By the time July gives way to August, the NBA’s summer reshuffle has mostly stopped spinning. And in the East, the biggest winners are easy to spot: the Philadelphia 76ers.
This is not the same team that finished last season. Not even close.
Philadelphia’s makeover has been the loudest one in the conference, with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown headlining a summer that has turned the Sixers into a true heavyweight. The buzz around the city is obvious.
It’s about those two stars, sure, but it’s also about something bigger: a real shot at a level the franchise hasn’t reached since 2001.
So where does that leave Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference pecking order? Right near the top, with only a few teams even able to argue otherwise.
The New York Knicks get the defending-champion nod, and they come with real championship equity. Jalen Brunson has the basketball gods on his side, though there’s still the question of whether his surgically-repaired wrist gets back to normal.
Mitchell Robinson was one of the Knicks’ four most important players, and replacing his exit with Andre Drummond, New York’s only free-agent addition so far, feels a lot like using tape to patch a hole in a boat. Maybe the magic lasts.
Maybe the hunger and the formula are still there to repeat.
Toronto has the kind of upside that can make this whole conversation messy. The Raptors could very plausibly finish third in the conference, but everything hangs on what happens with Kawhi Leonard and his investigation with the Los Angeles Clippers.
If he avoids a significant suspension, this is a team that can be dangerous on both ends and could give Philadelphia and New York real problems in the playoffs. If he misses a big chunk of the season, Toronto may spend most of the year trying to claw back lost ground.
Boston still has the most playoff upside of any team in this group. Jayson Tatum looked awesome when he returned from his torn achilles, but he still couldn’t make it through a first-round series healthy.
The same concerns that apply to Tyrese Haliburton apply here too, especially with Tatum having to shoulder more after Brown was swapped out for the good-but-often-unavailable Paul George. Mitchell Robinson was a strong addition to address the interior issues Joel Embiid exposed in last season’s playoffs, but health questions follow him as well.
There are plenty of ifs here, but Boston is the team most likely to make everyone else look foolish.
Indiana should be better, too. Tyrese Haliburton is back from a torn achilles, and the Pacers are set up for a bounce-back.
Still, there’s reason to be cautious about any player’s first year back from that kind of injury, whether it’s about managing the season or the hard truth that some athletes never look quite the same again. Indiana also didn’t keep its lottery pick because of the move for new starting big man Ivica Zubac.
Good team? Yes.
But a lot of teams improved.
Orlando’s outlook is murkier. The Magic brought in a new head coach, which should help the vibe, and their lone free-agent addition was the player formerly known as Nikola Vucevic.
They didn’t have a first-round pick. The obvious question is still the obvious question: who is going to shoot the basketball?
Cleveland’s summer has been quieter than the rest. Meleek Thomas turned in an impressive showing for the Cavaliers in Las Vegas Summer League, but he’s the only addition Cleveland has made on a standard contract so far.
Maybe Jonathan Kuminga ends up as the consolation prize for missing out on James. Not exactly the kind of consolation prize you brag about.
James will be 37 on opening night and looked pretty run down by the end of Cleveland’s playoff run. The Cavaliers also lost defensive ace Dean Wade to Philadelphia, and they remain thin beyond their starting five.
Atlanta, meanwhile, was one of the league’s most consistently good teams after sending Young to Washington last season. Nickeil Alexander-Walker has turned into an outstanding value contract on both ends and won Most Improved Player last season.
The Hawks also added Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort, giving them the ingredients to be a very good defense. The issue is simple: there are teams with more firepower.
Detroit had the best regular season in the Eastern Conference in 2025-26, but the playoffs exposed a different problem. The Pistons couldn’t piece together enough points when it mattered.
They moved Tobias Harris out and brought in John Collins, a better spacer and a strong lob threat at forward, then added shooting with Isaiah Joe. Rookie Ebuka Okorie gives them some backup point guard help behind Cade Cunningham.
Even so, the big question remains the same: where does the offense come from when Cunningham isn’t carrying it? And will there be tension from the way Jalen Duren’s restricted free agency has unfolded?
Miami might be the most physically punishing team of the bunch. A frontcourt of Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to brutalize opponents, and that duo could make the Heat a nightmare both offensively and as an interior defense.
But the depth chart gets shaky fast. Andrew Wiggins is the third-best player right now, which is not exactly a comforting sentence.
By the end of free agency, the fourth-best player could be Klay Thompson or DeMar DeRozan, and that doesn’t help much either. After that, you’re looking at Davion Mitchell, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Bobby Portis.
Miami will win plenty of regular-season games because of its top two stars, but the overall picture is hard to love.
And then there’s Philadelphia, sitting on the kind of roster that changes the math. The Sixers now have depth at four positions, major star power and playmaking with size.
Their top five is so strong that Joel Embiid can miss games and they can still keep most of their advantages intact. If this team doesn’t reach the conference finals at minimum, the most likely reason is that it got in its own way.
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