Biggest Storylines Heading Into the 2025-26 NBA Season

Daniel Waddleton

Oct 15, 2025

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WE'RE JUST FOUR days away from the NBA’s long-awaited return, and with only a couple of preseason pieces left to drop, this one had to make the cut. Here are the storylines I’ll be watching from day one of the new season.

The Joker's Best Team Ever?

Nikola Jokic was a nice player in the late 2010s, but it wasn’t until the 2020 NBA Bubble that he officially broke out as a best-in-the-world level talent. Since then, the Nuggets have struggled to put even above-average supporting casts around their now three-time MVP. Whether that's been due to injuries, underwhelming draft returns, or ownership being cheap around the margins despite a championship window right in front of them.

The one time Jokic’s supporting cast truly resembled that of a title team, they won it all in 2023. Now, heading into 2025-26, it feels like Denver’s front office has finally stepped up and learned from past mistakes.

You can make the argument that this is the best roster Jokic has ever entered a season with. He has All-Star-level running mates in Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon, solid two-way wings rounding out the starting lineup with Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson, and bench depth that can allow Denver to stay afloat even when their best players aren't on the floor, something that has been so difficult for them to do in the past.

Don't book any vacations this June Nugget fans.

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New Coach, New Lineup, New Championship Equity?

Despite making the Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years -- and knocking off their rival Boston Celtics in the process -- the way the Knicks’ season ended still felt disappointing. Their defense was completely exposed by Indiana’s pace-and-space attack, and the offense didn’t feel nearly as dynamic as it should’ve given the talent on the roster.

As a result, New York decided it was time to move on from head coach Tom Thibodeau and swing the pendulum toward the offensive side of the ball, hiring Mike Brown -- part of the revolutionary 2010s Warriors and architect of the “Light the Beam” Kings offense.

The Knicks are hoping Brown can inject some creativity into an offense loaded with talent while also being more willing to experiment with lineups, starting with Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson together. The big question will be if this roster can hit a defensive baseline that allows their new-look offense to carry them to the finish line.

For a team with the fourth-best title odds, there are plenty of questions to answer before that becomes reality.

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The Rockets’ Funky Lineup Combinations

This team is going to be one of the most fascinating lineup experiments in the league. Even before Fred VanVleet went down, their rotations were intriguing, but now without a true point guard, no lineup would surprise me.

Expect Amen Thompson to start at the one, though Reed Sheppard will get opportunities there too. Other than that, this team will just play a plethora of wings and bigs at all times. Kevin Durant and Jabari Smith Jr. playing the two? Maybe five wings out on the court at once? How about three centers at once?

Houston also seemed to have found a market inefficiency last year in offensive rebounding and has since doubled down on it, extending Steven Adams and adding Clint Capela. Last year, lineups with Sengun and Adams were +30.0 per 100 possessions with a ridiculous 50.3% offensive rebound rate. Add Amen Thompson or Tari Eason, and that rebound rate rose even higher.

We’ll see all sorts of unconventional looks: double bigs with jumbo wings like Durant, Thompson, Eason, and Smith Jr, and even “small” lineups with Durant at the five surrounded by shooters like Finney-Smith and Sheppard. Udoka has an embarrassment of riches in Houston, let’s see how he pieces this puzzle together.

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How Does This End In Dallas

We’re now eight months removed from one of the most inconceivable trades in American professional sports history when the Dallas Mavericks moved on from 26-year-old, five-time First Team All-NBA point guard Luka Doncic in the heart of his prime.

Mavericks GM Nico Harrison has tried to rationalize it to the fanbase, but nobody wants to hear it. The Mavs don’t even have home games anymore, every game in that building has become a protest, with fans begging to be freed from the shackles of the Harrison era.

It’s a shame because if you look beneath the hood, Harrison did a good job as GM before what will forever be remembered as his D-Day. He made a ton of savvy moves that turned a fringe postseason club into a perennial contender. The problem is that all those moves were made to build around the guy he ultimately traded. Nico constructed a Finals-level roster and if he had just kept the player he literally built it for, I’d bet they would’ve won one.

Now that’s in the past, and I’m not even sure wins this season can erase the stain. I was an advocate for letting Nico keep his job this summer and at least seeing this vision through, given the roster is still very talented, but I’m not sure the fans will ever stop until he's gone.

It’s a situation worth monitoring, especially if Dallas comes out of the gate slow. There’s a real chance we see a complete overhaul to try and erase this era of Mavericks basketball and start over with a clean slate for the city and fanbase, now centered around first overall pick Cooper Flagg. If that happens, Dallas has several high-level players who could hit the market -- Anthony Davis, PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford, Klay Thompson -- and immediately play significant roles on championship-level teams.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo Watch

For the first time since he became a perennial MVP candidate, the Bucks actually entertained trading their future Hall of Famer, reportedly engaging the Knicks, per Shams Charania.

