playZach KramOct 14, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseZach Kram is a national NBA writer for ESPN.com, specializing in short- and long-term trends across the league’s analytics landscape. He previously worked at The Ringer covering the NBA and MLB. You can follow Zach on X via @zachkram.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsWelcome back to ESPN’s Now or Later rankings, where I order all 30 NBA teams on a spectrum: Which need to win now, with their current cores, and which are able to bide their time and win later instead?The Now or Later rankings use a mathematical formula that ranks teams in two categories. Money score is based on each team’s projected total payments across upcoming seasons; the team ranked first has the least financial flexibility, while the team ranked 30th has the most.
Draft score is based on the value of the future first-round picks that each team holds, factoring in pick protections and swaps; the team ranked first holds the least future draft value, while the team ranked 30th holds the most.Those two factors combine to produce an overall rank, encapsulating not just each team’s competitive timetable but its future optionality, as well. A franchise that already has dealt all its picks and signed its core to expensive long-term extensions is displaying clear win-now urgency and can’t easily make adjustments to plug roster holes.So let’s analyze the rankings, where the first-place team is the most desperate to win now and the 30th-place franchise is the most content to win later. I’ll start with a close battle at the top, as the top three teams are separated by the smallest margin in Now or Later rankings history.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 | WAS1. Phoenix SunsMoney rank: 5th | Draft rank: 2nd 2025-26 rank: 5thAfter a year out of the No. 1 spot, the Suns are right back at the top, after trading yet another future unprotected first-round pick, this time for Miles Bridges.Phoenix doesn’t seem like a team that should be adopting the most win-now stance of any in the league.
The four other teams in the top five of these rankings, for instance, all won a playoff series last season and have reasonable ambitions to win more next spring.But the Suns went 45-37 before bowing out in a first-round sweep, and they don’t have anywhere near the talent level to justify a maximally all-in approach. To be fair, they already traded most of their draft assets a few years ago for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, and owner Mat Ishbia deserves credit for continuing to spend big money even as his team has scuffled. Yet it’s still odd to see the Suns atop this list, directly ahead of teams that should win many more games this season.2. Cleveland CavaliersMoney rank: 2nd | Draft rank: 4th 2025-26 rank: 1stPerennially one of the NBA’s most win-now teams since trading for Donovan Mitchell, the Cavaliers doubled down on their veteran core this summer by re-signing James Harden and paying a hefty price via sign-and-trade for Peyton Watson.The Cavaliers don’t control their first-round picks in 2027, 2028, 2029 or 2031, and they rank among the top three teams in financial commitments for the 2027-28, 2028-29 and 2029-30 seasons.
With Harden and Watson now aboard, they’re set with this group — barring a more drastic reworking of their core, such as trading Jarrett Allen. They need to win now to make all of their moves worth the long-term cost.3. Minnesota TimberwolvesMoney rank: 6th | Draft rank: 1st 2025-26 rank: 4thAfter previously sending out future first-round picks in trades for Rudy Gobert (a success) and Rob Dillingham (not so much), the Timberwolves dealt just about all of their remaining draft capital for LaMelo Ball this summer. Now their core seems locked in for the long term, with Ball, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Gobert forming a well-balanced group with offensive firepower and stalwart defense.Minnesota’s issue is filling out the rest of the roster around that core, because the Timberwolves have scant remaining resources — in either tradable picks or cap space — to add more high-quality contributors.4.
Los Angeles LakersMoney rank: 10th | Draft rank: 3rd 2025-26 rank: 14thRising from 14th last year to fourth gives the Lakers the second-largest jump of any team, a feat they achieved by re-signing Austin Reaves and committing ample dollars and draft picks in a sign-and-trade for Walker Kessler. They also signed a few role players to long-term deals.Those transactions just about exhausted the Lakers’ roster-building options; this is their team now, for better or worse. The question is whether Luka Doncic & Co. are strong enough to challenge the top two teams in the West, or whether they will remain a second-tier contender for the duration of this core’s time together.5. New York KnicksMoney rank: 4th | Draft rank: 4th 2025-26 rank: 3rdThe Knicks’ placement in these rankings meant they were “taking a Finals-or-bust mindset into this season,” I wrote a year ago — and the Knicks didn’t bust, but rather won their first championship in 53 years.But like the two most recent champions before them — the Thunder and Celtics — financial pressure could complicate New York’s ability to keep its full championship core together.
The Knicks already lost Mitchell Robinson, because retaining him would have forced them above the second apron, and Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart could both become free agents after the season. (Towns has a player option, while Hart has a team option.)6. Orlando MagicMoney rank: 3rd | Draft rank: 8th 2025-26 rank: 2ndFew teams have as expensive a core as Orlando: The quartet of Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane and Jalen Suggs will combine to make more than 90% of the cap for each of the next three seasons, and the Magic’s third-place money rank doesn’t even factor into a possible extension for promising guard Anthony Black.And yet, for all that commitment and expense, the Magic still don’t have a single playoff series win with this group. The pressure is on — that’s why Orlando replaced coach Jamahl Mosley with Sean Sweeney — and still building.7. Toronto RaptorsMoney rank: 12th | Draft rank: 8th 2025-26 rank: 15thThe Raptors were right in the middle of the Now or Later rankings last season, when I wrote that they had the “most boring” forward-looking situation in the league.
They’re not boring anymore, however, after trading multiple first-round picks for former hero Kawhi Leonard, then inking him to a two-year extension.Jakob Poeltl’s contract, which runs for four more years at $103.6 million, complicates the Raptors’ cap sheet, and RJ Barrett will become an unrestricted free agent after this season. But with Leonard aboard and Scottie Barnes locked up through the end of the decade, the Raptors are positioned to contend.8. Miami HeatMoney rank: 18th | Draft rank: 7th 2025-26 rank: 17thThe Heat jumped nine spots, all thanks to the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade. And they’ll surely leap even higher by next fall, because Antetokounmpo is eligible to sign an extension before then.Miami is exactly the kind of team this exercise is designed to capture: The Heat traded numerous assets for a 31-year-old star, so they’ll presumably keep making concerted win-now moves to seize the day while he’s still in his prime.9.
Denver NuggetsMoney rank: 9th | Draft rank: 11th 2025-26 rank: 6thDespite being the only team in the second apron this season, the Nuggets dropped a few spots in these rankings for two reasons. The first is the Peyton Watson trade, which brought back a much-needed unprotected first-round pick to Denver, which previously held little draft capital.The second is that Nikola Jokic hasn’t yet signed his next long-term extension, so Denver’s future financial situation looks relatively clear. That will change when Jokic signs a massive new deal next summer, however, and pushes
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