Sure, this is just on paper. But the paper the sparkling and shining and emitting all the hope.
The NBA consistently has the most dramatic and jaw-dropping offseason in all of sports. This summer was no different. LeBron and Giannis and LaMelo and Ja all changed teams. Many rosters were upgraded, but these five teams had the best offseasons of them all.
We’ll count them down from 5-to-1.
5. CHARLOTTE HORNETS
Best Additions: Naz Reid, Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale
The most stunning turnaround happened in Charlotte last season, where the Hornets won 44 games, improving their win-total by a whopping 25 games from the season before.
But standing pat was not in the cards.
Charlotte pulled off one of the most eye-opening trades of the summer in sending second-leading scorer, LaMelo Ball, to Minnesota in exchange for versatile big Naz Reid. And the remaking didn’t stop there. They sent Miles Bridges to Phoenix for Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale.
This team, now led by youngsters Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel, is a deeper version of the one that reached last season’s play-in and has eyes on qualifying for the playoffs this season.
4. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
Best Additions: Peyton Watson, Mario Hezonja
This isn’t a long list, but the Cavaliers addressed their most pressing need — an athletic wing that can defend and pitch-in on the offensive end. The Cavs quickly identified Nuggets young stud Peyton Watson and then acquired him in a 5-team deal. Watson is coming off his best season as a professional, averaging career highs in a bevy of categories.
The Cavs’ starting five of James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Watson, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen is among the best in the league, and the addition of Hezonja, a former No. 5 pick in the NBA draft who has vastly improved his game, should soften the blow of losing shooter Max Strus as part of the trade.
This was a top-four team in the East last season, and should be in the mix for the season this season.
3. MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
Best Additions: LaMelo Ball, Jonathan Kuminga
A few years ago, the Timberwolves, led by former Denver GM Tim Connelly, crafted a bigs-laden team designed to beat the Nuggets, who had won the 2023 NBA title led by Nikola Jokic.
Now, they’ve pivoted to compete with two new targets — Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
Additional athleticism and scoring to help star Anthony Edwards was needed. A million bigs were no longer necessary. So they flipped Naz Reid to Charlotte in exchange for high-scoring and deft-playmaking guard LaMelo Ball. But Minnesota wasn’t satisfied with just that.
It then signed athletic forward Jonathan Kuminga, completely remaking its starting five, and with it, the team’s scoring profile to something that could boost the Wolves into the West’s top four this season.
2. ATLANTA HAWKS
Best Addtions: Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins, Kingston Flemmings (draft)
Few teams remade themselves more thoroughly than the Atlanta Hawks, who are coming off an up-and-down 2025-26 season that saw them bounced out of the first round of the playoffs by the eventual champion New York Knicks.
It started in the draft, where they chose one of college basketball’s best guards, Kingston Flemmings, out of Houston. Then, in separate transactions, they acquired two OKC standouts, defensive star Luguentz Dort and sharp-shooter Aaron Wiggins.
Ryan Nembhard was also part of the Dort trade, and with Nickeil Alexander-Walker and the re-signing of veteran CJ McCollum, the Hawks have one of the most fun guard rooms in the NBA. And their coach, Quin Snyder, is the best in the league at developing guard talent. This is team to watch this season.
1. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
Best Additions: LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, Dean Wade, Labaron Philion Jr. (draft)
This was the only right answer for the organization that had the best offseason.
Philadelphia added one of the greatest players of all time in James, a second-team All-NBA player in Brown, and other high-level role players throughout the roster.
And in the process, the 76ers may have vaulted themselves to the top of the East, with all due respect to the champion, New York Knicks. Head coach Nick Nurse has to make sense of it all, but the starting five of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, LeBron James, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid is — on paper at least — the best in the NBA.