We’re about two-thirds of the way through the 2025-26 NBA regular season based upon games played, but the league’s All-Star break always serves as the arbitrary halfway point of the season. The vibes were way down for the Philadelphia 76ers, but we received a welcome respite over the weekend, getting to enjoy VJ Edgecombe shine in the Rising Stars Challenge and Tyrese Maxey’s coronation as one of the league’s top stars. Now, before regular season hoops get back underway, let’s zoom out a bit and take stock of where things stand in the Eastern Conference.
Race to the Bottom
Washington (14-39)
Indiana (15-40)
Brooklyn (15-38)
These teams are going to be jockeying with a handful of teams out West for top lottery odds in what is a stacked 2026 NBA Draft class. The Wizards have positioned themselves to compete next year, trading for Trae Young and Anthony Davis at their low points of their value, and having those former All-Stars sit out the rest of the way. They’ll hope to pair those two with promising youngsters Alex Sarr and Tre Johnson, plus whoever they take in this year’s lottery. The Pacers had always signaled taking a step back this season after Tyrese Haliburton tore his Achilles, even going as far as to let Myles Turner walk in free agency. Indiana did trade for Ivica Zubac at the deadline, but I imagine his sprained ankle is going to take a historically long time to heal. This is another club that will be looking to compete again next season. Meanwhile, Brooklyn is playing more first-year players than a Rising Stars roster. The Nets are on the long rebuild path, and they could be right back in this group a year from now.
Things Went Off the Rails in the Midwest
Milwaukee (23-30)
Chicago (24-31)
These two clubs expected to be in the mix (towards the top half of the playoff bracket in Milwaukee’s case, and solidly in the Play-In in respect to the Bulls), but things have gone terribly wrong. In Wisconsin, Doc Rivers is pointing fingers everywhere except the thumbs pointing back at him, and the Giannis Antetokounmpo most passive aggressive trade request ever was comical, followed by his acting like he was taking the harder loyal path by sticking around. They have a roster built to operate around Giannis that doesn’t work one bit with him sidelined with a calf strain. Their current brand of no-defense will have them continue to lose games the rest of the way. If there’s a silver lining in Chicago, the Bulls finally, finally, finally embraced something of a rebuild, sending out Nikola Vucevic, Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White. They waited too long in all cases and didn’t get too much valuable in return, but maybe now Chicago will lose enough to get lucky in the lottery.
Frisky Futures
Atlanta (26-30)
Charlotte (26-29)
The Hawks actually pulled the trigger on trading away Trae Young, fully embracing building around Jalen Johnson with a longer, more defensive-minded roster. I understood moving on from Kristaps Porzingis given the health concerns, but I’m not sure the Jonathan Kuminga experience would be something I wanted to sign up for. I suppose his value can only go up away from Golden State. Getting Jock Landale for nothing was a good deal, something I wished the Sixers had done. I don’t expect the Hawks to do anything of note this year, but they seem to have a clear vision going forward. Charlotte is one of the most entertaining League Pass teams out there. Rookie Kon Knueppel looks like the real deal, already ranking as one of the best outside shooters in the league. You can really see something with a young core of him, LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. I also liked the buy low on Coby White at the deadline. If the Hornets could just excise Miles Bridges, I’d like rooting for this bunch.
Stuck in the middle with us
Miami (29-27)
Orlando (28-25)
Philadelphia (30-24)
Toronto (32-23)
The Heat struck out in having a big star come to South Beach, as shockingly Tyler Herro and Pat Riley throwing his rings on the table wasn’t enough of a trade package for people. Erik Spoelstra is an excellent coach who will keep Miami afloat, but there’s just not enough top-end talent on the roster there to be true contenders. Orlando is one of the more disappointing teams this season. People loved to talk about the Magic prior to the season as a dark horse to come out of the East, but they don’t look anywhere near that level. Paolo Banchero certainly hasn’t taken the next step this season, and Orlando signaled they weren’t making a run by just doing a salary dump at the deadline.
Speaking of salary dumps, the Sixers only subtracted from their rotation earlier this month. Despite pretty good injury health from their injury-prone stars, Philadelphia’s front office didn’t want to push any chips into the middle to improve the current roster. With Paul George now suspended, the Sixers are a major injury or two away from their shallow roster making a real slide down the standings. Toronto is one of the most pleasant surprises this season, with a bunch of pretty good parts coalescing on a solid roster that plays hard every night. The Raptors didn’t do anything major at the deadline; they seem content to let this season play out, and remain in a good position to tweak the roster in future years.
Candidates to emerge
Cleveland (34-21)
New York (35-20)
Boston (35-19)
Detroit (40-13)
The Cavaliers made the splashiest deadline acquisition, bringing in James Harden from Los Angeles. The Beard will certainly be an upgrade over an injured Darius Garland in the present. Was it the right move to trade away a young guard for a 36-year-old to make a push this season? I guess we’ll find out, but Cleveland certainly sensed the East is wide open and decided to go for it.
New York had a slide a little while ago that kicked off a bunch of Karl-Anthony Towns trade rumors. The Knicks have since righted the ship, and they plugged the hole created by Deuce McBride’s injury by acquiring Jose Alvarado. The Jalen Brunson-Towns defensive pairing issues will still present a problem for the Knicks in the postseason, but no one would be shocked if they were the squad to represent the East.
People posited that the Celtics might do a mini-tank this season with Jayson Tatum sidelined with an Achilles tear, but punishingly for Sixers fans, Boston has continued to churn out wins. Jaylen Brown and Derrick White ramped up their usage to good effect, and the front office brought in spare parts to round out the rotation. Management also showed it’s possible to both duck the tax and help the roster, as although the Celtics just made some salary-dumping trades, the swap to acquire Nikola Vucevic might mean their rotation is better than it was a month ago. If Tatum can make an improbable return later on (he recently practiced with the Maine Celtics), Boston would get upgraded to clear favorite.
Finally, Detroit is this year’s Cinderella darling, second best in the NBA in both record and net rating. Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren are young and ascending, and the Pistons have solid depth and complimentary pieces on the roster. The major argument against the Pistons would be that most of the roster hasn’t done it before in the playoffs (unless by “it” you mean Tobias Harris missing a million threes), but there always has to be a first time for young cores.
How do you size up the East? Let us know in the comments.