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We are just one sleep away from the dawn of the 2025/26 NBA season. Another year of euphoric highs and crippling lows, highlight plays and tactical masterclasses.

I’ll be right here, covering everything with a magnifying glass and an overtly optimistic point of view. Now’s the time to upgrade to unlock the full NTOTNBA experience, including 70% more content, community features, and access to my full archive. To celebrate the launch of my first full season of coverage, you can get 30% off paid subscriptions! Check it out!

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These are my official 2025/26 NBA Award predictions. Enjoy!

Do I need to make the case? Nikola Jokic is in the midst of the greatest offensive peak in NBA history, and I believe he’s set for his fourth MVP in five years. This would place him in the rare company of LeBron James, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan as the only players to ever win three MVP’s in five years.

Jokic is only 30, and he continues to improve year-after-year. Just last year, he jumped from a 35% shooter from beyond the arc, to 41%, on near double the volume.

Coming off the greatest offensive season in NBA history, Jokic is only getting better. With the Denver Nuggets’ moves this offseason, combined with Aaron Gordon’s remarkable shooting leap, I believe Jokic is going to have a far better team around him, one that’s going to allow him to hit another level.

He is undoubtedly one of the greatest supercomputers the game has ever seen, and I really look forward to seeing what he can do with Cam Johnson, Jonas Valancunias, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Bruce Brown, all of whom give the Nuggets plenty of different looks and play archetypes.

There are only two other major contenders for MVP heading into the season; Giannis Antetokounmpo and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

I don’t believe Gilgeous-Alexander will get the minutes necessary to make a legitimate case for the award this season. The Thunder are so dominant, they can afford to rest him in most games, with the number one priority being getting to the playoffs at 100%.

Giannis makes an interesting case. I have no doubt Antetokounmpo could have a career-best season, and put up some absurd numbers, especially with the lack of options his team has on the offensive end.

While the team around him is no doubt going to force him to maximise his individual stats, it’s also what will be his ultimate downfall.

For me to consider Antetokounmpo for this award, the Bucks would need to be, at least, a top four seed. That’s something I don’t foresee.

I know, I know. Jokic for MVP and Wembenyama for DPOY…this is a pretty stock standard list.

What do you want me to do? We have never seen anything like Victor Wembenyama. He was the best defensive player in the league already in his rookie season, and I believe he is now the single best defensive player we have ever seen in the sport.

His combination of length, mobility, intelligence, anticipation, and timing are unparalleled. The raw stats and the advanced numbers all indicate a level of defensive dominance we’ve never seen before.

I have quite figured out how just yet, but I’m sure the Shaolin Monks will help him in some way. I’ll get back to you when I figure out the specifics.

As long as Victor Wembenyama plays 65 games, this award isn’t an even remote conversation.

Cooper Flagg has been placed in a unique situation for a number one pick. He’s on a roster with three hall of famers, two of whom play his position. The third, the teams point guard is out for most of the year, and the team lacks depth at his position.

So what does this all mean? Well, it means Cooper Flagg, who is still supposed to be a freshmen in college, is going to be the driving force and lead creator of a contending teams offense.

Flagg will undoubtedly spend some time at the point guard position, but even when he isn’t, the team will look to him to create something.

You could name literally any other rookie in the last 20 years, and I’d consider that a recipe for disaster, a death sentence.

Yet, with Flagg, I feel a smooth confidence that he’ll excel. Flagg possesses an elite feel for the game on both ends of the ball. He’s incredibly intelligent and has all the length and size needed to become a physically dominant forward, and yet the footwork and agility of a guard.

Blend this with his well-refined skillset and ability to score the ball, I trust Cooper Flagg to make the right play consistently.

He’ll get the stats, he’ll have the defensive impact, and unlike other highly-touted rookies, his team has a legitimate chance at a high seed.

Fellow top three picks Dylan Harper and VJ Edgecombe both excite me, however both are on teams that will limit their ability to get on the floor, and be a focal point in their teams hierarchy.

