In August, the NBA’s title picture is usually easy enough to sketch out. The real fun starts when you look for the team that’s about to blow up the board.
San Antonio is the perfect reminder. The Spurs weren’t on anyone’s radar when last season opened as a 2026 NBA Finals team, and yet they wound up pushing the Knicks before coming up short of a championship.
So who fits that role now?
Minnesota has a strong argument after landing LaMelo Ball to team with Anthony Edwards. The price was steep - Julius Randle and Naz Reid went out in the deal - but the Edwards-Ball pairing could give the Timberwolves one of the league’s most dangerous backcourts.
Detroit is in the conversation too, even if calling a 60-win team a dark horse feels a little strange. Cade Cunningham took the leap into MVP-candidate territory last season, and the Pistons took Cleveland to seven games in the conference semifinals. Whatever phase of the rebuild existed before, it’s over now.
Boston still belongs on the list. Jaylen Brown is gone, but Jayson Tatum and Derrick White remain, and the Celtics added Mitchell Robinson after finishing second in the East and then getting stunned by Philadelphia in the first round.
And then there’s Indiana, which might be the easiest team to forget and the hardest to ignore. The Pacers spent much of last season waiting for Tyrese Haliburton to come back from a torn Achilles, and now he’s back with a roster that still looks a lot like the one that reached Game 7 of the 2025 Finals.
Maybe none of them ends up making the run. But that’s the whole game with dark horses. Nobody had San Antonio making a June push last year, either.
In Other News...
Celtics Fans Have Every Reason To Debate This NBA Cup Draw
The NBA has already started laying out pieces of the 2026-27 calendar, and for Celtics fans, the early read is a familiar one: a season that will ask plenty of Boston before the games even start to matter in the standings. The leagues partial schedule includes an opening-night matchup with the Pistons and a Christmas Day slate featuring the Heat and Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the first real debate for Celtics watchers may come in the Emirates NBA Cup, where Boston landed in Group C with the Wizards, Hawks, Hornets and Bulls.
Group play begins on Oct. 30, and on paper it gives Boston a mix of rebuilding clubs and teams that have spent the summer trying to sharpen their edges. Washington, Charlotte and Chicago all come with their own roster questions, while Atlanta remains the most recognizable obstacle in the group. It is the sort of draw that invites instant arguments about who has the clearest path and who might spoil it, and for Celtics fans, the intrigue is less about the bracket itself than whether this set of opponents will turn out to be manageable or more annoying than it looks right now. [Read more 🡒]
Giannis Just Added Real Heat To Celtics Christmas Showdown
Giannis Antetokounmpo has a way of turning already-big games into something sharper, and now his new setting in Miami only adds another layer to an old Celtics-Heat rivalry that never really needs much help. Bostons Christmas Day matchup with the Heat was already going to draw attention, but the presence of a player with Antetokounmpos profile and track record gives the meeting a different kind of edge, the sort that usually comes with playoff-level grudges and a little extra noise.
The comments also fit the broader history between these teams, which has become one of the leagues most familiar sources of tension. For the Celtics, it is one more reminder that even a holiday showcase can carry real stakes when the opponent knows the rivalry, embraces it, and now has a star in the middle of it willing to publicly lean into the moment. [Read more 🡒]