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Tim BontempsOct 3, 2025, 08:00 AM ET
- Tim Bontemps is simply a elder NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what's impacting it connected and disconnected the court, including commercialized deadline intel, enlargement and his MVP Straw Polls. You tin find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon connected The Hoop Collective podcast.
With little than 3 weeks until the commencement of the 2025-26 season, the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers kicked disconnected the NBA's preseason docket connected the different broadside of the globe successful Abu Dhabi connected Thursday.
In an offseason afloat of movement, galore players and unit are stepping into uncharted waters: a constituent defender adjusting to a caller home, a caller manager successful complaint of a squad with monolithic expectations and immoderate young endowment staring astatine monolithic opportunities. It sets them up to beryllium among the radical who volition specify the NBA this season.
We published our first mentation of this list a twelvemonth ago, featuring names specified 76ers halfway Joel Embiid, Los Angeles Lakers manager JJ Redick and (now former) Boston Celtics bulk proprietor Wyc Grousbeck, among others.
This is not a database of the champion oregon astir important radical successful the league. Names specified arsenic Denver Nuggets halfway Nikola Jokic, Oklahoma City Thunder defender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Milwaukee Bucks guardant Giannis Antetokounmpo and Lakers defender Luka Doncic won't beryllium recovered connected this list.
Let's interruption down 10 names who volition play large roles successful defining the upcoming play -- some connected the tribunal and arsenic acold arsenic the commercialized deadline, draught and escaped bureau play out.
Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic forward
In May, Magic president of hoops operations Jeff Weltman successful a vigor interrogation said: "We're acceptable to benignant of crook the leafage connected our rebuild and participate the adjacent signifier of our squad and look done a much win-now lens."
Weltman past took action, sending respective aboriginal draught picks to the Memphis Grizzlies successful a blockbuster commercialized for Desmond Bane. It was lauded by aggregate respondents successful past week's offseason survey arsenic 1 of the champion moves of the summer.
But if that determination is going to wage disconnected successful the mode helium and the Magic anticipation it will, it won't beryllium due to the fact that of Bane,
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