playVincent GoodwillOct 15, 2026, 07:00 AM ETMultiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsThe 2025-26 NBA season is less than a week away, and while there are so many storylines surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers’ present and the future of the NBA champion New York Knicks, there are several intriguing narratives around the league.In some instances, it could take all season to shake out, while others could have a fate determined in the first quarter of the campaign.Either way, here are 10 important people at all levels of the game who bear watching, starting with a No. 1 pick who is still looking to make his playoff debut.Zion Williamson, New Orleans PelicansWhy he’s interesting: It’s now or never, period.Williamson’s 62 games last season were the second most of his career, trailing only the 70 he played in 2022-23. His stretch of playing 52 of 53 games from Dec. 14 to April 5 was the longest such span of his career. The Pelicans were 21-31 during that time, as the team had a litany of players in and out through the season while trying to develop rookies Jeremy Fears and Derik Queen.This is Year 8 for the 2019 No. 1 pick. The league moves fast, and Williamson’s contract for 2027-28 is not guaranteed.
Pelicans GM Troy Weaver previously went through the painstaking process of a Pistons rebuild at the start of the decade, with no assets to accrue draft capital, but that’s not the case here. The new regime resisted wholesale changes last season, and they hope new coach Jamahl Mosley will have the same effect J.B. Bickerstaff had in Detroit three years ago before they make any drastic moves.Williamson has the most credentials, but also the most questions. Apparently, he’s come into camp in great shape, working plenty with assistant coach God Shammgod over the summer.Doug Christie, Sacramento KingsWhy he’s interesting: The bar isn’t high.There’s no mandate for the Kings to make the playoffs with the current roster, and the front office has stated it would not saddle itself with win-now moves that jeopardize the future.
Zach LaVine is on an expiring deal, and who knows how Domantas Sabonis, who has two years left on the extension he signed in 2023, fits into the future.But Christie has yet to put an imprint on this roster as far as style of play, which is something Kings GM Scott Perry is big on. If Christie can put promising rookie point guard Darius Acuff Jr. in positions to be an elite lead performer, it will certainly be a feather in his cap while the roster starts to take shape. If it’s another nondescript 22-win season with no discernible on-court quality, things could get tricky for the well-liked Christie.LaMelo Ball, Minnesota TimberwolvesWhy he’s intriguing: The Timberwolves aren’t strangers to big moves, going back to acquiring Rudy Gobert from the Utah Jazz for a cache of future picks and trading Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks two years ago, following their first trip to the Western Conference finals in 20 years. Now Tim Connelly is remaking the roster, bringing in the uber-talented Ball to alleviate pressure on Anthony Edwards, who wound up taking on a heavy share of facilitating duties during the past couple of seasons.Ball, who seems to be getting along famously with Edwards in the early returns, is tasked in two ways.
First, and most importantly, Ball is facing high-stakes, high-pressure basketball for the first time in his NBA career. For his first six seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, the play-in tournament was the high-water mark. Second, can he stay healthy? He has played 70 games twice in his career and joins a team that wants to elevate itself to the Oklahoma City Thunder/San Antonio Spurs tier of the West.Micah Nori and Ja Morant, Portland Trail BlazersWhy they’re intriguing: The only player-coach combo on this list is notable, even if they’re not joined at the hip.
Nori, the highly regarded assistant in Minnesota, took this job under less than desirable circumstances. Only the first year of his contract is guaranteed, with team options for the second and third year — a deal National Basketball Coaches Association president J.B. Bickerstaff called a “slap in the face.” Trail Blazers governor Tom Dundon has already caught flak for his cheap practices, and it seems like Nori is in a lose-lose situation.That’s where Morant comes in. It’s been years since he was an All-Star (2022 and 2023), let alone a future face of the league.
The trade from the Memphis Grizzlies was a merciful end, but going to Portland means there’s a franchise legend at the same position returning from an Achilles injury: Damian Lillard. Jrue Holiday is still there along with Scoot Henderson. Where does Morant fit in, not just on this team but in the league at large?His game hasn’t developed with an outside shot, and his body has been beaten up by injuries that have limited him to just 79 games in the past three seasons. He’s due $42.1 million and $44.8 million in the next two years and will be 29 when free agency hits.Is Portland a fertile ground for a hard reset?
Or are matters far too complicated for either Nori or Morant to truly succeed?Anthony Davis, Washington WizardsWhy he’s intriguing: It’s been a while since we’ve seen Davis as an impact player — he has played a total of 71 games in the past two seasons — so he has something to prove. Davis has yet to play a game for the Wizards and, unlike Trae Young, didn’t get a contract extension. So Davis is entering a potential contract year — he holds a $62.7 million player option for 2027-28 — in a place he didn’t choose, making his situation all the more interesting. He’s a veteran on a team with No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa, a 20-point, 10-assist threat in Young and 2024 No. 2 pick Alex Sarr, who has shown more than a little promise through two seasons.The relationship between Davis and the Wizards seems to be going well, and he will want to put his best foot forward to secure his future as he turns 34 in March.
If he’s healthy, Davis is still one of the more versatile bigs in the league and a Hall of Famer the day he becomes eligible. If he’s healthy, he could be a coveted player should he and the Wizards not come to terms on a contract extension. Both sides understand it’s a business; it’s just a matter of how this plays out — and how long it will take for clarity.Karl-Anthony Towns, New York KnicksWhy he’s intriguing: It seems fairly obvious; his talks with the Knicks regarding an extension have hung over the organization since the Knicks won their first title in 53 years. Talks have been cut off after Towns found the Knicks’ offer of $200 million over four years to be unsatisfactory.
That figure is not only $76 million less than his potential max of $276 million over four seasons, but it also represents a pay cut from his current salary of $57 million. Like Davis, he’s armed with a player option for next season at $61 million that the second apron-conscious Knicks have to be aware of.One of the reasons Towns was traded from Minnesota a couple of years ago was because of his salary and Minnesota’s desire to get from under the second apron in its first year. One wonders if that plays in his mind and heart as the Knicks go for a repeat. Is everything on the table if the Knicks are true to their word of not negotiating during the season?The Knicks were one band, one sound during their run to the NBA Finals last season, and repeating is tougher than ever in today’s league.
How will they manage it? How will Towns, who sacrificed last season and is now being asked to sacrifice again, go beyond his expectations?Kenny Atkinson, Cleveland CavaliersWhy he’s intriguing: Perhaps we’ve made too much fun of his comments during the Eastern Conference finals, where he told the media that “analytically” they had won two of the three games against the Knicks even though they were on the way to being swept. It obscured the best season and playoff run Cleveland has had that wasn’t headlined by LeBron James in over 30 years. But the
Leave a Reply