very bottom of the bucket here, the worst teams in the NBA, which team, if you had a chance to take one over as a GM, which one has the best path forward between those three? It would be difficult to take over because of the owner, but Sacramento.

[00:03:39] I kind of think Sacramento, they want to win, and just they make poor choices. The first thing you need to do is, I have to think Doug Christie, who's probably a nice guy, not a great coach. So that's the first move you have to make. They took on Levine and people like that, and he's got a huge contract. He's really, it's not worth any of the money. If he can begin to move away from them, and he's only got one more year left on his contract,

[00:04:08] but if you could begin to move away, you might be, there's a little bit of talent there, some bonuses there. I think you've got the autonomy, and you're closer if you make the good decisions to turning it around, than you would be, Memphis is going to be a problem. They're just going to grow, and it's going to take a couple years for them to get there. The Nets, I don't know what the heck they're doing. They took two, they've got Randall and Porter, which will keep them respectable and able to beat given teams,

[00:04:38] but there's not a great future. They had the five draft picks last year, and really only one of them has shown a lot of promise, so they're not, they're a ways away yet also. So I have to think, because Sacramento does want to win now, that would be the most interesting. Very cool. And undiably, we talk about it all the time, a great fan base in Sacramento, which I think makes the job just maybe a little bit easier. I don't want to dive too deep because we've got 27 more teams to talk about,

[00:05:07] but I remember when Christie took over the Nets, or the Kings, sorry. They got better, right? They started off. Maybe there's something, remember, maybe there's something there, and we talked about it, but now that the dust has settled, you're not impressed. No, not at all. They've got to, they've got to just, Christie is the local guy, and the owner of Eredity loves him. So that's going to be a hard thing to move him out.

[00:05:33] But it's just, there's just so many problems with the whole organization. They picked up Ben Simmons, and I hope it works out for them, but it tells you they still want to win, but I don't think they quite know how. Yep. Yep. Yep. Which means they're, they're just stuck at the bottom, but yeah, agreed. Let's move to the next group. And you've got a little bit more teams here. You've called these the fun to watch, fun, but flawed, not quite a playoff team,

[00:06:00] but fun to watch. I love that, that category. These are the teams in that bundle, the Mavericks, the Clippers, the Pelicans, and the Bucs. Okay. First thing we've said all the time, I'm in LA, Steve's in the East. Thank you for, on behalf of all Clipper fans, for not putting them in there's always next year, because we know there's a lot going on in Clipper Nation. But yeah, I agree. I think they're in the right spot. They're going to be interesting. Unleash Darius Garland.

[00:06:26] Let's see what he's got. The Mavericks, I'm a bit surprised here, because I thought that I have a sense the Mavericks might be good. They got Kyrie Irving back, who's looked really good in the preseason, in the time he has. Pelicans and the Bucs, no argument here. So let me ask, you then, same question. You've got four of these teams. You can pick anyone you want to run for the next five years. Which one has the highest upside? It's an interesting question. You're naturally

[00:06:52] thinking about the Mavericks, because you have probably what could be a generational superstar, with Cooper Flagg. And Kyrie is so talented. So it's an interesting, Kyrie won't be here in a couple of years, but, and they'll probably trade him this year. But there's not a lot around him. So you start to wonder, there's some nice players, but not stars around him. Derek Lively,

[00:07:17] but he's got to stay healthy. And PJ Washington, they're nice players. So they're bad. But I don't see them. It's just, there's not enough. And that's a problem. Now of the other teams, I kind of, I'm impressed by the talent level of New Orleans. They've got some players. The problem is naturally, Zion, you don't know what's going to happen. He might play 40 games and he might play 70. So that's the friend they're building around him because he's a star when he's healthy.

[00:07:47] Yeah. But you've got other players around that are pretty good players. Trey Murphy's a player. He's a shooter and a real good player. Jordan Poole, he's, you never know what's going to happen, but he can score. Who else? The kid who's coming back from the Achilles, was that Murray? He's a player too. So there's some talent is what I'm trying to say. And then the two young kids, Derek Queen, who's a player and Fears, who's the point guard, who could be, those two have potential.

[00:08:17] So you've got some talent. You've got real talent. I don't know if you can get them to defend. I don't know if you can get them to be on the same, in the same wavelength, but there's real talent. If you can put it together and if you can't, you think about moving some people to bring in the people that might make you better. They're not a good defensive team, but this, like I said, I like them. I like them because there is ability. When in the NBA, it's stars. You need stars to win.

