Tim BontempsApr 15, 2026, 07:00 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 XMultiple Authors
play0:31Deni Avdija’s big and-1 puts Portland ahead, reaches 40 pointsDeni Avdija’s big and-1 puts Portland ahead, reaches 40 points
play2:02Stephen A.: James Harden has it all to prove in the playoffsStephen A. Smith believes James Harden needs a strong showing for the Cavs in the playoffs to help reverse the narrative surrounding him.
play1:26’Inside The NBA’ crew react to Doc Rivers’ departure from BucksCharles Barkley points to the Bucks’ players as one of the factors why Doc Rivers is leaving Milwaukee.
Coby White drains huge 3 to tie game with 10 seconds left (0:37)Coby White shows off the range on trey (0:37)
Deni Avdija’s big and-1 puts Portland ahead, reaches 40 pointsDeni Avdija’s big and-1 puts Portland ahead, reaches 40 points
Stephen A.: James Harden has it all to prove in the playoffsStephen A. Smith believes James Harden needs a strong showing for the Cavs in the playoffs to help reverse the narrative surrounding him.
Stephen A. Smith believes James Harden needs a strong showing for the Cavs in the playoffs to help reverse the narrative surrounding him.
‘Inside The NBA’ crew react to Doc Rivers’ departure from BucksCharles Barkley points to the Bucks’ players as one of the factors why Doc Rivers is leaving Milwaukee.
Charles Barkley points to the Bucks’ players as one of the factors why Doc Rivers is leaving Milwaukee.
Tuesday night kicked off the start of the NBA postseason, when the Portland Trail Blazers secured the 7-seed in the West playoffs and the Charlotte Hornets won an overtime thriller to avoid elimination in the battle for the East’s final playoff spot.
But while numerous storylines will play out during the two-month trek to decide the 2026 champion, this is a good opportunity to take stock of what just took place across every franchise’s 82-game regular season.
It has been an eventful 2025-26, full of superlative performances, shocking trades and surprises up and down the league standings. (Plus plenty of talk surrounding tanking and other less savory subjects.)
Here, we’re handing out regular season grades to all 30 teams — an ode to ESPN NBA analytics and grades legend Kevin Pelton — using a simple rubric: Did a team meet, exceed or fall short of its preseason expectations?
Teams will have to go above and beyond to receive one of the seven ‘A’ grades handed out. See where all 30 teams landed below. (Teams are in alphabetical order within each grade).
The belief leaguewide — and likely in Charlotte as well — was that the 2025-26 season would provide valuable experience for the team’s young talent as the franchise prepared to add another high lottery pick in a loaded 2026 draft class. Instead, Charlotte went 18-9 after the All-Star break to roll into the play-in tournament with a chance to reach its first playoff series in a decade. But whatever happens in Friday’s game, the season has been an unqualified success in Buzz City.
Going from 14 wins in 2023-24 to 44 wins last season was a remarkable feat. Going to this season’s staggering 60 victories, something that’s only happened twice in the franchise’s illustrious history — is at another level. Cade Cunningham became an MVP candidate, Jalen Duren developed into a star and the Pistons reclaimed their status as the East’s menacing, physical contender.
The Suns were seen as a team more likely to finish last in the league than to make the playoffs. And yet, they flirted with a top-six seed in the West all season, ultimately finishing seventh, and now will have to win Friday to make the playoffs. Phoenix hired an excellent young coach in Jordan Ott, who has created an impressive hard-working, hard-playing culture in his first season.
Heading into the season, San Antonio merely reaching the postseason was considered a reachable goal, especially after Spurs’ 34-win campaign featured Victor Wembanyama missing the second half due to a blood clot issue. But not only has Wemby been healthy, he led the Spurs to 62 wins while nearly chasing down the defending champion Thunder for the league’s best record.
It might not feel great in Lakerland right now, given devastating injuries to leading scorers Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves just before the playoffs, but it’s hard to see this season as anything but a success in the aggregate. The Lakers finished with a top-four seed in the West, Doncic had an MVP-caliber season and LeBron James settled into a role as a third star who had the franchise dreaming of a deep playoff run before injuries hit.
It says plenty where the defending champions sit that winning 64 games is seen as achieving an expected outcome, but it’s a truthful statement. The fact the team did it with so many injuries throughout the season is a testament to the talent across the roster, and the sheer steadiness of potential two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Oklahoma City will now hope to do something else it is expected to: Break the NBA’s record streak of seven seasons without a repeat champion.
