Ty's 2026 - 2027 NBA Preview: Raptors, Lakers, Nuggets
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Welcome back to my preseason NBA countdown. Again, I fully understand the NBA has already started. Almost every team has played one game already, and that is only going to ramp up more and more as October comes and goes. But I still have twelve teams to countdown, and I plan on finishing that. Let's get back to it.
At number 12 I have the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors made a nice push last season, played Cleveland hard in round one and they traded for Kawhi Leonard this offseason. Sure, Leonard comes with baggage, but that is off the court, and to be honest, the whole Aspiration thing means nothing to me. He got some extra money and he paid his fine. In my opinion, Aspiration news is old news to me at this point. Leonard, when he plays, is still one of the better players in the NBA. He is still a top notch defender, he can still create his own shot and he is still as lethal as ever. He fits this team perfectly and is purely additive. I love his fit with the Raptors. Scottie Barnes is emerging as a superstar in the NBA. He took his game to a whole new level in the playoffs last season, and he has only gotten better each year in the league. He is a tenacious defender, can guard multiple positions and is becoming a two level scorer. RJ Barrett may get traded at some point, but while he is still on this roster he has found a nice role. He is a solid outside shooter, he can play a little defense and he is playing in his home country. Collin Murray-Boyles is starting to show the team why he should be a starter. He is a good rim runner, can play defense and he will beat the hell out of you on the glass. Immanuel Quickley has always been able to shoot the ball, but he cannot stay healthy all that long, and if he wants real playing with this team he will have to buy in defensively. Jakob Poeltl is still the starting center, but CMB is coming for that job, and Poeltl feels more like a placeholder until CMB is fully ready to take over. And every team that has Kyle Anderson on their roster finds ways to win multiple games and make deep-ish playoff runs. The Raptors are a good basketball team that was made infinitely better when the Kawhi Leonard trade fully went through. They will be a problem in the East, and it wouldn't shock me if they made a push to the East Finals, and maybe even the NBA Finals.
At 11 I have the Los Angeles Lakers. Look, I despise this team. I always have and I always will. They are the evil empire in the NBA. And I hate that they seemingly pushed LeBron James out the door. He brought this team a title. He is the second best player ever. And the Lakers pushed him away for Luka Doncic. Doncic is a great offensive basketball player. I may hate the way he plays basketball, but he can score and find the open player for easy shots. He also thrives off of people doubting him or talking trash to him. But he is an absolute zero on defense. He doesn't try, he hurts his team's defense and he has zero interest in even learning how to play on that end of the floor. He also whines and moans at the refs so much that it completely takes me out of the game I'm watching. He is a narcissist and plays a dull style of basketball for me. Austin Reaves would be Gordon Hayward if he were on any other team. He wouldn't get the looks he gets now and the media would only talk of him in passing. But since he is on the Lakers people seem to think he is a fringe all star. Again, he is a very good offensive basketball player, but he has no interest or clue on how to buy in defensively. Walker Kessler was their big offseason acquisition, but he has not played one meaningful minute of NBA basketball, and he is coming off of injury. He may be the Lakers best defensive player, but until he does it with some consistency, I don't buy him as some humongous addition to this team. The other additions are interesting to me. Collin Sexton is a microwave off the bench, but he doesn't play defense. Jake LaRavia is a non factor on either end to me. Matisse Thybulle is an interesting pick, who does play defense, but he needs to hit open shots more often. Mamu is going to be taking on too big of a role in my opinion. And Kevon Looney's best days are way, way behind him. But the Lakers have the refs and ESPN in their corner. They also have media members on their side, so they will win enough games to be in the top 6 of the West. As much as I loathe this team, they will win regular season games at a nice rate.
The final team for the day, another team I don't really care for, at 10 I have the Denver Nuggets. Nikola Jokic is another offensive wonder that the media loves, whom I don't care for. Again, much like Doncic, Jokic has zero interest in playing defense. A basketball court has two ends, and Jokic doesn't even care about one end of the floor, which is a shame because his size alone could deter people. But he will make a few fancy passes here and there, and make a few buzzer beater threes, and the media will go nuts over it and call him the best to ever play the game. Jamal Murray is fine, but he has never put together a season like he had when the Nuggets won the title. He is a great pick and roll guy with Jokic, but much like his counterpart, he doesn't care about defense either, and he gets abused on that end of the floor. I think Aaron Gordon is a very good player, and fits very well with this team, but he is almost always hurt, and when he tries to play now, you can tell he is in a good deal of pain. Christian Braun has not lived up to the contract he signed a few years back. His defense has regressed and he is not the shooter he hoped to become. Cam Johnson is a good three point shooter, and he came on strong at the end of last season, but like a lot of the guys on this roster, defense is a nonstarter for him. They signed DeMar DeRpzan this offseason, who i've always been a fan of, and while he will feast on second units, he has never, ever been a defensive minded player. DaRon Holmes III got injured during his rookie year, and never really found much of a place with this team last season. Tyus Jones is an okay backup point guard. And Julian Strawther is going to have to take on a much bigger role now that some of their other key bench guys are gone. The Nuggets will have an explosive and high scoring offense, which will work great against the lower tier NBA teams. But when they have to play real teams, teams that can take advantage of their lack of defense, they will struggle. They will still win enough in the regular season to be a playoff team, but the playoffs will more than likely explore their horrendous defense yet again.
That's it for today. Come back tomorrow for my next three teams.
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.
