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It might be harder to predict the NBA right now than it has been at any point in league history. The last eight years have produced eight different champions, and no team has even made back-to-back NBA Finals appearances over that time. The second-apron is breaking up contenders early, and an added emphasis on pace-and-space is leading more injuries that make it so much harder to sustain success year-over-over.
The NBA season rarely plays out how we think it’s going to. The New York Knicks weren’t exactly a popular preseason pick to win it all last year, and absolutely no one saw the San Antonio Spurs morphing from a 44-win team to the Western Conference champions. The Indiana Pacers made a darkhorse NBA Finals run in 2025, the Dallas Mavericks did the same in 2024, and Miami Heat got all the way there as an 8-seed in 2023. You might think we can already fast-forward to a Thunder-Spurs rematch in the Western Conference Finals this year, but there tends to be a lot more chaos in this era of the league than ever before.
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With the 2026-27 season here, let’s make our picks for the 2027 NBA Finals and every major award. For more NBA preview coverage, check my list of breakout player candidates, preseason standouts, and preseason rookie rankings.
The Raptors win the Eastern Conference
I think it’s fair to frame the East as the Knicks vs. the field. I respect the Knicks, but I’d still take the field in that equation, just because it’s so hard to put together consecutive Finals runs in this era. I was choosing between the Raptors and Celtics for my East pick, and I’m going with Toronto for a few reasons. You usually need a top-5 player to make a Finals run, and Kawhi Leonard looked like that type of player last year. I’m well aware of his constant injury issues late in the season, but hey, Toronto did a good job pacing his body last time he was there in 2019, and I think they can do it again. Scottie Barnes is going to have a monster year as Leonard’s sidekick, and when the two share the floor with sophomore Collin Murray-Boyles, it’s going to be impossible to score on Toronto. Ja’Kobe Walter and Jamal Shead…
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Publish date : 2026-10-19 12:00:00
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