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NBA 2026–27 tip-off: the contenders and new faces

Who's favored, who moved where this summer, and the stars you'll hear about all season.

Listen with headphones. When it asks a question, answer out loud before it tells you.

Knicks: defending champions, first title in fifty-three years, no repeat champion since 2018
Thunder: co-favorites, two-time reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Spurs problem
Spurs: co-favorites, Victor Wembanyama, lost the Finals to the Knicks
76ers: LeBron James joins Embiid, Maxey and Brown, Embiid's health is the question
Heat: Giannis Antetokounmpo arrives via trade with Milwaukee, can he play about seventy games
Raptors: Kawhi Leonard left the Clippers amid a cap investigation, health is the question

Celtics: Jaylen Brown went to Philadelphia for Paul George, and Jayson Tatum is back from his Achilles rupture
Timberwolves: LaMelo Ball joins Anthony Edwards, and his ankles are the worry
Lakers: Luka Dončić leads the post-LeBron era
Cavaliers: swept by the Knicks in the East finals after blowing a twenty-two-point lead in Game one
Nuggets: Jokić and the best offense, but a defense ranked twenty-first two years running
Why the Knicks might not repeat: heavy minutes and soured extension talks
Swing factors: Embiid, Kawhi, Giannis and Tatum health, Fox's starting spot, Holmgren against Wembanyama, the Knicks' locker room, LeBron and Brown fitting together

Knicks: defending champions, first title in fifty-three years, no repeat champion since 2018, with mileage and soured extension talks as the worries
Thunder and Spurs are the co-favorites, and the Spurs beat Oklahoma City eight times in twelve, with Holmgren struggling against Wembanyama
LeBron went to Philadelphia with Embiid, Maxey and Brown: Embiid's health and the LeBron and Brown fit are the questions
Health decides Giannis in Miami (about seventy games), Kawhi in Toronto, and Tatum in Boston
Depth: LaMelo Ball joins Anthony Edwards in Minnesota, Luka Dončić leads the Lakers, Cleveland blew a twenty-two-point lead against the Knicks, and Denver has Jokić's offense but a weak defense

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