There are still three months until the 2026-2027 season begins, and anyone covering the NBA has to be exhausted by this offseason. From the drama surrounding the Kawhi Leonard trade to LeBron James finally picking his new team, a lot has happened since the NBA Finals ended.
While the 2027 playoffs feel like an eternity away, it's never too early to start taking a look at what that could look like. Particularly, which teams will be the number one seeds and which teams will have to fight their way through the Play-In. Some of them might surprise you. Except the Kings.
Eastern Conference 8th seed: Charlotte Hornets
Charlotte showed some serious signs of life towards the end of last season, largely thanks to the quick rise of rookie Kon Knueppel. Trading for Coby White was also a game-changer for the Hornets, as he became a key player in short order. White is why the Hornets felt comfortable trading LaMelo Ball away after years of stomaching his perpetual injuries.
While Ball was finally healthy for more than 10 games in a row, it's only a matter of time before injuries sideline him once again. The Hornets were smart to get out while his trade value was relatively high. In return, they got Naz Reid, a former Sixth Man of the Year and one of the best bench guys available in the league. He will be an amazing veteran to balance out this incredibly young roster.
Keeping in mind that they're building around Brandon Miller and Knueppel, the Hornets are not in a position to be legitimate contenders quite yet. But they will make the playoffs in 2027, likely by fighting their way through the play-In to grab that eighth spot in the East. Charlotte is not in danger of winning any titles this year, but it will be a big step towards being that team.
Eastern Conference 7th seed: Miami Heat
Yes, the Heat made one of the biggest moves of the offseason by being the team to finally pry Giannis Antetokounmpo away from the Bucks. At the same time, they utterly gutted their depth to pull that off and haven't done much to build around him. Outside of Bam Adebayo, the Heat don't really have a supporting cast to place around Giannis as they target the playoffs.
To make matters worse, Miami is extremely limited in salary cap space and has even more limited trade capital to work with. They went all in to get Giannis. It was a move that completely mortgaged their ability to develop a winning team around him. Essentially, the Heat turned into the Bucks.
Right now, Miami is basically the Giannis and Bam show. That will be enough to get them into the playoffs, though that path will likely go through the Play-In as per usual for the Heat. How things go from there is difficult to imagine, but it's hard to see this version of the Heat as contenders without some serious upgrades to their depth.
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