[00:08:47] And they've got potential stars where other teams don't have the depth of stars that they have. Yeah. Yeah. No argument. Again, I think it's a good, a good, a group to put them in fun, but flawed. I think that that fits the Pelicans really well. Yeah. And I'm not particularly high on the new look, Miami Heat slash the Milwaukee Bucks, right? So I think that they're in the right place too. Yeah. No argument for me on anything. I think they can win 30 games. I think

[00:09:15] the Bucks can win 30 games with that group. But I, my belief would be that Tyler Hero will be gone by the deadline. I believe that. I think he's somebody to move, but the person to watch is Khalil Ware. Tyler, he's done well in the preseason. He's no more, he's going to go in and out and play five minutes. And then if he doesn't get a rebound, get pulled and he can play and he can shoot a three.

[00:09:39] He's the prototypical big man of today. And I like him. I think he, he can be come and move himself into a better than average player, much better than average player. Nice. Yeah. And I think if you see that kind of development, that's where it opens up the door to move on from someone like Tyler Hero to your point, but yeah, five or pardon me, four fun, but flawed teams, Mavs, Clippers, Pelicans, and Bucks. So enjoy your teams in those cities. Let's move

[00:10:06] up to play in city, right? So these are teams that six teams that you grouped into the possibility of dipping their toes into the playoffs. Let's see who they are. The Blazers, the Jazz. Nice. The Warriors, which is sad. That's success for the Jazz and a demotion for the Warriors. The Suns, the Hornets, and shocking the Washington Wizards. Okay. Same question here, but no, but

[00:10:32] kind of a different way. So we've asked you, which team would you like to take on if you could in this one? This is a team with some real potential. There's a team that could go into the play and go into as a seven or eight seed, not maybe do some damage. Which of these six teams here is most likely to sneak into the seventh and eighth and do some playoff damage? Portland was coming back from being a play and they could be good, but I kind of look at them as they've got to make a decision.

[00:10:59] I think the owner is being impetuous where he's trying to change things, but he bought John Moran and Damian Lillard. What do you do now with Scoot Henderson? What do you do with Shaden? Sharp is hurt, but what do you do with them with minutes? Because if Scoot Henderson finally showed some potential at the end of the year, what do you do? And in my mind, if you go young, don't forget they got Danny Alvia and

[00:11:25] he can play and Klingon is a comer. He's going to be a real player. So they've got talent, but I think they've got to make some decisions because the ball is not going to find Danny Alvia as much when you have John Moran and Damian Lillard playing. And all my years of watching sports, when teams take on these, Moran isn't old, but Damian is, he belongs in Portland. But when they take on these guys, they're not getting, it's a diminishing return. And so I don't see it, but they have the potential

[00:11:54] to be back into that. And they've got a few pieces that if they use them, they can be okay. Drew Holiday is also on the bench. So they've got five legitimate guards. How the hell are you going to get for Scoot? And how are you going to get it for Shaden Sharp? And you're going to have to make a decision soon on Scoot because he's coming up with his rookie contract in a year or two.

[00:12:17] So it's interesting because they have talent, but they're not, it just, it seems like they're being run crazy. Their coaches only got a one year contract. It's a little bit crazy. I like them, but I, and I think they can be fun and they're fun, fun watch with some of those guys, but it just not, I don't know. It just doesn't fit and it doesn't work. The play in and Golden State, I wanted to

[00:12:43] mention them. It's sad to see them at this level. What I will say, and it's interesting, and never underestimate Jimmy Butler. If he comes back and Golden State makes the play in, and he's healthy and playing well, they're going to be a pain in the neck in the playoffs. They're not going to win, but they're going to be a pain in the neck because at any time,

[00:13:10] Jimmy Butler and Curry could go off. And that could be a problem. That's if Butler is healthy. They have to make it, the play in, and they're going to have to get the January, February without him. That, that's another intriguing thing. And everybody will root for the old guys. It's the return of the old man and so on. Yeah. Yeah. Nostalgia goes a long way, but it only takes you so far. I think you said everything about the Blazers that I was thinking

[00:13:36] when they built this team. It just didn't make sense. It was a head scratcher. But then just a couple of days ago, the Spurs said, listen, we're going to start the season with three guards. And I thought, oh, okay, maybe the Blazers were ahead of the game here, right? Because they've got five really good ones. I don't, I don't know. Who knows what's going to happen, but I do, I thought that was really interesting. I think the Spurs laid the groundwork for something that the Blazers might be able to follow. We'll see.

