CEBU, Philippines — While some teams slowly moved up from the lower half of the field, it seems like there are a few teams that could still be stuck at the bottom of the NBA rankings when the 2026-2027 regular season ends.
Utah, Indiana and Washington, ranked 27th, 29th and 30th when the 2025-2026 season ended, had some significant changes and could move up a few notches higher this time.
The Jazz lost Walker Kessler but has a good frontline with Jusuf Nurkic, Jaxson Hayes, Jaren Jackson, Jr., Lauri Markkanen and Mo Bamba. They have 2nd pick Darryn Peterson who had shown he’s a legit NBA talent in their pre-season games. A spot in the Play-in is possible.
Unless things change, I’m looking at the rebuilding Sacramento (26th) and Brooklyn (28th) to remain at the bottommost of the standings.
The Kings have their point guard of the future when they picked 19-year-old Darius Acuff, Jr. at 7th in this year’s rookie draft. Well, they had before their supposedly future floor generals in De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton but sent them away. So far, Acuff, Jr. has been impressive in Sacramento’s pre-season.
Gone are vets DeMar DeRozan and the retired Russell Westbrook. They still have Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine and Malik Monk providing veteran leadership. Ben Simmons retired from fishing and realized he’s a basketball player and he adds another vet presence to the Kings roster. These vets could be valuable trade assets when the trading game comes in February.
Coach Doug Christie must make something out of this roster as Sacramento had 13 coaching changes since 2006.
Brooklyn has 6th pick Mikel Brown but has yet to play a preseason game because of a sprained ankle in training camp. There is a surrounding hype on Brown, also the Nets’ perceived point guard of the future and if his pairing with shooting guard Egor Demin pans out well, Brooklyn’s future will be interesting. New addition Keon Ellis should improve the Nets’ defense.
Like Sacramento’s veterans, Julius Randle and Michael Porter, Jr. will be free agents in 2027 and with their combined player options of $35.8m, Brooklyn could trade them for multiple young assets for rebuilding.
For both teams, a 30-win season could be doable but hard.