We’re looking more broadly for today’s roundtable, since there’s just not much interesting happening with our Dallas Mavericks. Name one team who will outperform compared to last year and one team who might tumble down the standings.
Brian: It’s going be difficult to settle on one team to rise up the standings from last year to this one, given the season for optimism. I believe in the Grizzlies, Jazz and, to a much lesser degree, the Mavericks to make big strides in 2026-27. A combination of internal
development, roster changes both in the draft and free agency, and a much-needed coaching change in Dallas should propel them all from where they ended last year.
A lot of teams at the top of last year’s Western Conference standings shored up weaknesses and/or doubled down on strengths. One team in last year’s play-in picture seemed to not do much of either. That team is the Golden State Warriors, and they should be terrified that they are going to stink in what could be Stephen Curry’s last year in his prime. They struck out in the LeBron sweepstakes this summer, are snakebitten by injuries even before the starting line between Butler and Moody, and have an average age somewhere around the 30 that Steph dons every night. Things are looking a bit bleak for the blue and gold. On the bright side, they’ll benefit from the play of wily vet-I mean, newly drafted rookie- Yaxel Lendeborg.
David: The Indiana Pacers are due for a massive bounce back. With Tyrese Haliburton returning, they’re going to look competent on offense, and year two of Ivica Zubac at center should be a lot better. On the flip side, I think Houston is in for a wake-up call this year. Their roster is weird and clunky, and Durant is not getting younger. I think they have a season that makes them make a choice about the direction of their future.
Dalton: Call it a homer take if you must, but so long as Cooper Flagg stays healthy and Kyrie Irving plays at least 50-ish games, I think the Mavs could nearly double their win total from last year. For better or worse, I’m officially predicting 50-32. I think Dusty May’s style of offense will make Mavs fans happy.
I agree with Bryan on the Warriors. They remind me so much of the Mavs in Dirk’s twilight years. Big fish hunting every summer, in pretty much all the rumors, but ultimately nothing to show for it. And like Dirk, Steph is too loyal to leave despite all of that. Given that the Warriors’ peak was much higher than the Mavs’, winning four titles, the end of Steph’s career kinda gives me Chris Kaman PTSD. I think Golden State finally falls all the way off this year.
Ben: The Pacers will be much improved if Haliburton is healthy all year. They won 19 games and if they get back to being just an average team, that’s an improvement of more than 20 wins. That’ll be huge.
I don’t see any obvious candidates for a huge regression anywhere, so I’m gonna go out on a limb just on a hunch: the Spurs will have a season from hell. I don’t know exactly what’ll go wrong, and they’re too talented to have a huge drop-off, but I’m thinking they’ll have about 10 wins less than the 62 they finished with last year. If they win 67, well, then I’ll say this was all reverse psychology to make them more motivated.
Tyler: The Pacers are the correct answer. But, let’s get nuts for a second. Many of the most improved teams in the league this year will be all the teams who are positioning themselves for the draft. Because Adam Silver has made a mockery of the NBA lottery, you no longer can be plain bad and get the first pick, you’ve gotta be in the Chicago Bulls zone to have the best chance. Of that group, give me the Brooklyn Nets to actually be most improved. They have a great coach in Jordi Fernandez, a roster of, well, stat stuffing veterans who will be looking to get numbers, and they don’t have incentive to be awful! They’ll poke around and be sneaky competitive.
As for the regression candidates, I’m thinking the Detroit Pistons. I love Cade Cunningham just as much as anyone (shout out DFW high school hoops!), but the vibes around Detroit with the whole Jalen Duren situation just seem bad. Plus, some of the turnover on that roster has me asking questions. They won’t come close to the 60-win threshold of last year’s team.
Kirk: I agree with Dalton here. It’s not a normal zone for me, being positive about the Dallas Mavericks, but here we are. I suspect at least a 10 win improvement for the guys.
On the other side of things, I believe the Detroit Pistons are going to collapse somewhat. This Duren non-signing is the sort of thing which can poison a team, even if it’s a fight between him and management. The Pistons spam that pick and roll action and he’s at the center of it. The Pistons are also right not to pay him what he wants. Detroit’s superpower last year was playing harder than everyone else and I don’t think they bring that same fire.
