Ty's 2025-2026 NBA Season Preview: Postseason and Awards
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To wrap up my preseason 2025-26 NBA countdown, today I'm coming to you with my postseason and awards predictions. I'll start with the East, the JV if you will, then do the West. After I pick my champion I'll do my awards picks. I won't do every award, just the ones I consider the major ones. Enough preamble, let's get to it.
I'm going to pick 1-6 in each conference, then do the play-in teams and then give you the last two teams to make the playoffs. In the East, from 1-6, I'm going with the Cavs, Knicks, Magic, Hawks, Pistons and Bucks. For the play-in games give me the Celtics as the 7 playing the Pacers as the 10. In the 8-9 matchup I'll go with the 76ers as the 8 and the Bulls as the 9. The Celtics will dispose of the Pacers to claim the 7 seed and the 76ers will beat the Bulls in the 8-9 game. This would see the Pacers playing the 76ers for the 8 seed, and I'm going to go with the Pacers. The 76ers are too darn inconsistent.
That means in round one I have the Cavs facing the Pacers, the Knicks playing the Celtics, the Magic facing the Bucks and the Hawks playing the Pistons. While I'd like to see the Pacers prove a ton of people wrong, myself included, the Cavs are a very, very good basketball team, and they have some scores of their own to settle. I have a feeling that the Cavs are going to be looking to make a ton of noise this postseason. In the 2-7 matchup, I bet the Knicks are going to be furious that they will have to face the Celtics. And who knows if Jayson Tatum will be back by then. If he is, this series is going to be a lot closer than many thought. I don't think that will happen, and I would be willing to bet that the Knicks will win in five. The Magic should be a dominant team this season, and if they can figure out how to play a respectable offense, they could bump themselves into the 2 or 1 seed. Unfortunately for them they will have to play the Bucks and Giannis. Giannis is so good and can single handedly win a few games on his own. But, he needs more help, and without it this season, the Magic will win a hard fought seven game series in this first round. And then we have the best first round series in the East, the Hawks and Pistons. This is going to be a total style clash. The Hawks thrive offensively and the Pistons want to grind the game down and make it really, really muddy. I'm going to go with the Pistons in seven games. Cade Cunningham has arrived and the Pistons are going to make it a real slog for the Hawks, and when they get taken out of rhythm, they have a hard time playing out of it.
Round 2 will have the Cavs playing the Pistons and the Knicks playing the Magic. The Cavs are going to be able to run and run against the Pistons. They also have the guys to play the muddy game with the Pistons. This will be a five or six game series win for the Cavs. And the Knicks are going to shoot so many threes and the Magic will not be able to keep up with them. The Magic play great defense, but so do the Knicks and their offense is so, so much better.
That means the East Finals will be the Cavs and Knicks. This is where the Cavs run will end too early for their fans. The Knicks are a better team and they will be much more rested than they have been in the past. The Knicks will represent the East in the NBA Finals.
Onto the West playoffs now. From 1-6 I'm going with the Thunder, Nuggets, Timberwolves, Rockets, Clippers and Warriors, The 7-10 play-in game will be the Lakers as the 7 seed and the Mavericks as the 10 seed. The 8-9 game will be the Spurs as the 8 and the Grizzlies as the 9 seed. The Lakers will easily dispose of the Mavericks and take on the 7 seed. And the Spurs will claim the 8 seed with no problem at all.
So that means the first round of the West playoffs will give us the Thunder and Spurs, the Nuggets and Lakers, the Timberwolves and Warriors and the Rockets and Clippers. These are some damn good matchups. The Thunder will beat the Spurs, probably in five games, but it is going to be tough. The Spurs are coming, it is just going to take some time. And the Thunder are building a potential dynasty. The Thunder are so good and so young. The Nuggets-Lakers series is going to be every white analytics guy's dream. They'll also get to watch Luka and Jokic. Some nerds are going to be having the time of their lives. And the Nuggets will dispose of the Lakers thoroughly. It's going to be a sweep, and it won't look that close. The Timberwolves are going to beat the Warriors. If Steph Curry was healthy last season that series may have been closer, but I still think the Timberwolves would have won. They won't have to worry about that this year, because they're the better and younger team. And the Rockets are going to beat the Clippers, but it is going to be tough. The Clippers are just a bit too old, and while KD is a Rocket, they have youth at every other position of importance and they are coming. The first round of the West playoffs is going to be the changing of the guard. I know the Thunder won it all last year, but that was just the first sign. The older teams are going to be beaten by younger, more athletic teams.
The second round will give us a Thunder-Rockets matchup and a Nuggets-Timberwolves series. The Thunder are a better version of the Rockets. They play better defense. Their offense is more dynamic and electric. They are what the Rockets hope to be. The Thunder will win in five games. And the Nuggets-Timberwolves series should be as epic as they have been in the past. I cannot wait to watch this series and root super hard for the Timberwolves. Anthony Edwards is my new favorite player and I want nothing but success for him. But the Timberwolves won't be reaching the West Finals for a third straight season. The Nuggets only got better in the offseason and they have some demons to exorcise. Even though they won it all a few seasons back, they haven't come close to that same success, and the fans are craving it again.
So that means I have the Thunder and Nuggets in the West Finals. My playoffs have been chalk, which is boring, but here we are. This series should be great. The Nuggets played the Thunder as close as anyone in the playoffs last year. They had them on the brink. There were a few games where it looked like they were going to win. And then the Thunder pulled it out by playing great defense and doing enough on offense. And their offense should be even better this season. Give me the Thunder returning to the Finals after an epic seven game series.
I have the Thunder and Knicks facing off in the Finals. And I'm going to go with the Thunder to repeat. It hasn't happened in a long while, but they have something special brewing in OKC and this is going to be the moment they show everyone that they are this generation's version of the 90s Bulls, early 2000's Heat, mid 2000's Warriors, you all get it. The Thunder dynasty is coming sooner rather than later. And I believe it starts this season. The Thunder will be back to back champs and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will win a second straight Finals MVP.
As for my awards picks, I'll start with MVP. I'm going with Anthony Edwards to break through and win the MVP. He will be the first American to win in the 2020's. I just feel like Edwards has been building to something and I think that happens this season. For Coach of the Year I'm going with Jahmal Mosley of the Orlando Magic. The Magic are going to have a great year and Mosley will be rewarded. Sixth Man of the Year will be Josh Hart. Hart is coming off the bench, plays in New York and will bring energy and effort for a team that I have in the Finals. Defensive Player of the Year will be Victor Webanyama. He is already the best defensive player in basketball and this will be the first of many, many DPOY's for him. And Rookie of the Year is going to be Cooper Flagg, barring any kind of long term injury. Flagg is as good as it gets in this draft class and he will be playing meaningful games this year.
That does it. You now have all of my 2025-26 preseason NBA rankings and predictions. Take them with a grain of salt and enjoy the year. I can't wait.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.