The defending champion Knicks and a retooled 76ers sit just behind the two co-favorites as the new season tips off.
The oddsmakers have spoken, sort of. Heading into the 2026-27 season, the Spurs and Thunder are set as co-favorites to win it all, with the Knicks and 76ers close behind in the East.
That the Spurs are anywhere near the top says plenty about how fast things move in this league. San Antonio went from a 44-win team to Western Conference champions, a leap nobody projected. The Thunder, meanwhile, remain the steady power out West that everyone else is chasing.
In the East, the Knicks come in as defending champions, and several experts still like them to go back-to-back, pointing to a roster with no real weak spot and a coaching staff that knows how to use it. There is some hesitation about off-court distractions in New York, but most of the questions raised about other contenders, including the Raptors, Pacers, 76ers, Celtics, Pistons and Cavaliers, are about their own personnel rather than anything dragging the Knicks down.
The broader theme is unpredictability. The last eight seasons have produced eight different champions, and no team has managed to reach back-to-back Finals in that stretch, a trend this season's favorites will try to break.