Tim BontempsOct 3, 2025, 08:00 AM ETCloseTim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.Follow on X
Why LeBron’s future with Lakers is difficult to decipher (1:04)Tim Bontemps remains unsure on whether LeBron James will continue to play for the Lakers beyond next season. (1:04)
With less than three weeks until the start of the 2025-26 season, the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers kicked off the NBA’s preseason schedule on the other side of the globe in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
We published our first version of this list a year ago, featuring names such 76ers center Joel Embiid, Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick and (now former) Boston Celtics majority owner Wyc Grousbeck, among others.
This is not a list of the best or most important people in the league. Names such as Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lakers guard Luka Doncic won’t be found on this list.
Let’s break down 10 names who will play major roles in defining the upcoming season — both on the court and as far as the trade deadline, draft and free agency play out.
In May, Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman in a radio interview said: “We’re ready to kind of turn the page on our rebuild and enter the next stage of our team and look through a more win-now lens.”
Weltman then took action, sending several future draft picks to the Memphis Grizzlies in a blockbuster trade for Desmond Bane. It was lauded by multiple respondents in last week’s offseason survey as one of the best moves of the summer.
But if that move is going to pay off in the way he and the Magic hope it will, it won’t be because of Bane, Jalen Suggs or even Franz Wagner. Instead, it will be because Banchero, fresh off landing a five-year, $239 million maximum contract extension this offseason, is blossoming into full-blown superstar status. Could he lead Orlando to winning a playoff series for the first time since 2010 and possibly reach the NBA Finals for the third time in franchise history?
That path is possible. Banchero, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA draft, has a rare blend of size, strength and skill within his 6-foot-10, 250-pound frame, and doesn’t even turn 23 years old until Nov. 12. But, in his three seasons, Banchero has hit 3-pointers at a career 32% clip and barely crept over 50% true shooting last season for the first time in his career.
The addition of Bane, a terrific outside shooter and additional ballhandling threat, will help plenty. Having Wagner end a two-year cold streak shooting from deep — he went from 36% three seasons ago to under 30% each of the past two years — will, too.
Orlando will go as far as Banchero can carry them. And, in a wide-open Eastern Conference because of Achilles injuries to the Indiana Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton and the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum (a theme of this list that will come up again), that could be quite far — assuming he takes the steps forward the Magic believe he can this season and beyond.
When you fire a coach after he led your team to playoff victories in three consecutive seasons for the first time in a generation and to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in a quarter century, it’s clear what the expectations are for his successor.
That’s the situation Brown has walked into after replacing Tom Thibodeau this summer. And while Brown has repeatedly said, including at last week’s media day, that “no one has higher expectations than he does,” that’s not exactly true.
There’s a unique symbiosis between the Knicks and their fans, who have been waiting more than half a century to snap their championship drought. It might be the best chance to do so since the Patrick Ewing-led Knicks reached the NBA Finals in 1994. Unlike the past couple of seasons when the Knicks surpassed relatively low expectations, a wide-open East could make anything short of a Finals appearance a lost season for New York.
Brown is no stranger to high-pressure situations. He coached LeBron James to an NBA Finals in 2007, and he was the head coach of the Lakers. But he arguably has never faced the kind of pressure he is under this season — and no one on his roster has either.
Dybantsa is one of four players — alongside Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Duke forward Cameron Boozer and Tennessee forward Nate Ament — who will spend the season being debated for the top spots in a loaded 2026 NBA draft class.
Teams had visions of picking Cooper Flagg last season before the Dallas Mavericks unexpectedly landed the No. 1 pick, but the three-or-four-way competition for the No. 1 pick in 2026 could add extra intrigue.
But for as brilliant as Wembanyama is, landing on Most Valuable Player ballots and All-NBA teams doesn’t just come down to individual excellence. It also requires a team being able to make strides alongside its young star, and be in a position to make the playoffs — even in the ultracompetitive Western Conference.
For the Spurs to reach those heights this season, it’s very likely to be because Fox is a good enough co-star alongside Wembanyama.
