The 2026-27 NBA season is a tale of two conferences. We're all pretty confident in how the West is going to play out. The Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs will be at the top. In the playoffs underneath them, in some order, are probably going to be the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets. The Conference Finals feel almost preordained. The top six is as close to a lock as we've ever had going into a season. We'd be surprised if there were any surprises.

On the other hand, we won't be surprised by anything that goes on in the Eastern Conference bloodbath. Last year, due to a combination of injuries and circumstances, we assumed the East would be weak. This year, more than half of the conference operated this offseason as though it expects to reach the NBA Finals. Basically, everyone but the Nets and Bucks either added substantial talent or retained surprisingly successful rosters from a season ago. The teams that make the Play-In Tournament in the West will likely view their seasons as moderate successes. Teams that do so in the East are going to fire people.

So… who are those teams going to be? That's what we're here to find out. Below, the CBS Sports NBA staff predicted the standings for both conferences ahead of the 2026-27 season. After setting their brackets, each predicted who would reach the Conference Finals, the NBA Finals, and, ultimately, hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy as the 2027 NBA champions. Buckle up, folks. The 2026-27 season is officially at hand.

Eastern Conference standings predictions

Western Conference standings predictions

Conference Finals predictions

2026 NBA Finals predictions

Expert explanations

Brad Botkin: It's Wemby time in the West. That's really all there is to it. The Spurs are going to play with their hair on fire this season and threaten 70 wins. We'll get the OKC-Spurs matchup again in the playoffs, and as tempting as to pick the Thunder, who probably would've won last year had they been healthy, to avenge that seven-game defeat, Wembanyama is just going to be too much moving forward. Chet Holmgren might hide in a closet for that series. 

The East could have north of six 50-win teams and any one of them could come out. I have no idea how people are forgetting how great the Pacers were in the 2025 playoffs and are just acting like they're going to be a Play-In team. That team is loaded. But the Knicks are clearly the most complete team. I don't think they'll look like it in the regular season, but come playoff time, that's the team to beat and I don't think anyone will across seven games. That gives us a Finals rematch for the first time since Cavs-Warriors. This time, the Spurs, who held the lead for more than 70% of last year's Finals minutes, will finish the job. 

John Gonzalez: The East is as deep and vastly improved. You could put four to six teams in a hat and draw the order at random and it wouldn't be all that surprising if that's how the top of the standings finished in the end. But when making the case that several teams could win the conference, the flip side is also true: you could also make a case against any of them. They all have lingering questions to answer — including the defending champs, who go into the season with the contract negotiation standoff between ownership and some key players hanging over their heads, as well as the usual concern about potential post-title hangovers. But someone has to come out of the East, and the Knicks already know the path.

The West is easier to figure. It's the Thunder and the Spurs and then a big gap and then everyone else. Progress isn't always linear. Wembanyama is poised for a monster season, and San Antonio cut the line last time around and made it to the finals. The temptation is to pick the Spurs to finish the job and win it all. OKC will have something to say about that. The Thunder are the deepest team in the league, with the back-to-back MVP in SGA leading the way. Nearly as important, Jalen Williams is healthy and back at his side and ready to help even the score against the Spurs.

It's hard to win it all in consecutive years. There's a reason why we've had new champions in eight consecutive seasons. Make it nine, with OKC hosting the parade.

Robby Kalland: The West really does feel as simple as the Spurs and Thunder in a class of their own. Every other team seemingly has so many other flaws come playoff time that it's hard to see (pending the health of SGA and Wemby) anything other than another WCF clash of the titans. Once again, that goes the way of the Spurs, who got a little older, wiser and better this summer, while OKC has started to face the realities of team-building in the apron era. 

The East is now the most fascinating conference by a wide margin. Boston is flying under the radar with the splashy moves around them, but adding Mitchell Robinson addresses their biggest weakness in a big way, and this is just a team that knows how to stack regular-season wins to grab a top seed. We haven't seen a defending champion make the NBA Finals since the Warriors in 2019, and that streak continues with a Knicks team that got a little worse on the margins falling to Boston in an instant classic ECF. 

Once in the Finals, the Celtics can be a funky matchup for the Spurs because they neutralize some of Wemby's defensive impact by hoisting so many threes, but ultimately San Antonio wins in six or seven and Wemby is officially crowned as the NBA's new top dog. 

Jack Maloney: Trying to figure out the East standings was a nightmare. I mean, who knows what's going to happen there, especially in the middle of the pack? As everyone else has mentioned, the West was more straightforward, especially at the top. Barring injuries, the Spurs and Thunder appear to be a level above everyone else. As for my Finals prediction, everyone knows that we haven't had a repeat champion since the Warriors in 2017-18. But what's not as well known is that we haven't even had a team make the Finals in consecutive seasons since the Warriors went five times in a row from 2015-19. I think that trend continues; there's too much parity now and going all the way to the Finals exacts such a toll. I ended up going Thunder over Celtics, though I don't feel super confident about that. 

Sam Quinn: The West is pretty straightforward. The whole season is just the prologue for Oklahoma City and San Antonio's seven-game war in mid-May. The Thunder would've won last year's battle had both sides been healthy, and I'm expecting them to avenge that defeat this season. The East is much more difficult. There are eight teams with credible Finals cases, and how you order them says as much about their depth and durability as it does their quality. Ultimately, I trust the champs to hold off their challengers, with Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors posing the biggest threat in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Thunder simply lack the vulnerabilities that the Knicks exploited in the Spurs last postseason. They're older, deeper and less tied to the performance of a single player. They have wave after wave of star defender to throw at Jalen Brunson, and they can defend Karl-Anthony Towns on the perimeter without sacrificing rim-protection. Oklahoma City has the NBA's most complete roster. I expect the Thunder to climb back to the mountaintop in a matchup between the NBA's last two champions.

Cameron Salerno: In my opinion, the Thunder are still the best team in the NBA. Yes, the Spurs are on the rise, but OKC wasn't at full strength in the playoffs, which played a huge role. As for the East, LeBron James said it himself: He's not moving across the country to lose in the second round. I think Philly will reach the finals before losing to OKC. 

As for everything else, my bold prediction of the season is that the Utah Jazz will finish in the top six in the West. I love the roster they have put together. There's a clear hole at the center position that will need to be addressed, but 1-4 is very solid. Another prediction: The Warriors miss the Play-In entirely. Steph Curry is still must-watch TV every night, but the organization has done a poor job of surrounding him with talent to compete for titles.