The Eastern Conference may be getting overlooked again, but Paolo Banchero isn’t buying the idea that the West has all the juice.
For years, the conversation has tilted the same way. Twelve of the last 20 champions have come out of the West, and in only two of the last 17 seasons has the East finished with the better combined record.
The star power has leaned that direction too, with all but three of the last 13 MVPs playing for West teams. Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokić, Victor Wembanyama - the league’s brightest lights have mostly been out there.
Then the Knicks went and changed the tone a little.
New York knocked off Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in five games, a result that added fuel to the idea that the East might be closer to the West than it’s been given credit for. Banchero, the Magic forward, thinks that’s been true for a while.
"I mean it's a lot of big names coming to the East," Banchero recently told Yahoo Sports' Kelly Iko. "I've always felt like the East is the better conference, even though I think in the past we've been more slept on. I think you saw that this year with the Knicks and their run.
"The East is wide open in my opinion - a lot of guys feel that, that's why a lot of free agents are coming. But I'm excited and the team's excited."
The offseason has already added more fuel to that argument. It started with the Milwaukee Bucks sending Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat in a six-player, five-pick blockbuster, a massive intraconference move that shook the league even if Milwaukee without Antetokounmpo wasn’t good.
Other East teams have also made their cases. Indiana should pick up where it left off with Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam and Ivica Zubac.
Atlanta and Philadelphia both got better. Toronto could be considerably improved if the Kawhi Leonard trade goes through, and Detroit would also take a step if it keeps Jalen Duren, though that remains TBD.
The Knicks, meanwhile, are the reigning champions, even if they were not among the teams that improved and lost Mitchell Robinson in free agency. Still, they’re expected to be arguably the top seed in the East in 2026-27, assuming there’s no championship hangover.
Boston and Cleveland didn’t improve either. Cleveland, in particular, is a possible landing spot for LeBron James, who is a free agent for the first time since 2018.
And the middle of the conference looks crowded enough to make the whole thing even more unpredictable. Last season, six teams finished within three games of one another, and that kind of logjam could easily show up again. If Orlando stays healthy for around 50 games, Banchero believes the Magic can fight for homecourt along with Detroit, New York, Miami, Indiana and Philadelphia, among others.
"Last year wasn't what we wanted. It didn't go how we wanted," Banchero said, per Iko. "But a lot of people are going to forget about us and count us out, so it's on us to go and show that we're an elite team in this league.
In Other News...
LeBron Reunion Dream Suddenly Looks Real For The Cavaliers
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LeBron James is the name that makes the whole exercise feel bigger than ordinary summer accounting, because the Cavaliers are now being discussed as a team that could potentially make room for a reunion if the rest of the dominoes fall the right way. The same cap math that could bring in another veteran also gives Cleveland some mid-season flexibility, which is why this remains more than nostalgia, even if the final answer still depends on how aggressively the front office chooses to clear the runway. [Read more 🡒]
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Evan Mobley is where the conversation gets especially interesting for the Cavs, because his value in that kind of setup would hinge on how much he can expand beyond a traditional frontcourt role. Robinson even drew a parallel to Chris Bosh alongside LeBron in Miami, which is the sort of comparison that says as much about expectation as it does about talent. For Cleveland, the real intrigue is not whether the star power would be obvious. It is whether the roster would ask enough of Mobley to make the whole idea work. [Read more 🡒]
Max Strus Could Be Caught In Clevelands LeBron Dilemma
Max Strus has become one of the more interesting pieces of Clevelands offseason puzzle, not because of what he lacks, but because of what his contract can do for the Cavaliers while they wait on LeBron James. Strus was useful when healthy, giving Cleveland shooting, defense and some playoff seasoning, and that makes him more than just a salary slot on a spreadsheet. Still, the front office has to weigh whether his deal is better kept in place or used as part of a broader roster shuffle.
Jaylon Tyson gives the Cavaliers at least one reason to think they could survive without Strus if they need to open room. The timing matters, too, because moving him now would be very different from holding him into the season and revisiting the market later, when more teams are looking to buy or sell. For Cleveland, the decision is less about Strus alone than about whether the next move is tied to James or to a plan that keeps the roster intact. [Read more 🡒]