If I were to throw out a dark horse, however, Kon Knueppel is an excellent candidate. If the Hornets are able to stay healthy and make a real run at a wide-open Eastern Conference, Knueppel is going to be a massive part of that.

He’ll create plenty of shots with his off-ball movement and gravity, and be an excellent secondary ball handler. So far in preseason, Head Coach Charles Lee has run plenty of pick-and-rolls with Knueppel as the handler, and he’s looked great.

If Flagg, for whatever reason, can’t make it to 65, Knueppel is by far my favourite to win the award. However, Cooper Flagg has a pretty clean bill of health, and if he’s able to keep that going, I don’t see how he doesn’t walk away with the award.

The Clippers’ offseason moves were covered by the thick smog that was, and still is, the Kawhi Leonard/Aspiration saga.

However, they quietly put together one of the deepest teams in the NBA. Among these additions was John Collins.

Last year in Utah, Collins was severely underrated and overlooked. He averaged 19.0 points and 8.2 boards on 30.5 minutes a night, shooting 53% from the field and 40% from three.

While he isn’t quiet as athletic as he used to be, Collins is still one of the premier pick-and-roll threats in the NBA, and this season he’ll be getting fed the rock by Chris Paul and James Harden, two off the best pick-and-roll passers the game has ever seen.

In the Clippers bench unit, Collins will be the primary scoring option, and will be able to grab plenty of boards, considering his second unit center is Brook Lopez.

The Clippers are also one of my favourite teams in the Western Conference this coming season, and will no doubt have a very pretty win-loss record to add to Collins’ case at the end of the season.

De’Andre Hunter is also a good shout for the award. He’s a bonafide impact player, who in 25.0 minutes a game with the Cavaliers last season, scored 14.8 points and knocked down 43% of his three point attempts.

His main argument will come down to the Cavaliers regular season success. With that said, I feel Collins has a better mixture of impact, stats, and a winning team.

This is not a real award and I refuse to give it the dignity of such. No real prediction here. Shoutout Haliburton though.

After the dumpster fire that was the Nuggets 2024/25 campaign that led to the sacking of championship coach Mike Malone, the narrative is there for David Adelman.

Not just that, but the team looks terrific. I think the Nuggets could place as high as the two seed in the Western Conference on the back of their fresh roster.

I liked what I saw from Adelman to end the season last year, and he won each of his three games.

He’s an extremely creative coach, and he’s been openly willing to collaborate with Nikola Jokic on tactical choices, which I think is smart.

During preseason the Nuggets ran some really interested defensive zones, and he was experimenting with some interesting combinations. Offensively, I’ve enjoyed some of his sets thus far, in particular some of their dribble handoff movements. He’s also opted to use Cameron Johnson as a playmaker at times, which I think is interesting.

I just have a feeling that Adelman is going to be someone that mainstream media and social media alike are going to fall in love with.

The Rockets made the biggest move of the 2025 offseason, trading for Kevin Durant and extending him for two years at a $30 million discount.

Houston’s biggest issue last season, and the thing that cut their season short in the playoffs, was their halfcourt scoring, or lackthereof. They addressed it by adding arguably the greatest halfcourt scorer in NBA history. They finally have a go-to guy.

They also added Dorian Finney-Smith, Clint Capela, and Josh Okogie, all players who can add to one of the league’s most dominant defense, and offer some offensive versatility.

They also re-signed key players, such as Jabari Smith Jr., Steven Adams, and Fred VanVleet.

Even with all that, Stone could be set to add even more talent through the season, with the team still holding plenty of draft capital.

Every time the Sacramento Kings make a move, heck, even every piece of intel surrounding the team, it is met by a collective “huh?” from every corner of the NBA world.

The Kings are not only the most poorly operated team in the league, there is now a complete lack of trust. In fact, it seems even opposing GM’s are questioning just how good Scott Perry and co. are, as they’re lining up to short them.

