5 teams to get better and 5 teams to get worse in 2026
TEAMS TO GET BETTER
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers have quietly gone 10-2 in their last 12 games after an otherwise brutal start. At the center of this resurgence is Kawhi Leonard, who is arguably playing his best basketball since his debut season with the team in 2019–20.
Even more encouraging for Los Angeles is that the Clippers won the majority of those games without their starting center Ivica Zubac, who leads their team in rebounding and is their third leading scorer.
There were obviously questions surrounding the Clippers going into the season, but no one thought they would be 10-21 through their first 31 games. The Clippers still have a top-10 duo in James Harden and Kawhi Leonard (when healthy). Their early-season slump may end up looking just like that, a slump.
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks have made it clear that they want to see the Irving-Flagg-Davis trio before they make a huge splash during the trade deadline. Will Kyrie be available before the deadline though? That’s the question. And now with Anthony Davis’ new hand injury, any hopes of seeing a healthy trio seems like a fantasy.
Regardless, a healthy Mavericks team will be better than what they have at the moment. Currently sitting at 15-25, the Mavericks started the year 5-15 but have been right at .500 in their last 20 games. Kyrie Irving will not turn the Mavericks into championship contenders overnight, but that record should look much better than it does now.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers have been one of the league’s biggest disappointments this season. Coming into the year, many believed this would finally be their breakthrough. With Boston missing Tatum at times and Indiana without Haliburton, the Eastern Conference felt more open than it has in years—seemingly paving the way for Cleveland to solidify itself as a Eastern Conference favorite. Instead, they’ve stumbled to mediocrity.
Injuries have certainly played a role. Losing Garland, Mobley, Allen, Strus, and others for extended stretches has disrupted rotations and stripped the team of rhythm. But even when healthy, the Cavs have lacked cohesion and consistency. Their much-touted “core four” of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen no longer feels like a seamless fit.
The looming question is whether Cleveland should shake up the roster—particularly with Mitchell’s long-term future uncertain—or stay the course and trust that health will restore their ceiling. Even in their flawed state, a fully healthy Cavs team is certainly better than 22–19, but the front office now faces a difficult reality: this group may have plateaued.
Golden State Warriors
Since winning the championship in 2022, the Warriors have fallen into a clear and predictable seasonal pattern. For roughly 70% of each year, they hover around .500—frustratingly inconsistent, unable to string together momentum, and constantly searching for an identity. Then, almost like clockwork, they find a rhythm late in the year and surge into the postseason picture. Given how this 2025–26 campaign has opened, it’s reasonable to expect the same trajectory once again.
No matter what moves the Warriors make after January 15, it’s hard to imagine them finishing only two games above .500. The roster is too talented, the internal development too real, and Stephen Curry’s impact too strong for this team to stay mediocre across a full 82 games. Their record will improve, even if their seeding doesn’t dramatically shift in a brutally competitive Western Conference where one bad week can drop a team four spots.
What can be expected is that Golden State will be active before the trade deadline. Leaving $22.5 million in salary parked at the end of the bench—with no injuries justifying the inactivity—is organizational malpractice. The front office cannot justify wasting that level of cap allocation while the team battles for playoff positioning and tries to maximize the remainder of Steph’s prime. A move is coming, and it needs to happen sooner rather than later; in today’s NBA, trade value is one of the most fragile assets a team can manage. Whatever the Warriors acquire must raise their floor, stabilize their inconsistency, and give the roster a clearer identity as they push toward the postseason.
Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks just traded Trae Young to Washington and somehow walked away with zero draft compensation. Whether Atlanta let the social-media narrative—“no one wants Trae Young”—influence their front office or not, the reality is simple: Trae is a high-level offensive engine who should have commanded at least a pick or two, especially from a franchise like Washington that has nothing to lose and everything to gain. I could go on for hours about how lopsided the value looks, but in truth, whether the Hawks received draft capital or not has no meaningful impact on how the rest of Atlanta’s season will unfold.
What does matter is that moving on from Trae Young may actually be the best thing for this team right now. The Hawks finally have a clear hierarchy. Jalen Johnson becomes the definitive No. 1 option, giving Atlanta a more modern, versatile focal point. Adding CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert immediately boosts the team’s depth, shooting, and stabilizing veteran presence. Expect the Hawks to look more organized, more balanced, and significantly better defensively, simply because the roster has more structure now.
TEAMS TO GET WORSE
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are just 13–10 since LeBron’s return on Nov. 18, currently on a three-game losing streak—most recently falling to the 9–30 Sacramento Kings, a loss that highlights how unstable this team has become. Yes, Austin Reaves has been sidelined since Christmas and won’t be re-evaluated until the end of January. Missing Reaves for over a month is a major blow; he provides more than 26 points and 6 assists per game when accounting for his combined scoring and playmaking impact. But even with his eventual return, the Lakers' most glaring problems won’t magically disappear.
