playBen GolliverOct 8, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseBen Golliver is a senior NBA writer who joined ESPN in May 2026. Prior to joining ESPN, Golliver covered the NBA on a national level since 2010 for The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated and CBS Sports. He is the author of Bubbleball, an account of his 93-day stay at the NBA’s “Bubble” in Disney World during the coronavirus pandemic. He is based in Los Angeles.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsIn the NBA’s second apron era, deep rosters don’t stay deep forever, team identities can flip at a moment’s notice, and money can prompt painful divorces.This summer alone, the 2026 champion New York Knicks lost beloved backup center Mitchell Robinson, the 2025 champion Oklahoma City Thunder shed three rotation players in cost-cutting trades, and the 2024 champion Boston Celtics traded away Finals MVP Jaylen Brown.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves sacrificed frontcourt depth to assemble a tantalizing backcourt duo, and LeBron James said goodbye to the Los Angeles Lakers after eight seasons.Let’s take stock of all 30 teams now that the offseason dust has settled and the preseason is in full swing. With so many salary cap rules preventing teams from aggregating talent, everybody is missing something, even the leading title contenders. But what, exactly, is each team’s biggest hole?Jump to a team: ATL | BOS | BKN | CHA | CHI | CLE DAL | DEN | DET | GS | HOU | IND LAC | LAL | MEM | MIA | MIL | MIN NO | NYK | OKC | ORL | PHI | PHX POR | SAC | SA | TOR | UTAH | WASAtlanta HawksRoster hole: Superstar centerpieceThe Hawks have methodically constructed a balanced rotation with healthy doses of ballhandling, outside shooting and on-ball defense. After adding championship experience by nabbing Luguentz Dort and Aaron Wiggins from the Oklahoma City Thunder in offseason trades, Atlanta’s biggest question is whether Jalen Johnson can elevate from All-Star to superstar.The do-everything forward saw his impressive regular-season numbers dip dramatically in a first-round series loss to the Knicks, but he’s still only 24 years old.
Can he develop into an offensive fulcrum capable of leading a deep playoff run?The Hawks can be patient in their assessment as they boast enough salary cap flexibility and draft assets to explore a big-name addition down the road.Johnson is entering the second year of a team-friendly extension worth $150 million over five seasons, and none of Atlanta’s other core pieces are on the books for more than $25 million this season.Boston CelticsRoster hole: Free throw generatorWhile the Celtics’ decision to trade Brown for Paul George made sense as a long-term financial play, it created two immediate problems on the court. First, the 36-year-old George played less than half as many minutes as the 29-year-old Brown last season. Second, George attempted only 111 free throws in 2025-26 — a far cry from Brown’s 536, which easily represented a career high.George’s perimeter shooting and experience playing off high-usage stars should make him a good fit next to Jayson Tatum in coach Joe Mazzulla’s 3-point-heavy system, but Boston will need to find a way to replace Brown’s ability to work inside the arc and draw contact. The Celtics ranked last in free throw attempts last season even though Brown ranked fifth in the NBA.Tatum is the most obvious candidate to pick up the slack, but he’s still trying to get back to full form after a 2025 Achilles injury.
And don’t ask center Mitchell Robinson for help; Boston’s biggest offseason addition shot 40.8% from the stripe last season.Brooklyn NetsRoster hole: Starting centerGoodbye and good luck to Nic Claxton, who saw a bit of everything during his seven seasons in Brooklyn. The high-efficiency, low-usage center represented the right archetype during the Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden era, but he devolved into a forgotten man during the Nets’ recent rebuild.Brooklyn sent Claxton to the Chicago Bulls in a multiteam trade that returned three-time All-Star Julius Randle. By pairing Michael Porter Jr. with Randle, the Nets took a meaningful step to boost the 2025-26 season’s worst offense.But Brooklyn still lacks proven options at center to support its tandem of scoring forwards. Day’Ron Sharpe and Moritz Wagner are career backups, and the Nets appear poised to have a below-average defense for the seventh straight season.Charlotte HornetsRoster hole: Pass-first organizerAfter stunning the NBA by jumping from 29th in offense in 2024-25 to fifth last season, the Hornets pivoted sharply by trading LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves in July.
Ball led Charlotte in assists in each of the past six seasons, and his creative playmaking was a signature of the team’s offensive identity.Charlotte will take a by-committee approach to replace him. Kon Knueppel, Coby White and Dennis Schroder are all hybrid guards who can score and distribute, while forward Brandon Miller has untapped potential as a playmaker for his teammates. The Hornets still have enough offensive weapons to make a more egalitarian approach work, in part because Ball didn’t quite measure up to the league’s best offensive engines in terms of efficiency and impact.But Hornets coach Charles Lee, a former Celtics assistant, is now faced with a dilemma that has long haunted Boston. While talented wings can help a team get by without a traditional point guard, it can be difficult to execute in late-game situations and in the playoff grind without a table-setter.
For now, Charlotte is in position to absorb some growing pains given the youth of its top-end talent.Chicago BullsRoster hole: Perimeter shootersThe Bulls will need some time to refine their roster after slamming the reset button with front office and coaching changes this offseason. New coach Tiago Splitter will emphasize a fast-paced approach with Josh Giddey running point and forwards Matas Buzelis and Caleb Wilson capable of finishing plays in transition.But Chicago’s half-court offense will almost certainly struggle due to its limited arsenal of outside shooters. Aside from Norman Powell, a career 39.6% 3-point shooter who arrived from Miami, the Bulls’ projected starters range from “total non-shooter” (Claxton) to “a breakthrough is still possible” (Buzelis). Wilson wasn’t a threat from beyond the arc as a North Carolina freshman, though he excited fans with his impressive marksmanship during his Las Vegas Summer League debut.White, Ayo Dosunmu, Collin Sexton, Kevin Huerter and Anfernee Simons are all gone after logging minutes for Chicago last season, and Powell can’t be expected to fill such a gaping void on the perimeter by himself.
The Bulls ranked 18th in 3-point percentage and sixth in attempts last season. Both rankings will likely drop in 2026-27.Cleveland CavaliersRoster hole: Playoff closerThe Cavaliers’ 2025-26 season slipped away when they blew a 22-point fourth-quarter lead in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Knicks, squandering a 31-point effort by star guard Donovan Mitchell. Unfortunately, that collapse furthered a recent trend of playoff heartbreak for the Cavaliers, who were upset by Tyrese Haliburton’s Indiana Pacers in 2025, swiftly eliminated by the eventual champion Celtics in 2024, and bounced by the Knicks in the 2023 first round.Though Mitchell reached a new milestone by leading a team to the conference finals for the first time in his nine-year career, Cleveland was left to ponder whether its expensive and veteran-dominated roster will ever be able to get over the hump. Rather than shake up the core group or change coaches, the Cavaliers kept the band together and added forward Peyton Watson to address what had been its biggest starting lineup hole.Once the Cavaliers elected to run it back, the pressure returned to Mitchell, Harden and Evan Mobley to deliver a Finals run.
The 37-year-old Harden showed his age by averaging 4.7 turnovers in the 2026 postseason, and Mobley struggled to take over
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