Their roster construction is up there with the worst I’ve seen in my time covering the NBA. The team has given up valuable assets for a Demar DeRozan/Zach LaVine pairing that failed even when each player was in the prime of their careers.

They rounded out their ‘big three’ with Domontas Sabonis, to make it three players who are at their best with the ball in their hands, or at least in Sabonis’ case, being heavily involved with each player set.

They cut down Keon Ellis’ minutes, one of the best defensive guards in the league, capable passer and an adept three point shooter. Not a big deal or anything, just the three main traits the team lacked.

Furthermore, they stunted Devin Carter’s growth, and actively shopped their lottery pick from the previous draft at the deadline. No, this isn’t a Johnny Davis situation. Devin Carter is an excellent basketball player, and provides everything this team lacks.

Their bright young star from their ‘Light the Beam’ era? Well, Keegan Murray has consistently regressed since his rookie season, due to a mixture of poor roster construction, and a lack of involvement offensively.

So what have they done this offseason? Well, I actually really liked their draft, walking away with two of my favourite upperclassmen prospects, Nique Clifford and Maxime Raynaud.

It’s all downhill from there.

They then salary dumped Jonas Valanciunas, who they traded a pick for just a couple of months earlier, with another pick, to the Denver Nuggets, in exchange for Dario Saric. They did so to give Dennis Schroeder a deal worth $45 million.

So, to the point of the article; Scott Perry, I beg of you, don’t screw up again…stop shopping around Malik Monk.

After taking a prove-it deal with the team in 2021, Malik Monk has been a rare case of a positive development story with the Kings.

Monk joined the team with the ‘inefficient ball-stopper’ tag hung around his neck. If I’m being honest, the wider NBA world still has that label attached to him, but reality couldn’t be further from it.

Monk has grown into an elite halfcourt passer, and was the sole engine of the Kings backup offense during the Kings ‘light the beam’ run.

Let’s take a look at his playmaking numbers from this past season, most of which are down from 2023/24. Monk posted a:

• 24.7 Assist % (97th percentile)

• 0.98 Assist:Usage Rate (87th percentile)

• 87 Passer Rating (via Crafted NBA)

• 92nd percentile of offensive load

• 78 Field General Rating (Cerebro Sports, 90th Percentile)

In particular, Malik Monk has grown into an excellent passer out of the pick-and-roll. In the below play, peep how Monk keeps an elite defender, Jalen Suggs, at his hip, whilst expertly navigating and feeding him to the ball screens, before hitting Sabonis on the roll.

In this next play, Monk starts without the ball, and makes a cut. The passing lane is cut off, so Monk relocates to the corner. He gets the ball off the catch, and makes use of his explosiveness to attack and beat the close out.

Monk uses his gravity well to suck in the defense, opening up the lane for Sabonis, who Monk hits on a dump-off.

Monk also took significant leaps in his shotmaking, and overall versatility. Monk has proven his ability to operate not only as a playmaker, but his ability to successful impact the game off the ball. In 2024/25 82% of Malik Monk’s makes from beyond the arc came off assists.

Take this next play for example. Monk reads the defense well, and relocates accordingly, creating plenty of space and allowing him to knock down a three off the catch.

Sure, he had a down year shooting the ball, knocking down just 32% of his attempts, but he’s a proven shooter, and I expect him to bounce back.

However, Monk does have the tendency to fall a little too in love with mid range shots, instead of getting to the rim, which is worrying with a team filled with guys who operate primarily in the mid range. However, it is worth noting he makes 49% on these attempts, placing him in the 89th percentile.

Despite his efficiency, for the sake of any kind of partnership with DeRozan, LaVine or Sabonis working out at some level, he does need to get to the rim more.

For someone so athletic and explosive, just 22% of Monk’s shots coming at the rim is a little confusing, and his ability to get to the rack (and actually finish once he’s there) is something that needs to improve.