[00:13:59] Well, but don't forget, you got 144 minutes if you have three guards to divide up among five guys to the man. That's still only 28, less than 30 minutes. And again, for Scoot Henderson and Shane Sharp to develop, they need more time. They need to play. Yeah. No, undeniable. The more likely scenario is that a couple of those guys get shipped and we'll see how that ends up. All right. Play in city. Next group stuck in the middle.

[00:14:28] These are teams that are solid, good teams, playoff teams, but they're not quite good enough yet to really make any damage or to do any damage in the playoffs. You've got the Hawks, the Pacers, which is nice to see them back here. And then the Magic. Now the Magic had been trending up, man. And now all of a sudden they're stuck in the middle. So I'm going to ask you, let's start there because we've talked a lot about the Magic. You were high on the Magic last season. Yeah, I was. What happened? Why did they stall?

[00:14:57] They were hurt a lot. Wagner, he got hurt and Bancaro got hurt. They've had injury problems, but it just doesn't seem like it fits. And I think this is the last chance. If it doesn't work, there's going to be moves. And when I say moves, stars moving. And when I say stars moving, I say Mr. Bancaro. And so they got one shot. And if you look at it, Jalen Suggs gets hurt. He's

[00:15:24] the conduit. He keeps everything together. And he's a player. He's tough. He's really, if he had more talent, he'd be a superstar. But his injury problem is the major thing. And like I said, with him, it stays together. But he's got to be on the court. And he hasn't played a lot. And then, but don't forget, they also have another good player in Desmond Bain. So there's talent.

[00:15:49] I don't know if it'll come together. It's a new coach. We'll see about if that does. But they are an intriguing team of the group. Yeah, undeniable. And they've been there for a while. So it's like, we're just overall waiting for that next step up. Hopefully it happens for them this season. Next group, this is again, playoff teams that are going to fall just short of really making it to, I imagine the conference final or something to the final. The subcategory here is close,

[00:16:18] but no cigar. You've got the Nuggets, the Nuggets who are defending champions, recent champions just a couple years back. The new look heat, the real heat with Giannis. The Pistons who were bad, then they were good. They were the great Cinderella story. And now they've just, I don't know, they seem to be stuck. The Lakers who moved on from LeBron or maybe LeBron moved on from them. And then the Raptors, which is a very interesting team. I'm curious to see what's

[00:16:44] going to happen in Toronto. Man, I don't know. So many good teams to talk about here. We've talked a lot about the Pistons. Maybe let's lean there. But let me ask you this instead. I'm going to pivot a little bit. Close, but no cigar. Which of these five teams is most likely to, because you said close, is most likely to jump over and make it into the next bundle and really have a shot at a championship? It's really difficult because a lot of them are tied in with injuries.

[00:17:09] And trying to predict if Giannis is going to play a full season is difficult. With the Pistons, you don't know the effect of the door and is he going to be bitter? Is he going to want to play? It seems like he's happy and he wants to be a Piston, but you don't know if that affected the whole group. And also losing Tobias Harris is a big loss because he was the guy that made sense.

[00:17:36] So you're putting more on Cade Cunningham as a leader, as well as a great player. He's in the top 10, I think, of players in the NBA and probably a top 10 that people don't even realize. You've got a lot of factors here that are hard to pick between. I'm intrigued by Miami, but I just don't think they're deep enough. And you're banking again on Clay Thompson for the last couple of years.

[00:18:02] He's a shell of himself. And I understand he's going to get a chance because with Giannis going to the basket, he's going to get the ball and he's going to get spot up threes and he can shoot. So he might revitalize himself, but he's not a defender. But there's so many X factors. It's hard to predict one team will take over. Toronto's interesting. You don't know the

[00:18:29] effect. 35-year-old Kawhi, how many games are you going to play? If I knew that, I could tell you more. They've got a nice team, but you don't know. And then Jakob Pertl, is he going to stay healthy? He's never. And they've been trying to deal him for much of last year. So there's so many, it's hard to determine if they're there, if they're good enough. Yeah. My hope, again, being a West Coast guy, but having a real affinity for this team is that the

[00:18:58] Detroit Pistons finally take that step. They did it one season to next. A couple of years ago, they went from really bad to really good. Now they've been really good. Let's see them make that next step too. The key with that team, you need a second guy. Doesn't have to have the ball,

[00:19:20] but probably can get you 20 a game. And I don't see much of that on the Pistons. And to me, that's like a big deterrent. They gave Thompson a lot of money, but he's not a scorer. And so they need that. And especially Cunningham moves the ball. So you need people that can help you with that.

