We’ve made it past the All-Star break and are officially into the homestretch of the NBA season.
As things stand, we should be in for a fascinating finish to the year as we push towards the playoffs. The race to escape the play-in tournament in both conferences is just heating up, and both No. 1 seeds remain up for grabs, although the Pistons and Thunder both look well-positioned to hold on to their spots atop the standings for now.
With roughly 30 games left to play, here are seven teams we at Sports Illustrated can’t wait to watch through the finish line.
Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown dribbles against Miami Heat forward Andrew Wiggins. | Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
The Celtics have been one of the NBA’s biggest surprises this season, exiting the All-Star break with the second seed in the Eastern Conference after most preseason projections had Boston as a middle-of-the-road squad at best. It’s thanks to a combination of MVP-caliber play from Jaylen Brown, a tremendous coaching job by Joe Mazzulla, and complete buy-in from everybody on a roster filled to the brim with maximum-effort players. The Celtics have found a way to win most nights by playing physical defense, taking care of the ball and straight-up out-hustling their opponents when shots aren’t falling.
Then there’s the Jayson Tatum of it all. Boston doesn’t yet know if he’ll return this season, but if he does, the C’s automatically become the most intriguing team in the NBA to watch. There will be significant interest in seeing how the 27-year-old star returns from a serious Achilles injury, naturally. But how Tatum fits alongside the most dominant version of Jaylen Brown yet and how high he can raise the Celtics’ season are nearly as interesting and equally as pressing.
If he declines to return the 35–19 Celtics remain a surefire playoff contender and will be jostling for postseason seeding down the stretch of the year. That’s reason enough to keep an eye on them. But if Tatum does return, a team in the championship mix could be getting a star-level injection of talent right before the playoffs—which could make things very interesting indeed. – Liam McKeone
Los Angeles Lakers
This may be LeBron James’s last run in L.A. … or maybe not. Who knows? Either way, the Lakers should be fascinating to watch down the stretch after a mild trade deadline that could presage an extremely active offseason. How James & Co. finish over the next few months could change the direction of the franchise long term.
The Lakers are currently fifth in the Western Conference (33-21), but are only 1 ½ games behind the Nuggets for third. Unfortunately, they are a terrible defensive team without being an elite offensive team. L.A. is currently 11th in offensive rating (116.3), and 23rd in defensive rating (116.6). So how can the Lakers hope to compete with the top squads in the West? In classic Hollywood fashion, they’ll have to lean on star power.
So far this season, Luka Dončić has done Luka Dončić things, leading the NBA in scoring at 32.8 points per game, while averaging 8.6 assists, 7.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals. Austin Reaves is having a massive season as well, averaging 25.4 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game heading into free agency. While it seems like he’ll re-sign this offseason, like James, this could be his final stretch in L.A. Oh yeah, then there’s LeBron, who is still getting it done on the court, averaging 22.0 points, 7.1 assists, and 5.8 rebounds per game.
If that trio can get hot at the same time, with Rui Hachimura (44.7%), and the newly-acquired Luke Kennard hitting from downtown (49.9%), there’s no reason the Lakers can’t go on a deep run by outscoring teams. Can they do it? Unclear, but it’ll be fun watching them try. – Ryan Phillips
Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham talks with teammate Kevin Huerter. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
The Pistons won 40 games ahead of the All-Star break … wait, what?
Detroit is for real. Behind outside MVP candidate Cade Cunningham, the Pistons are 5 ½ games clear of the rest of the Eastern Conference with less than 30 games left on their regular-season schedule. As one of the NBA’s most complete teams, Detroit is a legitimate NBA Finals threat this year, especially with the breakout of first-time All-Star Jalen Duren. That’s a wild turnaround just two seasons removed from a franchise-worst 14-68 finish.
Mannix: From 14 Wins to NBA Title Contender: How the Pistons Found Their Identity
The Pistons’ renaissance didn’t come from a big trade that brought in a star. When president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon took over after the dreadful 14-win season, he complemented Detroit’s young core with veterans like Tobias Harris who anchored the team as Cunningham, Duren and Ausar Thompson continued to develop. Duncan Robinson provides shooting that’s needed to space the floor around Cunningham, which came from Malik Beasley last season. And let’s not forget about Isaiah Stewart—debatably the best rim protector in the NBA all while coming off the bench most nights.
Just how far this Detroit team can go will be interesting to watch. The Pistons have exceeded expectations every step of the way this year, leaving no reason Detroit can’t maintain the East’s No. 1 seed and/or win 60 games this season. Plus, Detroit’s hard-nosed style of play is a joy to watch each time the young Pistons step onto the floor. – Blake Silverman
Cleveland Cavaliers
When a team makes a bold move to push its chips to the middle of the table, how can you not tune in?
No, the Cavaliers didn’t ultimately mortgage their entire future to bring in the 36-year-old Harden, sending the younger Darius Garland—whose availability and contract were looming issues for Cleveland—along with a second-round pick to the Clippers to bring in the former MVP. But adding Harden, even at this advanced stage in his career, signals a commitment to pretty significant change as the franchise looks to make a run at the NBA Finals.
How will Harden mesh with an already-talented Cavaliers roster—most notably another ball-dominant guard in Donovan Mitchell? While his recent stops have been cut short for myriad reasons, on the court he has had strong moments as a running mate for the likes of Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid and Kawhi Leonard.