(As an aside, I’m proposing a nickname for Wembanyama: The Anomaly. I’d say he qualifies as an anomaly, and I like it a lot more than calling him an alien).
Until one side or the other definitively says what the future of this partnership will look like after this season — one way or the other — expect those questions to continue. And if the Lakers struggle this season, expect the intensity surrounding this topic to ramp up between now and February’s trade deadline.
The investigation into potential salary cap circumvention by the Clippers involving Aspiration, a former Clippers sponsor, will continue to be a topic of discussion throughout the season.
But then there’s the on-court part of the story. Leonard again sat out much of last season because of injuries but returned to be an impactful player down the stretch and in LA’s seven-game loss to the Denver Nuggets in the first round. With a very deep (albeit old) roster around him, if Leonard can stay on the court, the Clippers could be a true factor in the West.
And, with this being Leonard’s age-34 season, there won’t be many chances for him to make his Clippers tenure a success if it doesn’t happen in 2025-26.
The Bucks have satisfied Antetokounmpo’s desires for upgrades, first by landing Jrue Holiday in 2020 and then using Holiday to acquire Damian Lillard in 2023. But will waiving-and-stretching Lillard’s deal to land former Indiana Pacers star Myles Turner — one of the most shocking moves of the summer — be good enough to do so a third time?
“It’s a disservice to basketball and just to the game, to not want it to compete in a high level, to want your season to end in April,” he said. “It’s pretty much the same. It’s not the first time. I had the same thoughts last year. I had the same thoughts two years ago.”
The irony of this is that, on the court, Antetokounmpo could be on the brink of his best statistical season. With Lillard sidelined late last season, Antetokounmpo’s numbers skyrocketed with the ball in his hands all the time. Expect coach coach Doc Rivers to do that again this season, and for Antetokounmpo to be a massive stat machine as a result.
With now less than two years separating Antetokounmpo from unrestricted free agency — and a roster that, outside of Turner, is littered with questions — it’s safe to say the topic of Antetokounmpo’s future won’t be going away anytime soon.
Even before the Clippers investigation took center stage, it was already setting up to be a consequential season for the NBA commissioner as he enters his 12th full season on the job. How Silver chooses to rule on the case will be one of the enduring stories of this season and possibly his tenure as commissioner.
The No. 4 pick in the 2023 NBA draft, Thompson took no time to establish himself as one of the NBA’s most intriguing talents and is primed for a breakout season.
The Rockets didn’t make the Kevin Durant trade for this season to be a gap year. And if Thompson — a legitimate Defensive Player of the Year contender and a terrific passer — seizes this opportunity, he could easily be an All-Star, the NBA’s Most Improved Player this season and have Houston remain as a true threat to challenge Oklahoma City in the West.
Not too long ago, Young would have been seen as an automatic candidate for a maximum extension. But those days were before the current collective bargaining agreement. Since the spring of 2023, teams are more hesitant to hand out that type of deal.
Atlanta is entering the most anticipated Hawks season in years after a lauded offseason under new lead basketball decision-maker Onsi Saleh, which could drive Young’s market in free agency next summer if the two sides don’t come to an agreement.
We could be entering a new era of team building and spending in the NBA, and Young’s deal could be at the epicenter of it.
In the brief time the two shared the court in February, the results were mixed (though the sample size of 120 minutes should be taken with a grain of salt). Fox was acquired in a blockbuster trade in February and then bestowed a maximum contract extension in August when he was eligible to receive it. Their investment in him is a sign they believe he is an optimal right-hand man for Wembanyama. Fox will also have to fit alongside No. 2 pick Dylan Harper and reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle. The lack of consistent shooting between the three could make that an awkward fit.
Why LeBron’s future with Lakers is difficult to decipher (1:04)Tim Bontemps remains unsure on whether LeBron James will continue to play for the Lakers beyond next season. (1:04)
Tim Bontemps remains unsure on whether LeBron James will continue to play for the Lakers beyond next season. (1:04)