{"id":685,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/685","headline":"NBA previews flood in as season opens October 20","dek":"Outlets are split on whether the Knicks and 76ers deserve their hype in a crowded Eastern Conference.","body":"The new NBA season tips off on October 20, and the preseason paperwork is piling up. Multiple outlets have rolled out their team-by-team breakdowns, power rankings and championship picks for all 30 teams, and the overarching theme is that nobody fully trusts the Eastern Conference's usual suspects this year.\n\nThe Knicks and 76ers, long treated as top-four locks in the East, are getting a harder look. Some previews argue both teams are overvalued given how deep the conference has become, with one count putting seven teams in the East as plausible contenders for a major playoff run. That marks a shift from recent years when the top of the conference felt more settled.\n\nOut West, the Thunder, Nuggets and the rest of the usual contenders headline early outlooks, though one roundtable noted how wrong last year's predictions turned out to be, with Oklahoma City expected to repeat and Cleveland expected to take a step in the East, neither of which materialized as forecast.\n\nWith rosters reshaped by a busy offseason, writers across the league are hedging their bets. The games that actually decide any of this start October 20.","published_at":"2026-10-15T23:35:54.461229+00:00","source_count":4,"written_from":[{"outlet":"CBS Sports","publisher":"CBS Sports","title":"NBA over/under predictions for every Eastern Conference team: Knicks, 76ers overvalued? Raptors ready to rise?","url":"https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-eastern-conference-over-under-win-total-predictions/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"2026-27 NBA Season Preview: Team outlooks, power rankings, players to watch, fantasy spin","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/2026-27-nba-season-preview-team-outlooks-power-rankings-players-to-watch-fantasy-spin-155946450.html"},{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Why the Knicks, 76ers won't finish in Eastern Conference's top 4: NBA predictions","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7655956/2026/10/15/nba-predictions-knicks-76ers-raptors-cavaliers/"},{"outlet":"NBC Sports","publisher":"NBC Sports","title":"2026-27 NBA Championship predictions roundtable: Can Knicks repeat? Is this Wemby and the Spurs’ year?","url":"https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/2026-27-nba-championship-predictions-roundtable-can-knicks-repeat-is-this-wemby-and-the-spurs-year"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"2026-27 NBA Championship predictions roundtable: Can Knicks repeat? Is this Wemby and the Spurs’ year?","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/2026-27-nba-championship-predictions-120000520.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Boston Celtics season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/boston-celtics-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-132647037.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Brooklyn Nets season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/brooklyn-nets-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-134132650.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Chicago Bulls season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/chicago-bulls-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-140100864.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Cleveland Cavaliers season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/cleveland-cavaliers-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-140325355.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dallas Mavericks season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/dallas-mavericks-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-143955303.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Denver Nuggets season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/denver-nuggets-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-144705378.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Detroit Pistons season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/detroit-pistons-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-140656846.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"New York Knicks season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/new-york-knicks-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-135114328.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Philadelphia 76ers season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/philadelphia-76ers-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-134604096.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Phoenix Suns season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/phoenix-suns-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-145326129.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"San Antonio Spurs season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/san-antonio-spurs-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-143434896.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Toronto Raptors season preview: Opening schedule, win projection and everything to know for 2026-27","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/toronto-raptors-season-preview-opening-schedule-win-projection-and-everything-to-know-for-2026-27-133815701.html"}],"image":{"url":"https://nbcsports.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/03ef87a/2147483647/strip/false/crop/1920x1080+0+0/resize/1920x1080!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhdliveextra-a.akamaihd.net%2FHD%2Fimage_sports%2FNBCU_Sports_Group_-_nbcsports%2F252%2F398%2FNEW_MPX.jpg","credit":"NBC Sports","width":1920},"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}