NBA Future Power Rankings: We stacked the three-year outlooks for all 30 teams — SkimNews
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- Oklahoma City Thunder topped ESPN's NBA Future Power Rankings after posting the NBA's best record and point differential in each of the past two seasons, anchored by a young championship core led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and led by GM Sam Presti.
- San Antonio Spurs ranked second, with ESPN's Zach Kram noting a "huge gap" between the top two teams and everyone else, driven by 22-year-old Victor Wembanyama, who led San Antonio to the 2025 NBA Cup championship game.
- Boston Celtics climbed to third from 13th last year after a 56-26 campaign during Jayson Tatum's Achilles recovery, ranking in the top half of every subcategory, though they lost Jaylen Brown in a trade that netted two first-round picks from Philadelphia.
- Houston Rockets placed fourth on the strength of high-upside youth and proven veterans — including Fred VanVleet returning from injury — while Kevin Durant's $46 million player option looms for next season amid questions about his fit with Alperen Sengun.
- New York Knicks, the defending champions, ranked fifth but face uncertainty three years out due to an older core and pending extensions for Karl-Anthony Towns ($272 million eligible), Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart.
- ESPN's Ben Golliver predicted the Thunder will shift from a "big three" to a "big two" by 2027-28 due to second apron concerns when Gilgeous-Alexander's supermax extension begins, potentially forcing trades of Jalen Williams or Chet Holmgren.
Why it matters: The second apron is actively reshaping title windows across the NBA: the league's top-ranked team may have to dismantle part of its young core within two years due to CBA rules, while the defending-champion Knicks face similar cap pressure as Brunson, Towns and Hart approach free agency.
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