Harden and Cleveland both have something to prove this postseason. While he’s had dominant games in the playoffs, a deep postseason run is the major missing piece of his basketball legacy. The Cavaliers are looking to get over the hump, after a pair of five-game Eastern Conference semifinal flameouts in 2024 and ‘25, with last year’s coming as the No. 1 seed.
So far, the results have looked promising through three games—and three Cleveland wins—before the All-Star break. Will the addition of Harden to a core featuring Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen be enough for the Cavs to overcome the Pistons, Celtics, Knicks and the rest of the East? How will the rest of the season impact offseason contract negotiations with Mitchell, who has one year left of team control before a player option for 2027–28, and Harden, who has a $42 million player option for next season? Storylines abound in The Land. – Dan Lyons
Charlotte Hornets
Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball and center PJ Hall call to look at the replay after a foul call. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
The Hornets have been so bad for so long but, as Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove would say: It’s all coming together. Charlotte entered All-Star weekend on a magnificent heater, going 12–3 in the 15 games leading into the break. In that stretch the Hornets ranked in the top-10 for offensive rating, defensive rating, net rating and three-pointers made per game. At times they haven’t just been good, they’ve been dominant; the Hornets beat the 76ers by nearly 40 points in late January. Cornerstone pieces LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller are finally healthy at the same time and have completely bought into coach Charles Lee’s system. It’s been fun to watch a long-suffering team finally break through on the shoulders of its young talent.
The question then becomes whether that 15-game stretch was real or simply a mirage. If it was something resembling real progress, Charlotte could prove a playoff problem. The team won’t win 80% of its games down the stretch like it did leading into the break, but if the Hornets go 16-11 (a 60% clip) they’ll finish with north of 40 wins. That’d be a massive accomplishment given Charlotte has cleared that mark exactly once in the last 10 years.
It would also almost certainly put the Hornets into the play-in tournament, where they could prove more dangerous than your standard low playoff seed. Lee is a former Mike Budenholzer and Joe Mazzulla assistant whose offensive philosophy is built around getting three-point shots up in great quantity. As we’ve seen, that philosophy can lead to dramatic unpredictability if the team gets red-hot (or goes ice-cold) from deep. Which isn’t to say the franchise is fated to win its first playoff series since the early 2000s—but even a singular victory would be a shining light in its dark recent history.
There is, of course, the possibility that their 15-game rampage was a blip on the radar and the rest of the season doesn’t go well. The injury bug could strike again at any time and the team enjoyed great shooting luck on both ends of the court during the recent hot stretch. But between Ball, Miller, and standout rookie Kon Kneuppel, the Hornets are fun again—fun enough to keep an eye on as the end of the season draws near. – Liam McKeone
San Antonio Spurs
When the Spurs drafted Victor Wembanyama in 2023, expectations were high, but given San Antonio had spent four years in the basement of the Western Conference, it was unclear when those high expectations could potentially come to fruition.
Wembanyama was named Rookie of the Year in 2024, and while the Spurs only won 22 games, his talent was immediately apparent to the point that it was clear the resurgence of the Spurs was not a matter of if, but when.
It now looks like we have our when—just two years later. The Spurs already have more wins than they have had in any season since 2019, and currently sit just three games behind the Thunder for first place in the West. Even more impressive, San Antonio owns a 4–1 record head-to-head against Oklahoma City so far this year—the only other team in the NBA to take down the Thunder more than once is Minnesota.
The question now becomes—can this young Spurs core turn success in the regular season into a true playoff push? We know that it can take a year or two of winning through the winter to translate to wins in June. The Thunder were champions last season, but the year before that were the top seed in the West only to fall in the conference semifinals.
We should learn a lot about the Spurs in this stretch run of the season. San Antonio holds a 3 ½-game lead over the Nuggets for second place in the West coming out of the All-Star break. To hold on to that spot, they’ll need to continue to perform against the gauntlet that is the Western Conference. Two of their final five games of the regular season come against Denver, meaning their race could come down to the wire.
De’Aaron Fox is the oldest member of the Spurs’ starting five at 28 years old. Joining him are Wemby (22), Stephon Castle (21), Devin Vassell (25) and Julian Champagnie (24). After last year’s run to the title, it was easy to see the Thunder as a budding dynasty, between their impressive crop of young talent and the assets they still have on hand to continue building. But if the Spurs can arrive a bit sooner than expected, we could have a rivalry for the ages coming over the next decade. – Tyler Lauletta
New York Knicks
New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson drives against the Philadelphia 76ers. | Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Knicks owner James Dolan set the bar in a radio interview last month. “Getting to the Finals,” said Dolan, “we’ve absolutely got to do.” New York was 23–12 at the time and fresh off a solid December. Since then the Knicks have gone 12–8. Don’t think Dolan hasn’t noticed.
The Knicks are good. Jalen Brunson is good. OG Anunoby is good. Karl-Anthony Towns, for all his defensive warts, is an elite frontcourt scorer and rebounder. They entered the All-Star break with the NBA’s third best offensive rating and a defense just outside the top-ten, per NBA.com. There’s no reason New York can’t make a run this spring and advance to its first Finals since 1999.
To hear Dolan, they have to. The decision to fire Tom Thibodeau was controversial. Mike Brown has brought the collaborative atmosphere the Knicks were looking for, but now he has to win. The Knicks are 2-1 against Boston this season (that’s good) but 0-2 against top-seeded Detroit (not so good) with an opportunity to chip into that edge on Thursday. A deep postseason run will validate the changes. A short one—or at least one shorter than last season—will ratchet up the questions. – Chris Mannix
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