Milwaukee has essentially taken out its fifth mortgage trying to keep this marriage together, exhausting every asset to the point they’re paying Damian Lillard $20 million a year to play in Portland. As Jordan Belfort’s father once said, “eventually the chickens are going to come home to roost.” We may have arrived at this moment.

This feels like Giannis’s last season as a Buck unless they wildly overachieve. Maybe the Myles Turner pairing clicks better than expected. Maybe intriguing young guys like Ryan Rollins and AJ Green take unanticipated leaps. Either way, Milwaukee will be worth watching, and maybe not necessarily for their basketball, but to witness Giannis’s potential farewell tour.

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Anthony Edwards’ Next Leap

There were a few reasons why OKC handled Minnesota so easily in the 2025 Western Conference Finals, but one of the big ones was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander completely outclassing Anthony Edwards offensively.

No, it’s not because “SGA wanted it more.” It came down to two things in my opinion. One, Edwards couldn’t control -- the Thunder’s defense was much better equipped to stop him with their personnel -- but the other one he could.

If you take a look at Ant’s heat map from last season, he was almost exclusively a three-point or rim scorer. It’s hard to blame him because those are the two most high-value areas on the floor, and he was excelling in both. But against the best defenses, in a postseason setting where games slow down, we’ve seen time and time again how valuable scorers who can operate in that in-between area become.

The midrange and post-ups aren’t dead; they’re just for players who can live there efficiently. SGA’s ability to work with his back to the basket made it much harder for the Wolves to load up on him, and he was able to get to his spots in the midrange and score over the top.

Edwards had none of that. The Thunder took away his pull-up three at all costs and funneled him toward the basket, where not just Chet Holmgren, but all of OKC’s elite rim-protecting wings were waiting. Even a little bit of a floater game would’ve gone a long way for Edwards in that series.

It felt like the game was moving a million miles a minute for Ant (again, credit to the Thunder’s elite defense), while SGA looked completely in control, working that in-between area to perfection. Edwards says he’s unlocked that part of his game this offseason, and I wouldn’t bet against him.

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A Really Fun Rookie Class

It might not reach what the 2026 class is projected to be, but this has a chance to be a damn good draft class. Cooper Flagg is already drawing Jayson Tatum comparisons as an 18-year-old, and Dylan Harper -- in his limited preseason showing -- has all the makings of a multi-time All-Star for the Spurs after they selected him second overall.

You know the stars though, what really makes this class fun is the depth. Utah's Ace Bailey and Washington's Tre Johnson absolutely ooze with talent. Both have real potential as high-level shot creators in this league and bring different defensive strengths that can be brought to the surface if they lock in on that end.

Charlotte's Kon Knueppel is exactly the kind of guy you want to put around other high-lottery talents, being he has a complete offensive package without any fat in his game. He's a great spot-up shooter, capable of operating as a second-side creator, and can scale up as a primary pick-and-roll option when needed.

His Hornets draft partner, Ryan Kalkbrenner, is one of my favorite second-round players. The three-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year projects as a premier drop big man with his 7’1 frame, a 7’5 wingspan projects combined with elite timing and discipline defending the rim. He’ll probably never have great scheme versatility, but he’s exactly the kind of anchor you can build an elite defense around with the right personnel.

If you love passing, go watch Brooklyn's Egor Demin, who might be the best passer in the class and should get real runway on a bad Nets team this season.

If you want to meet the league’s next defensive Swiss army knife, look no further than Toronto, where ninth pick Collin Murray-Boyles can do everything on that end.

Philly's VJ Edgecombe can jump out of the gym and has immediate defensive playmaking written all over him.

Portland's Yang Hansen has that Jokic-like connective energy, where suddenly everyone on the court cuts harder, screens better, and runs with more purpose playing alongside him.

And if you just want to watch an offensively polished gamer, hopefully Utah gives Walter Clayton Jr. real minutes, because that guy can flat-out hoop.

With all this going on, there may be no more eyes then on the Pelicans’ draft class of Jeremiah Fears and Derrick Queen, who New Orleans paid a premium to put together. Early pressure on these young guys to deliver.

There's something for everybody in this class, including plenty of players I didn't even mention, but those are the ones I’m most excited to see.

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Superstars in the Best Shape of Their Life

What will we get out of Luka Doncic and Zion Williamson this season? No matter what shape Luka is in, he’s a walking 30-8-8, but what heights could a locked-in, in-shape Luka actually reach? Is 34-10-12 out of the realm of possibility? Will we look up in December and see Doncic sitting as the clear MVP favorite?

