NBA Opening Night is about three months away, but it is never too early to start looking ahead to next season.
Some teams are entering a crucial year. The league’s landscape is constantly changing, and that means teams have shorter leashes than ever before. Here are the three NBA teams under the most pressure next season.
3. Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers will be the oldest team in the NBA next season, with an average age of 31 years old. They have the chance to deploy a lineup of Chris Paul, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Nic Batum, and Brook Lopez. The average age of those five? 37 years old. If the unction was a basketball team, LA would be its representatives.
Jokes aside, the Clippers have assembled a contender. They have not been shy about making win-now moves, while maintaining future flexibility. They added John Collins, and Bradley Beal as well to give them more offensive firepower. The hope is to get a fully healthy season from Leonard, who has had a healthy summer thus far.
If LA can’t go far in the playoffs, then this likely means the end of this iteration of the team. Harden has a player option next summer and wants to win a championship. Leonard has two years left on his deal, and Beal also signed a two-year deal.
The clock is ticking on this Clippers team, as they have not won a playoff series since 2021. This team is old. If it doesn’t happen this year, then it won’t happen when guys get a year older. With stacked free agent classes on the horizon in 2026 and 2027, LA could blow up the junction if they can’t get off the walker next season.
2. Philadelphia 76ers
Just last summer, the Sixers looked dangerous. A healthy Joel Embiid returning. Signing a max All-Star in Paul George. The ascension of Tyrese Maxey. Philly looked like a contender. Now? The city of Brotherly Love is the land of “what if”.
Embiid has played 58 games in the last two seasons and is coming off another knee surgery. He has no timetable for his return. George battled a litany of injury issues last season and just suffered a knee injury in a summer workout that required surgery. The year hasn’t even started, and Philly is already not healthy. How much longer are they willing to deal with this?
The Sixers are coming off a lost season that featured 58 losses. They have two injury-prone stars taking up more than $100 million on their cap sheet for the next three seasons. This is the year to go for it in the East. But will Philly even be healthy enough to do it? If not, we could finally see the Sixers put an end to the Process.
1. Cleveland Cavaliers
Three years ago, it felt like the Cavs had all the time in the world. Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen were coming off their first All-Star appearances, Evan Mobley looked like a rising star, and they had just acquired Donovan Mitchell to jumpstart the road to contention.
Entering the 2025-26 season, Cleveland is still just as talented, but the pressure has never been higher. The Cavs have won two playoff series since acquiring Mitchell, including flaming out in five games to the Pacers this past season.
That failure against Indiana came after winning 64 games and leading wire-to-wire in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland is in the dreaded second apron, which means the clock is ticking. The East is as weak as it’s ever been. Boston is down and out for the count without Tatum.
So is Indiana without Haliburton. The Cavs are the best team in the conference, and not making it deep next year will mean wholesale changes like Mitchell potentially requesting a trade and moving on from Garland and Allen. If I had to pick the one team under the most pressure next season, it would be the Cleveland Cavaliers.
