Credit: Charles Hallman
The 2026-27 NBA regular season is now underway.
I once looked forward to the season, and sequestered myself with volumes of season preview documents but eventually stopped because the Association isn’t my father’s NBA. Hard to watch in person at times, especially if you can’t afford a ticket or the monthly streaming service that the local NBA club’s games are now televised on.
An 82-game schedule, a season-long juggernaut for some, vying for a playoff spot in early spring, and a long, exhausting journey for others trying to stay relevant to fans.
We selected two teams, one from each conference. Both squads are led by charismatic superstars with a cast of new players because of offseason changes:
Eastern Conference: Detroit Pistons
Detroit has been on a sharp upward trajectory over the past three seasons, from 14 wins in 2023-24 to 44 in 2024-25 and 60 in 2025-26.
“There have been some upgrades during the perimeter … that they feel will benefit Cade (Cunningham) out there and create some space for Cade to operate,” said Pistons longtime broadcaster Greg Kelser. “(The) East is going to be a whole lot tougher.”
Western Conference: Minnesota Timberwolves
“The West right now is probably going to be a lot of teams chasing Oklahoma City and the San Antonio Spurs,” continued Kelser.
Now-retired NBA writer Steve Aschburner, a former Star Tribune Timberwolves beat writer for NBA.com, said, “If desperation and boldness were a sure-fire formula for winning, Minnesota would rank at or near the top of title contenders in 2026-27.”
This year’s Wolves won’t have fan favorite Naz Reid and Julius Randle, both involved in a five-team deal for LaMelo Ball (from Charlotte). Minnesota also acquired Jonathan Kuminga, a five-year veteran power forward who has struggled to find the right place to be successful.
“Naz Reid is very important [with] what they’ve been able to accomplish and achieved up to this point,” stressed Kelser of the former Wolves frontcourt player. “They’ve got the great player in Anthony Edwards, and they’ve got good supporting players around him.
“They find themselves about in the same position as the Pistons, a team that is going to look a little different than perhaps last year because of personnel changes. But still (Minnesota) got their main major guy to lead the way, and that gives them a good shot.”
Minnesota Coach Chris Finch told reporters, including MSR, “You still have to have an identity, but you also have to be able to be a lot more flexible. We should be faster, a little bit faster. I think just physicality, more aggressive on the defensive end.
“When you have Rudy (Gobert) around you, you really have a chance to be a great defense every single season,” stressed Finch. “We got to get back to be in the top five defensive team(s). I feel like we could be a better ball movement team than we have been in recent years. We want to rebound better.
“These are some of this is wish list stuff,” surmised the Wolves coach.
Finally …
Unless you purchase their standalone streaming service, Wolves fans will be out of luck save for a handful of games on free television as most games are on the DAZN subscription streaming platform. The cost ranges from $20 a month to $120 a season.
Even if you are a cable subscriber, DAZN is not available through standard cable or satellite.
Will the Wolves regret their decision? Don’t bet on it.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses at challman@spokesman-recorder.com.
Copyright © Charles Hallman