Deni Avdija’s big and-1 puts Portland ahead, reaches 40 points
Deni Avdija’s big and-1 puts Portland ahead, reaches 40 points
The Raptors were hard to place coming into this season, particularly since Brandon Ingram (ankle) had yet to make his Toronto debut after joining the team ahead of last year’s trade deadline. But he played 77 games — most since his rookie season in 2016-17. Ingram’s bounce-back season and Scottie Barnes’ All-NBA-caliber leap have the Raptors in the playoffs for the first time in four years.
Atlanta entered the season with aspirations of a top-four seed, built around longtime franchise icon Trae Young. Instead, Young was sidelined in October with a knee injury, played 10 games for the Hawks and was traded to the Wizards in the first deal of the season. But after floundering in the bottom of the East play-in picture through the All-Star break, a furious finish behind first-time All-Star Jalen Johnson lifted the franchise all the way to sixth.
This is another case where the season ended at or above where it was supposed to, just in a more circuitous path than expected. With starting point guard Fred VanVleet out with a torn ACL, Houston’s offense sputtered, and the team’s young talent — specifically Amen Thompson and Reed Sheppard — had its ups and downs. And yet, Houston is expected to win a playoff series for the first time since 2020, and matched last season’s 52-win total.
Until last week, this season would have been considered a major success after last year’s injury-filled 24-58 campaign. But the news of Joel Embiid’s emergency appendectomy could derail the 76ers bounce-back season before the playoffs even begin. So even though the Sixers pushed for a top-six seed, rookie VJ Edgecombe shined and Tyrese Maxey played his way into a likely All-NBA breakthrough, 2025-26 could end like many recent seasons in Philadelphia — disappointing injury news involving Embiid.
Stephen A.: James Harden has it all to prove in the playoffs
It might not have been an enjoyable process, but Brooklyn wound up where it was supposed to be: bottom three in the NBA standings with the highest possible odds of landing a top-four pick in June’s draft. Michael Porter Jr. posting a career season after coming over (along with a future first-round pick) in an offseason trade with Denver was a welcomed bonus, but the Nets’ overall goal was achieved.
Cleveland entered this season as co-favorites to come out of the East, but a topsy-turvy season saw the Cavaliers break up their “Core Four” and limp to a fourth-place finish. With former MVP James Harden replacing Darius Garland in the backcourt in one of trade season’s biggest moves, Cleveland is banking on a deep playoff run to change this assessment, but it’s been an unsatisfying regular season.
The Timberwolves have been the big winner from the tanking maneuvers at the top of the Western Conference over the past few days, as they will get the Nuggets, a team they’ve had postseason success against, and then an inexperienced Spurs squad as they vie for a third straight Western Conference finals. But it’s been an up-and-down season, and rather than pushing for a top-four spot in the West, they nearly found themselves in the play-in.
The Knicks, like the Cavaliers, entered the season with sky-high expectations after moving on from coach Tom Thibodeau after last season’s conference finals defeat. And while this season’s story will ultimately be written in the playoffs, it can only be seen as a mild disappointment right now. In Brown’s first season, the Knicks feel like a group that’s played to less than the sum of its parts as they chase preseason ambitions of reaching the NBA Finals for the first time this century.
The Jazz accomplished their preseason goal: keep their first-round pick and get one final swing at the top of the draft. Utah accomplished it while trading for former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. and being fined for tanking along the way, a more interesting path than many expected. The only thing left is to see if this is finally the year this team gets some lottery luck.
Like Brooklyn, the goal was clear all season in Washington: guarantee no worse than the fifth pick in the draft. But while the Wizards were securing the league’s worst record, the franchise made two of the biggest splashes of trade season when it acquired Trae Young and Anthony Davis. With a high lottery pick coming in June, next season will be a fascinating watch in D.C.
While Boston avoided a gap year in the wake of Tatum’s injury, the combination of Tyrese Haliburton being out for the season with an Achilles tear and a rash of other injuries in the opening weeks of the regular season doomed Indiana from the start. That said, the Pacers will come out of this season with All-Defense center Ivica Zubac and a potential top-four pick. There are far worse outcomes in a gap year, but Indy’s lost season remains quite a fall from Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals.