Bold predictions for every team in the East: Celtics No. 1 seed, Pistons big trade, and surprising NBA champ

The years of the Leastern Conference are over. The East is better than it has been in ages, and there are going to be a lot of surprises this season with 11 good teams vying for eight playoff slots. Young players will break out, trades will be made, and several teams will over perform or under perform. 

Many of those results are impossible to guess, but I'm going to do my best anyway with bold predictions for all 15 teams in the East. These outcomes would be surprising but not shocking, and I don't expect the majority of them to come true. But here's what could happen, ordered from my mildest to hottest takes.

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Bold predictions for each team in the East

Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images

New York: The Knicks will have three All-Stars

No team had three All-Stars last season, including the Knicks who sent Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns to the game. Those two will make it back. Joining them should be a first-time All-Star in OG Anunoby. 

Anunoby has never averaged more than 18 points per game. Over the past four years, Chet Holmgren is the only player to have been selected to the game while averaging less. But Anunoby showed his value as an elite two-way player during the Knicks' championship run.

Atlanta: Dyson Daniels will make more 3's by Thanksgiving than he did all of last season

Daniels was never a great 3-point shooter, but last year was rough even by his standards. He totally fell off a cliff last year, hitting just 18.8 percent of his attempts and taking only 1.7 per game. Those issues seemed largely mental. While he was still contributing to the offense with his passing, drives, and strong floater, he was reluctant to even attempt open looks. 

Daniels should regress toward the mean a bit. He was a career 32.7 percent shooter over his other three seasons, and his form looks okay. He's been draining his 3's in summer workouts. 

If Daniels shoots like he did two years ago, then he would be on pace to make more than his 22 total 3's somewhere near the end of November. 

Toronto: Raptors will have the No. 2 defense in the league

Nobody is catching the Thunder for the top spot defensively. But the race to No. 2 is wide open, and there's no reason to think the Raptors can't improve from their No. 5 ranking last season.

Darko Rajakovic doesn't get enough credit for how good of a defensive coach he is. The Raptors were ranked 26th defensively in his first year, 15th in Year Two, and fifth last year. They've improved their personnel, losing two of their weaker defenders in Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick while adding an excellent defender in Kawhi Leonard.

Scottie Barnes is the glue that holds it all together. He's developed into a top-five defender in the league. The Raptors will be relentless. 

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Orlando: Magic will finally have a top 15 offense

The last time the Magic had an above-average offense was in 2012, when Stan Van Gundy was coaching a Dwight Howard-led team. Since then, Jacque Vaughn, Scott Skiles, Frank Vogel, Steve Clifford, and Jamahl Mosley have all tried and failed to get the Magic scoring. Now it will be Sean Sweeney's turn. 

There's some pretty low-hanging fruit to improve the Magic from their No. 18 ranking last season. Their half court offense was too stagnant, relying too much on weak pick-and-roll play from their guards. Franz Wagner was one of their best pick-and-roll ballhandlers. Getting the ball more in his hands should help, as should cleaning up some of Paolo Banchero's shot selection.

Boston: The Celtics will finish No. 1 in the East

The Celtics did experience some talent drain after trading Jaylen Brown for Paul George. They still might have enough to finish with the top seed in the East, even with several teams around them getting better and the Knicks as the clear best team heading into the season. 

Boston has been a regular season wins juggernaut under Joe Mazzulla. He proved last year without Jayson Tatum that his system, which prioritizes a ton of 3's, offensive rebounding, low turnovers, and a switch-heavy defense, is going to succeed a ton over the course of 82 games. If they won 56 games without Tatum, it's reasonable that they could be in the mid 50's again with Tatum as an upgrade over Brown and Mitchell Robinson adding more center depth. 

The Knicks are going to be the more dangerous playoff team until proven otherwise, but don't be surprised if the Celtics roll through the regular season again. 

MORE: What's next for the Celtics? Evaluating Boston with Paul George

Philadelphia: Sixers will trade for Jalen Smith

The Sixers have a glaring hole at center, where Joel Embiid's health is always a question mark and the backup depth isn't good enough between Adem Bona, Ariel Hukporti, and Dom Barlow. They need one more guy, but they have very limited resources to make that happen given that they are hard-capped at the first apron. 

There aren't many fringe starters on bargain deals for Philadelphia to target. Jalen Smith is a rarity in that he's playing on an expiring contract for a rebuilding Bulls team, and he's probably the best center on their roster. Smith is a great stretch option that can open up the floor for the Sixers' playmakers, protect the rim, and finish plays. Best of all, he only makes $9.4 million. He could be that one last piece for a Sixers team with high aspirations. 

MORE: Can 76ers win title with LeBron James?

Detroit: The Pistons will trade Ausar Thompson

Thompson is in my eyes a top-five defender in the entire league. His offense lags quite a bit behind that stellar defensive impact, but he still brings value with his offensive rebounding, cutting, transition play, and finishing near the rim. 

It might seem insane to trade a 23-year-old with obvious talent. But his shooting issues are magnified while playing next to Jalen Duren, and he could be even better in a different situation. He would bring a lot back in a trade. 

Looking forward, Thompson is getting paid next summer on a deal that my salary model has at over $30 million in average annual value. With big contracts on the books for Cade Cunningham and probably Duren, that's the team going forward unless the Pistons cash in to better balance out their roster.

Cleveland: Meleek Thomas will be the steal of the draft

It will be tough for Thomas to find minutes on a team that is projected to be near the top of the East. They might have no other choice than to play him. 

Thomas, taken with the No. 34 pick in the 2026 draft, was the best rookie in Summer League. He averaged a stunning 27.3 points per game on 50 percent from the field, 44 percent from 3, and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the line. He had some defensive concerns coming out of Arkansas, but he looked playable on that end of the floor and showed good anticipation with several steals.

Thomas obviously won't have the same sort of shot creation responsibilities for the real team, but his hot 3-point shooting should translate. He hit 41.6 percent of his 3's as a freshman at Arkansas, and he should get plenty of easy catch-and-shoot looks. In a stacked class, he could easily find himself on an All-Rookie team by the end of the year. 

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Charlotte: Coby White will lead the Hornets in scoring

Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller are the easy choices to break out for the Hornets. We're going with bold predictions here though, and what could be bolder than choosing White instead, who wasn't even a starter for the Hornets last season? 

White should get bumped into the starting five this year after the LaMelo Ball trade. He'll have a much bigger role, taking on point guard duties and playing more like he did in Chicago. It's easy to forget that during his stint with the Bulls, he was at times regarded as their best prospect and a potential All-Star in the making.

White has averaged over 20 points per game before. He should up his scoring and assists. And he's always been a great shooter.

Washington: Alex Sarr will make Anthony Davis expendable

Davis and the Wizards have agreed to wait until around the 20-game mark before discussing a potential extension for the 10-time All-Star, according to reporting from ESPN. Sarr could make that a moot point. 

Sarr has already shown good defensive promise, averaging 2.0 blocks per game and holding opponents to 7.6 percentage points worse than their season average on shots at the rim that he has defended. 

Sarr's offense hasn't quite caught up to his defense. While he averaged 16.3 points per game and shown flashes of almost putting it all together, he's been an inefficient scorer from everywhere except for the rim and taken far too many midrange shots. 

Sarr stands to benefit the most by playing next to Trae Young, who should spoon-feed him a better shot diet. With a better setup, Sarr isn't going to be better than Davis, but a big leap from him would allow the Wizards to trade Davis for assets that better fit the timeline of the team. 

Milwaukee: Brayden Burries will have the best rookie season of any guard

Burries was the sixth guard taken off the board in the 2026 draft, behind Darryn Peterson, Keaton Wagler, Mikel Brown Jr., Darius Acuff Jr, and Kingston Flemings. Burries outplayed them all in Las Vegas. 

Burries was electric during those Summer League games, averaging 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists on a torrid 50 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3. More impressive than the hot shooting was how poised he looked with the ball. While other rookies were raw, Burries turned it over only three times all summer. 

Burries was thought of as a high floor prospect that did everything well but nothing exceptionally so. His summer play proved that he also has a higher ceiling than many thought. He's compared himself to Jamal Murray and Devin Booker. There might be something to that idea.

Chicago: Caleb Wilson will win Rookie of the Year

Wilson was the consensus No. 4 prospect behind AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, and Cameron Boozer coming into the draft. Judging by Summer League, he might get off to the quickest start of the four. 

Wilson was outstanding in Las Vegas, showing more to his game than he did at North Carolina. While he wasn't much of a 3-point shooter in college, he drilled 42 percent of his attempts, even hitting seven of them in his debut game. The rim pressure that he was known for also showed up in a big way. 

Wilson already looks like he will have the biggest defensive impact of the Rookie of the Year contenders. If his shooting is even a little bit real, then he has a good chance to win the award. 

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Miami: Klay Thompson will be the missing link

Thompson started only eight games for the Mavs last season. He's entering the final stages of his career, but he could go out with a bang in Miami. 

Thompson isn't a good defender anymore, but he can still shoot with the best of them. He should get plenty of minutes to fire away on a thin Heat bench. And he's going to get the cleanest looks that he has in years playing alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, with a coach in Erik Spoelstra who is one of the best tacticians in the game. He could provide the shooting that makes the Heat starting lineup click. 

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Brooklyn: Jordi Fernandez will win Coach of the Year

We already know that Fernandez can coach. His run with Team Canada in 2023, taking them to the bronze medal at the FIBA World Cup, helped get him an NBA head coaching job. And the Nets had to pull out all of the stops in order to get his team to lose during their tanking years. Just look at the top 15 players in minutes from his 2025 team, led by Jalen Wilson and Keon Johnson. It was a miracle that he got them to 26 wins. 

The Nets no longer have an incentive to tank. The new lottery rules have made that strategy pointless, and the Rockets can swap picks with them in the 2027 draft. Brooklyn has also added a good scorer in Julius Randle and a great point guard prospect in Mikel Brown Jr., giving Fernandez more talent to work with.  

Brooklyn has a chance to surprise a lot of folks. If they do, it will be because of Fernandez' brilliant coaching acumen. 

Indiana: Pacers will win the championship

We're going bold here, and what could be more bold than the Pacers winning a championship? 

The Pacers are a forgotten team despite leading at halftime of Game 7 of the Finals the last time Tyrese Haliburton was on the floor. This team could be even better.

Indiana still has all of their Finals rotation players on their roster aside from Myles Turner and Bennedict Mathurin. Ivica Zubac is an upgrade on paper at center, and Kelly Oubre fits the style that Rick Carlisle wants to play better than Mathurin ever did. 

It has generally been a mistake to overlook Carlisle teams. He's the best tactician in the league. He could get this group to over perform expectations again.