Their biggest issue is on the defensive end, and Reaves doesn’t fix that. Right now, the trio of Luka Dončić, 41-year-old LeBron James, and Deandre Ayton is doing more harm than good defensively—whether through slow rotations, inadequate rim deterrence, or sheer inability to stay in front of quicker players. The Lakers simply cannot string together stops, and no amount of offensive production can mask that reality. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what needs to be done—or what the front office will actually do—to shift the defensive culture in Los Angeles. But one thing is clear: this team’s defensive identity is broken, and internal improvement alone may not be enough to repair it. Once JJ Redick loses that locker room, Laker fans should forget about the rest of the season and look towards the future.
Denver Nuggets
Unfortunately, the Nuggets find themselves in this position primarily because they’ve been without several key players for extended stretches—most notably Nikola Jokić. To their credit, Denver has held up reasonably well in his absence, going 4–3 in the seven games since the three-time MVP went down. They’ve competed, they’ve stayed afloat, and they’ve shown flashes of resilience. But the reality is unavoidable: without Jokić, it’s hard to confidently say the Nuggets can remain at or above .500 for an extended period. He is their offensive engine, their stabilizer, and the center of everything they do.
Once he returns, though, expect the Nuggets to immediately start stacking wins again. Don’t be surprised if the standings shift slightly for Denver. For now, all things considered, so far so good—but Denver’s ceiling and sustainability hinge entirely on Jokić getting healthy and staying healthy.
Chicago Bulls
The Bulls opened the season with a surprising 6–1 start, briefly raising expectations in Chicago. But that momentum didn’t last long. Since then, they’ve gone 12–19 over their last 31 games, settling back into the level most people anticipated: a below-average team with limited upside. For the Bulls, there’s no shame in that—this roster was expected to be mediocre at best, and more realistically, bad.
There are still positives to build on. Josh Giddey has been excellent, giving the Bulls a versatile playmaker who fits a long-term timeline. Matas Buzelis is steadily developing, showing flashes of why the Bulls were excited to draft him. The roster includes a collection of solid role players who could eventually contribute to winning basketball once the organization commits to a clearer direction.
But for now, Chicago’s current trajectory is likely indicative of how the rest of the season will unfold. They may hang around the play-in race, but in all likelihood, this season will end up being another wash—like much of the past decade. The Bulls remain stuck in basketball limbo, and until they undergo a more decisive reset, their ceiling will continue to be limited. Trade Nikola Vučević before it’s too late.
Milwaukee Bucks
The Bucks have been in the news all season—not because of their on-court performance, but because of the growing uncertainty surrounding their franchise legend. Giannis Antetokounmpo has spent months walking a tightrope, alternating between declarations of loyalty to Milwaukee and hints that he’s keeping his options open. For Bucks fans, this must feel like basketball purgatory: a constant state of waiting, worrying, and decoding every quote.
At 17–22, Milwaukee sits just a game and a half outside the final play-in spot, a position that is nowhere near good enough for a team built around a player of Giannis’s caliber. Even if they sneak into the postseason, it’s hard to imagine a play-in berth being remotely acceptable to him. The Bucks are expected to be aggressive at the trade deadline, searching for any upgrade that can salvage the season and give Giannis one more real push—but the truth is harsh: they likely don’t have the assets to land a needle-moving deal.
Giannis said earlier this year that if the Bucks kept losing, “probably half the team’s not gonna be here.” Whether that was a warning about changes around him or a hint about his own future, it underscores how fragile the situation has become. The reality is that Milwaukee simply doesn’t have enough to be competitive. Their options are bleak:
Trade Giannis, which instantly makes them worse.
Keep the roster as is, which also leaves them worse for the rest of the season.
No matter how you slice it, this truly feels like the end for the Bucks’ current era—and possibly the last stages of Giannis’s eventual departure.
Memphis Grizzlies
Ja Morant. Ja Morant. Ja Morant.
He’s going to be traded at some point this season. Where he goes doesn’t even matter anymore. What matters is that his trade value—once sky-high—has cratered over the past two years due to his repeated off-court issues and his chronic lack of availability on the court. The Grizzlies won’t come close to getting what they SHOULD for a player of his talent level, and that’s the unfortunate reality they’ve created for themselves.But when Memphis finally pulls the trigger on a Ja trade, the message will be unmistakable: the rebuild is on. It will mark the official end of the Morant era and the beginning of a new direction centered around Cedric Coward and the rest of their young pieces. The moment Ja is moved is the moment the Grizzlies admit that their window is closed—for now. The Grizzly future belongs to a new generation of players.