The bigger Men’s Health Magazine storyline though has to be Zion Williamson, the once-in-a-generation prodigy who looked ready to break basketball after a 20-year-old season where he averaged 27 points per game on 64.9 percent true shooting and posted a +7.2 on/off in over 2,000 possessions.

In the four years since, he’s played just 129 of 328 possible Pelicans games, and even when he’s been on the floor, he hasn’t reached the same heights as that 2020-21 version of himself.

Zion has openly admitted he hasn’t been in great shape, so much so that he actually agreed to a non-fully guaranteed contract extension from New Orleans. But to his credit, he looks good heading into this season. New GM Joe Dumars made a huge bet on this roster, trading away an unprotected 2026 first-rounder to move up and grab Maryland big man Derrick Queen with the 13th pick. That bet will start and end with a healthy Zion.

Like Trae Young in Atlanta, this feels like put-up-or-shut-up time for him and his future in the Big Easy.

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The 76ers Roster Is Good, But Can They Stay Healthy?

It’s probably safe to assume Joel Embiid and Paul George are over the figurative "hill" and will stay on that side. Yet even diminished versions of them, with the rest of this roster, could hypothetically challenge anybody in a weakened Eastern Conference.

Yet, it's that same exact word again, they could hypothetically challenge. Everything about the Process-era Sixers since this thing started over a decade ago has been purely hypothetical. They’ve had the promise of high draft picks. They’ve had the teams on paper to make deep runs. The conference has seemingly cleared a path for them to win it all multiple times.

But the thing is, these games aren’t played on paper or in our heads; they’re played on a hardwood floor that’s felt like a house of horrors for Philly.

Once again, on paper, this team looks ready. With Embiid as the centerpiece, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George as ideal-fitting co-stars, and a supporting cast featuring Jared McCain, Quentin Grimes, Kelly Oubre Jr., and VJ Edgecombe, if you promised me health in the spring, I’d say line ’em up and come get Philly. However, we know that’s not a promise you can keep, and it could be the end of the Process Sixers as we know them if it doesn’t happen this season.

This team is like The Walking Dead, they keep releasing new seasons even though the soul of the show is already dead. Thanks, Kawhi Leonard.

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New Broadcast Deals

In case you’ve been living under an NBA rock, the league has struck a massive new television rights deal, with NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video making big plays to get into the NBA. The Finals will stay on ABC, but everything else? It’s about to look completely different.

Weekly national TV schedule:

Monday: Peacock

Tuesday: NBC / Peacock

Wednesday: ESPN

Thursday: Prime Video

Friday: ESPN / Prime Video

Saturday: ABC / ESPN / Prime Video

Sunday: ABC / ESPN / NBC / Peacock

So why does this matter, other than realizing you’re about to pay for even more subscriptions then you already do just to watch the good games? Here’s why I think it does.

There’s been plenty of buzz around the broadcast shake-up -- rumors of Michael Jordan and other big names joining NBC’s studio coverage, Amazon Prime Video looking to replicate its Thursday Night Football success -- and it feels like we could be entering a new era for how the NBA is presented.

For years, ESPN and TNT have basically been the default home for basketball. That comfort led to a certain staleness: predictable pregame shows, postgame chatter that felt more like clip farming than actual analysis, and an overall tone that seemed to lean more negative than insightful.

Now, with NBC and Prime in the mix, there’s new competition for the first time in decades. That’s important because when networks compete, the quality of the product tends to rise. Better pregame segments. More visually appealing presentations of the game. Postgame shows that actually feel like they care about what just happened on the court instead of turning every moment into a viral argument.

NBC, in particular, has a chance to bring back that “big game” feel the league has been missing. Their broadcasts used to feel cinematic -- the music, the energy, the way it framed stars like they were larger than life. If they can recapture even part of that, it’ll be a huge win for fans who’ve grown tired of robotic presentation and surface-level takes.

Meanwhile Prime Video, represents something totally new: a digital-first, tech-savvy partner that could reimagine how younger audiences watch games. Alternate commentary feeds, behind-the-scenes access, creative graphics, all stuff that makes us feel like we are in the modern era.

My hope is these networks come in guns blazing, and it lights a fire under ESPN. They still have the Finals, which means they’re still the “home” of the NBA. But that title doesn’t carry the same weight if everyone else’s coverage is fresher, smarter, and more engaging. Fans have been vocal for years about the issues -- delayed start times, analysts who seem disinterested, uncreative broadcast production -- and this influx of new partners might finally force ESPN to evolve.

For the first time in a long time, it feels like how the NBA is shown might actually start matching how good the basketball itself has become. I'm excited to see what the landscape becomes, and if ESPN will finally step its game up.