The 2026 NBA playoffs are finally here. The questions are refreshing: Will the Oklahoma City Thunder repeat? Can Jayson Tatum pull off an all-time comeback? Are the Denver Nuggets or San Antonio Spurs lurking in plain sight? Is the East as wide-open as we thought? Can LeBron James and Kevin Durant turn back the clock? And which role player will become a playoff folk hero?
Wolves-Nuggets: A Series to Watch
Wolves-Nuggets has it all: history, star power, and high stakes. It’s an actual rivalry: Denver beat Minnesota in 2023, and Minny got revenge the following season. Both teams think that they can win the championship. Both teams know what it takes to level up in the playoffs. Both teams are exceptionally well coached.
If the Wolves lose, they will almost definitely break up their core group, which just hasn’t been able to get over the hump. If the Nuggets lose, it’ll be a catastrophic blow to a group that could and should have raised more than one banner by now. Watching Nikola Jokic BBQ Rudy Gobert never gets old. Watching Anthony Edwards do pretty much anything on a basketball court is ecstasy.
There’s a ton of interesting strategic stuff to keep an eye on, and on the most basic terms, it’s more fun when two clubs in a series genuinely don’t like each other. The teams are deadlocked at 14-14 in regular-season and playoff games since 2022-23. Denver took the season series by Christmas, but Minnesota has the edge in average margin of victory across the past four campaigns.
Jokic, for my money, is still the best in the world, and at full strength, this is the most talented supporting cast he’s ever played with. But the Wolves know how to overcome the monumental challenge that Jokic presents—they did it just a couple of years ago, on the back of some of the most impressive defense we’ve seen in the past decade. It’ll be a great series.
LeBron vs. Durant: A Potential Last Dance?
Because I’m a hopeless sentimentalist, I’m going Rockets-Lakers. Give me as many games of LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant as these aging legends can muster over the next two weeks because this might be the last time we see them face off on this stage. Durant, at age 37, is a near lock to make All-NBA. James, even at 41, is still undeniably elite (21st in The Ringer’s Top 100).
They’ve been dueling for NBA supremacy for nearly two decades, meeting three times in the NBA Finals—with James’s Heat defeating Durant’s Thunder in 2012 and Durant getting his payback in 2017 and 2018, leading the Warriors to consecutive titles against James’s Cavalie.
In honour of the postseason’s arrival, NBA staff paneled to dish their favourite first-round series, Finals picks, and more playoff predictions. Let’s dive in.