This may be a core strength issue. In a lot of cases, defenses have been able to knock Monk off his balance when he attacks the rim, and he far too easily concedes his drive, falling back to his trusty friend; the mid range shot.

In the below play, Monk uses his explosiveness well to beat his man, but rather than driving to the cup and likely (at least) drawing a foul, Monk stops a few feet from the basket and pulls up.

While this does have success in plenty of individual cases such as this one, overall it does impact the team negatively on a schematical level.

However, the Kings signing of Dennis Schroeder maybe points to the fact that they plan to bring Monk off the bench once more this season. This potentially means that he may not play as many minutes with their ‘big three’ (I say while chuckling) as we may have originally thought.

This might actually be great for Malik Monk however, as it will giving him a backup backcourt partner in either Keon Ellis or Devin Carter.

Monk is still held in a pretty low regard as a defender…which isn’t terribly far from the truth. Monk still needs to be hidden, which in a switch/rotate heavy league is definitely a liability. With that said, I think he’s a better defender than most give him credit for.

Malik Monk will never be a good, nor great, defender on an island against any competent ball handlers in the NBA.

However, his hands and hips are super active, generating 1.9 deflections per game. Monk has also grown into one of the better shot blocking guards or league has to offer, posting a 0.9 block rate, in the 79th percentile among the entire NBA.

In a potential pairing with Ellis or Carter, Monk won’t need to be relied upon in any capacity defensively, and will be easily hidden. This will allow him to do what he does best defensively; get active, get into passing lanes, and operate as a weakside defender.

This will aid the Kings to generate plenty of fast break opportunities, and return to what made them so special just a couple of years ago; pace, and momentum.

While he struggles at the rim in the halfcourt, Monk is still one of the most electrifying fastbreak players our league has to offer. In their playoff run, the Sacramento fans became the sixth player on the court each night for the Kings.

Don’t believe the impact Monk’s defensive activity level has on this teams momentum? Take a look for yourself, I put together a compilations of examples. Take not of the crowd pop.

If Monk is able to get out in transition, he might just help recapture just a slither of the magic that this team once had.

I can talk for hours about everything that Malik Monk brings to a team, but I do need to mention just one thing; his contract

Malik Monk is on one of the best value-for-money contracts in the league, with an average annual salary of $19.4 million, locking him up until 2027-28. In 2028, that will equate to just 10.44% of the salary cap.

The Kings have been rampant in rumours for a number of other guards/ball dominant players, such as Russell Westbrook, Jonathan Kuminga and Ben Simmons.

In Westbrook’s and Kuminga’s case, the Kings are reportedly shopping Monk in order to make room for them, but there is contrasting intel on the matter, so I won’t take too much note of that.

So here is my plea to Scott Perry:

Do not trade Malik Monk. Do not target another player at his position. Do not cut into his role or minutes. This roster genuinely hurts my head, but Malik Monk is the difference between a head ache and an aneurysm.

He provides a versatile scoring punch, playmaking, all without needing the ball in his hands to make an impact. He fits this roster perfectly. And best of all, unlike the rest of this roster, he is on an amazing contract. Don’t add another mistake to the list. Don’t do it, Scott.

It’s a 16-point game, nine minutes to go in the third quarter. It’s the second night of a back-to-back, an away game in Phoenix. A snoozefest, perhaps even a doozy. The crowd even seems checked out.

Bradley Beal is lackadaisically running the ball up the court, and airs out a lofty pass to Jesuf Nurkic inside. The Bosnian Beast (shoutout Eric Collins) angles his shoulder, and charges through Naji Marshall, drawing both a foul, and the breath from Marshall’s lungs.

The crowd and players alike seem uninterested at this point. There’s no real energy in the building, even the lighting seem to be faded and dull.

WHAM.

In mere moments, PJ Washington comes from one side of the floor to the other, picks up Marshall, and slams Nurkic into the hardwood, all in one motion. The Mavericks fans’ corner pops with excitement. If one thing has been made clear in the last 18 months, it’s that Mavericks fans have grown to love PJ Washington.

