213hoops.com
2026 NBA Season Preview: Northwest Division
Next up in my 2026 NBA season preview is the Northwest Division, which is probably the strongest division in the entire NBA.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Additions: Thomas Sorber (15th pick in 2025 Draft)
Subtractions: Dillon Jones
Other: Signed Jalen Williams to a max extension, Signed Chet Holmgren to a max extension, Re-signed Jaylin Williams, Signed Ajay Mitchell to an extension
Outlook: The Thunder are the defending NBA champions. After an insanely dominant regular season, the Thunder had some difficulties in the playoffs, getting taken to the bring by both the Nuggets and Pacers. However, they won nevertheless, and now bring an almost identical roster back for 2026 with almost no downside (Alex Caruso is their only main rotation player over the age of 30) and plenty of upside (Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace, Nikola Topic, Ajay Mitchell, and more are all candidates for improvement). I don’t think the Thunder will go quite as hard in the regular season now that they’ve proven themselves, but they remain title favorites until we see otherwise.
Prediction: 63-19 (Last year predicted 61-21, actually 68-14)
Denver Nuggets
Additions: Cam Johnson, Bruce Brown, Jonas Valanciunas, Tim Hardaway Jr.
Subtractions: Michael Porter Jr., Russell Westbrook, Dario Saric, Vlatko Cancar
Other:
Outlook: The Nuggets undoubtedly had one of the better offseasons in the NBA. After a season where young players failed to take steps forward and older players showed their limitations in the playoffs, the Nuggets completely remade their bench. Cam Johnson will be an offensive upgrade over Michael Porter Jr. with more ballhandling and playmaking juice while being less prone to defensive slip-ups. Jonas Valanciunas is on the downside of his career, but he’s still much better than DeAndre Jordan, Zeke Nnaji, or Dario Saric as a backup center. Bruce Brown is a proven with Jokic and Hardaway was a key piece to a good Pistons team in 2025. The Nuggets are definitely better than last year. How much that will translate to regular season wins is a bit more questionable, especially considering how impactful Russell Westbrook was (not joking) last season. So, I think the Nuggets will be a better regular season team, but will be much more dangerous in the playoffs. I have the Thunder over them, but the Nuggets are probably the second-best team in the NBA.
Prediction: 54-28 (Last year predicted 52-30, actually 50-32)
Minnesota Timberwolves
Additions: Joan Beringer (17th pick in 2025 Draft)
Subtractions: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Josh Minott, Luka Garza
Other: Re-signed Julius Randle, Re-signed Naz Reid, Re-signed Joe Ingles
Outlook: The Timberwolves are mostly running back their 2025 roster, which is not a bad play considering that team won nearly 50 games and made the Western Conference Finals for the second year in a row. The foundation of the Wolves – Anthony Edwards driving the offense with mostly defensive-minded players around him – has a fairly proven track record of success. The reasons for concern are simple: Mike Conley is 38 and Rudy Gobert is 33, and the Wolves don’t really have replacements for either of their skillsets. At the same time, Ant is still on the upswing, and players like Jaden McDaniels, Terrance Shannon Jr., and Rob Dillingham could all take steps forward. I think the Wolves will be very good, but I’d be a bit surprised if they made the WCF for a third consecutive year.
Prediction: 47-35 (Last year predicted 51-31, actually 49-33)
Portland Trailblazers
Additions: Jrue Holiday, Yang Hansen (16th pick in 2025 Draft), Damian Lillard, Blake Wesley
Subtractions: Anfernee Simons, DeAndre Ayton, Jabari Walker
Other:
Outlook: The Blazers are in an interesting spot. They haven’t been good in years, and most of their key players (Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Donovan Clingan, Yang Hansen) are young. However, there is still clear pressure on the front office to be more competitive, especially after a strong second half of the 2025 season. To that point, the Blazers added Jrue Holiday as a defensive ace and backcourt complement to Henderson and Sharpe as well as brought in franchise legend Lillard as a mentor (he’s out for the season with a torn Achilles). Other veterans like Jerami Grant, Robert Williams, and Matisse Thybulle are all still lingering on the roster as well. Thus, it seems likely that the Blazers will be fairly competent but also somewhat likely that they won’t be a true playoff competitor. If a couple of their young guys take further steps (especially one of Scoot or Sharpe) the Blazers could make a leap into the mid-40s in wins, but I think that might need another year.
Prediction: 38-44 (Last year predicted 26-56, actually 36-46)
Utah Jazz
Additions: Ace Bailey (5th pick in 2025 Draft), Walter Clayton Jr. (18th pick in 2025 Draft), Kyle Anderson, Georges Niang, Kevin Love, Jusuf Nurkic
Subtractions: John Collins, Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson, Johnny Juzang, Jaden Springer
Other:
Outlook: The Jazz were one of the worst teams in the NBA last year and project as a similar caliber squad this season. In fact, the Jazz actually got rid of a couple of productive veterans (Collins, Sexton) and replaced them with rookies or washed up older guys, so their roster is actually possibly worse this year. The reason I’m betting that the Jazz stay around the same win total is that at least one or two of their young guys will probably improve enough to help the team, and the tanking might not be as shameless as last year. Still, the Jazz are going to be very, very bad in their quest to get a top 3 pick in the loaded 2026 draft.
Prediction: 18-64 (Last year predicted 27-55, actually 17-65)