Philadelphia will open next season with Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James, and Joel Embiid. The projected starting five has 36 All-Star selections, five MVP awards, and five Finals MVP awards between them. James accounts for 22 of the All-Star nods.
Those five have never been on the floor together.
Philadelphia ranks third here. The two teams ahead of it have won championships with the same starting group.
.@ShamsCharania reports the Philadelphia 76ers are planning on LeBron James playing some time at the point guard position 👀 pic.twitter.com/s5LeiAqzb1
— ESPN (@espn) July 27, 2026
5. Denver Nuggets
Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Cameron Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Nikola Jokić.
Jokic averaged 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 10.7 assists last season. He led the NBA in rebounds per game and in assists per game, the first player to do both in the same season. He was an MVP finalist for the sixth time in seven years and has won the award three times.
Murray, Gordon, and Braun have been on the floor together for a championship. Denver has five roster spots left to fill and sits $7.7 million below the second apron before a new contract for restricted free agent Peyton Watson, who averaged 17.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 40 starts.
4. San Antonio Spurs
De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Victor Wembanyama.
Wembanyama averaged 25.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, and led the NBA with 3.1 blocks. He became the youngest Defensive Player of the Year and the first unanimous one, and San Antonio finished third in defensive rating on the way to 62 wins and the second seed in the West.
The Spurs beat Oklahoma City in seven games in the conference finals and lost to New York in five. Keldon Johnson won Sixth Man of the Year off this bench. Fox begins a four-year, $221 million extension this fall, and Dylan Harper voiced displeasure about his role and playing time last season, according to ESPN's Michael C. Wright.
Champagnie is the fifth starter here. Tobias Harris signed in free agency and will push him for the job.
3. Philadelphia 76ers
Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron James, Joel Embiid.
Brown averaged 28.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 5.1 assists and finished sixth in MVP voting. Maxey averaged 28.3 and finished fifth in the league in scoring. Embiid averaged 26.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. James averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 7.2 assists. Edgecombe averaged 16 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists as a rookie and made the All-Rookie First Team.
No other lineup in the league has four players who averaged at least 20 points last season.
Embiid played 38 games. He has played 490 games in his career and missed 495. Philadelphia finished 23rd in 3-point percentage at 34.9%, and the two new starters do not obviously fix that. James shot 31.7% from deep, the fourth-worst mark of his career. Edgecombe took 5.2 threes a game as a rookie.
The defense is the other problem. Philadelphia was sixteenth in defensive rating. Paul George drew the assignment on opposing perimeter scorers last season and is now in Boston. Quentin Grimes and Kelly Oubre Jr. signed elsewhere. Brown can guard, and he is also coming off a season at a 36.2% usage rate.
2. Oklahoma City Thunder
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein.
Gilgeous-Alexander won his second straight MVP after averaging 31.1 points and 6.6 assists in 68 games. He won Clutch Player of the Year with 96 of the 100 first-place votes. Oklahoma City went 64-18 for the best record in the league.
The Thunder traded Lu Dort this summer, which is the only reason this group is not first. Wallace gets the job now. He started 58 of his 77 games last season and made the All-Defensive Second Team. Hartenstein agreed to a three-year, $75 million contract that cut his salary by $5.4 million.
San Antonio beat them in seven in the conference finals.
1. New York Knicks
Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns.
This five went 16-3 in the playoffs. It swept Philadelphia, Cleveland, and beat San Antonio in five games for the franchise's first championship since 1973. That group had a plus-13.9 net rating over the run.
All five are under contract. New York re-signed Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado, and Mohamed Diawara and stayed under the $222 million second apron. Mitchell Robinson signed with Boston. Andre Drummond replaced him in the frontcourt rotation.
The Next Four
Indiana returns Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, and Pascal Siakam, a group that posted a plus-29.1 net rating without Myles Turner on the floor last season, and Ivica Zubac replaces Turner at center. Haliburton is coming back from an Achilles tear.
Atlanta runs the same five back after re-signing CJ McCollum for one year and $21 million. That group posted a plus-21.4 net rating over 822 possessions, which put it in the 90th percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. Four of the five are 27 or younger. The Hawks also added Dort.
Cleveland has four starters who have made All-Star teams. Houston starts Kevin Durant, Amen Thompson, and Alperen Sengun.
Philadelphia and New York play in the Atlantic Division. They meet four times.
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