[00:19:44] Yeah. I'm wearing a hat, so it'll tell you something, but I think the Celtics are a very interesting team. They're better than last year. And they have some factors here. Tatum looks like he's back. Mitchell Robinson has played well. You got to hope he plays 70 games. If he stays healthy, he adds something to Boston because Boston went out, they have shooters around Tatum.

[00:20:14] And Mitchell Robinson grabbing an offensive rebound. This is what's going to hurt the Knicks. He was able to kick the ball back out and you get wide open threes. An NBA player wide open is probably going to make over 50% of the three. So that is big. The other thing that is very interesting, Peyton Pritchard, I think, averaged 16 or so a game last year. That's not far from 20.

[00:20:39] And Paul George in the playoffs against Boston shot around 50% from three. So if you can get that, and there's one more interesting factor in this, if you can get that from them, wow, that is one more. And this is really interesting. And I think I might, one of the few times I've been right with Hugo Gonzalez, Hugo's shooting over, I believe in the preseason over 50% from three.

[00:21:09] He's also, the other night, Boston played Philadelphia. I know it's preseason. Philadelphia had their four stars play and Edgecombe didn't play. But, and they all logged over, I believe over 30 minutes. Boston, without their first eight players, beat Philly in overtime. Now, I know it's preseason,

[00:21:34] you put it aside. But think about that. Hugo had a good night. He had 21. But think about that. And Garza has played well also. But that's really interesting. I don't know what will happen in the long run. Obviously, I'm not a fool. I would think Philadelphia would beat them, especially with those guys. But it's a very interesting thing. And it tells you how deep Boston is. So they're an intriguing, really an interesting team to think about. Who were the other

[00:22:03] teams you mentioned? There's one other one I wanted to... Timberwolves. The Timberwolves are interesting because the, if Anthony Edwards, everybody's saying he's top five, I don't see that. If he realizes what he is, and the potential comes out, and if he and LaMelo Ball play well together, they could move into the next echelon. I don't see it. But they're interesting, and there's a lot of

[00:22:30] potential there. And it's something that needs to be talked about. The Rockets, every year, it's the same thing. And Kevin Durant's a year older. They've got a lot to figure out. Well, Mobley's got to emerge as a star for them to... And he's been on the borderline for years now, but he's not there. Like I said, it was Oklahoma. I think when you got those three guys together, and Holmgren's got to

[00:22:55] grow. He's got to be able to play in the playoffs, not take one shot. But they're good. They're good. They're deep. They got rid of guys, and they still have people like A.J. Mitchell ready to fulfill those roles. So they're good. They're really good. I think the Knicks are going to be hurt by losing Mitchell Robinson. I think Robinson not only is an offensive rebounder, he can defend anybody, as he showed in the playoffs. So it's a big loss there. I would put them... Philadelphia,

[00:23:24] that's a wild card. As I said just a few minutes ago, you don't know what you're going to get. But is Jalen Brown or Embiid happy to score five points in a game? Are they going to be... Is that going to work out? Vijay Edgecombe, who's great, he's going to be a star. Is he going to be happy being the fifth guy in this situation? So there's a lot of things that have to come through on that.

[00:23:49] San Antonio's good. How are they going to handle being embarrassed in the playoffs last year? Because they had, I thought, more talent. But they didn't really play well. And the Knicks beat them every time in the fourth quarter. How are they going to... Are they going to get better from that? Or is it going to be a problem? I think Tobias Harris will help them. But so it's interesting. I just... I chose Oklahoma because I just think they're good. Yeah. No doubt.

[00:24:16] There's about nine or ten... Nine teams maybe in the East that are legit top six playoff teams. In the West, there's six legit top six playoff teams. And when I say top six, because number seven through ten is playing. So they're deeper. And one other thing too, teams aren't tanking anymore. And I'm going to use the Celtics, but so the Celtics might be better than last

[00:24:43] year, but they won't win the same amount of games that they won last year. Because there's not teams like Washington just taking the tank. So every game is a little bit more difficult. And so teams might have a little bit less wins, but they might be improved is my point. But the... And I'm including the Lakers, which I'm not big on, but you never know with Luka. But I'm concluding them as a top six team. And I think they've got two

[00:25:11] great, really good players. And after that, it's a bunch of role players. That's what I'm seeing. Yeah. I think it's because you talk too much. Always. Take care. Okay.