See, Washington is everything they’ve been searching for for the last decade-plus. This Mavericks squad has lacked a true enforcer since Deshaun Stevenson left the team in free agency way back in 2011. He’s a leader in the locker room, he does the dirty work, and he sticks up for his guys. The cherry on top? Washington grew up in Fresno, a half-hour drive from the American Airline’s Center.

Let’s make it two cherries; when P.J. Washington was in sixth grade, he actually wrote down a list of his childhood dreams, and “Play for the Dallas Mavericks” was on it. He made that list in his room, stapled it to his wall, and even took a photo of it to set as the home screen on his devices.

To put it short, PJ Washington is the epitome, the grand enigma of Dallas Mavericks basketball. So, despite roster fit questions, it makes sense why the team is looking to re-sign him, per The Stein Line.

But what does his role look like in Dallas, in their scary, new, Luka-less reality?

Well, it looks like he’s going to be filling just a little piece of that void. Riddled by injuries at the back end of the season last year, the team relied on PJ Washington as a primary initiator. The results? Miserable. Washington sported multiple games with 9+ turnovers. However, he did flash some interesting upside, with the ball in his hands.

I strongly believe that Washington can excel as a tertiary ball handler and connective passer, similar to his role in Charlotte, next season for the Mavericks. Besides, they don’t have many options. With Kyrie Irving out for potentially the entire season, Jason Kidd is going to have to get creative; don’t be surprised if he leans on PJ, particularly with his improved ability to shoot off the dribble.

His value defensively also cannot be understated. On that end of the floor, Washington has been everything that Nico Harrison could have hoped for when he acquired him.

Washington’s switchability and point-of-attack defense is severely underrated. In fact, I believe he was unfairly overlooked for All-Defense last season. He also spent time in a rim protector role last season amid injuries, and was surprisingly effective. Washington single-handedly won countless games for the Mavericks last season, on the defensive end alone.

Washington also took a leap in his shooting this past season, jumping from 32% to 38%, on a similar volume. He provides shooting and floor spacing on a roster that lacks just that.

And there lies the issue; PJ Washington is set to start on the wing, with Cooper Flagg at the two (crazy, I know), Anthony Davis at the four, and with Daniel Gafford filling out the big spot. One of either Naji Marshall or D’Angelo Russell will play point guard, but by all indications it looks as if Cooper Flagg will be the teams primary initiator.

With this in mind, there is a legitimate chance that PJ Washington suffers a significant regression this coming season, particularly on the offensive end. The team lacks offensive creation and playmaking, which will make it harder for Washington, a primarily off-ball player, to hit the scoreboard.

Even when he gets the ball, the shots are going to get tougher; he’s playing with at least three non-shooters in that starting lineup. Teams will leverage this to cover Washington extra hard, making it harder for him to generate good shots from three.

Based on all reports, PJ Washington really wants to stay in Dallas, which makes me think that he wont budge below $18,000,000 per year. Why? Well, per the CBA, if he re-signs at that number or above, he is untradeable until right before the deadline, making it less likely he gets moved. Given that Washington is in plenty of trade rumours due to the Mavericks nonsensical roster construction, he’ll certainly be looking for that added security that this number gives him.

So the big question…is he worth bringing back at that number?

I believe so. Washington is still only 27, and signing him for an added three years secures his talents for the rest of his prime. While the roster fit is poor, and you run the risk of tanking his value and ending up with a bad long-term contract on the books because of it, what Washington provides goes beyond the basketball court.

As the Mavericks look to turn a new page and enter a new era, there are few names I would rather have in my locker room around my youngsters than Washington. He brings an infectious fire and energy that few players have left in this era.

That’s not to ignore what he brings to this team in the present, as PJ Washington has transformed himself into one of the league’s premier role players, and I look forward to seeing him aid in the Mavericks making a playoff run in 2026.