As the 2025-26 NBA season quickly approaches, the Sportscasting crew has teamed up to posit one important question for every team this year. Up next is the Pacific Division.
Let’s get to it.
Read our other Division previews: Atlantic / Central / Southeast
Golden State Warriors: Can They Compete Athletically?
After acquiring Jimmy Butler III last season, the Golden State Warriors played like a great NBA team. They were 23-7 with him in the regular season and, no disrespect to the Minnesota Timberwolves, likely would have been favored to make the Western Conference Finals had Butler and Stephen Curry not suffered major injuries.
Justifiably, they enter 2025-26 with sky-high hopes — as should always be the case with Curry on the roster. But my goodness are they old; with Al Horford now in tow, the average age of their projected starting lineup is over 35! Even if De’Anthony Melton starts over Buddy Hield, that wouldn’t exactly transform them into spring chickens.
On Tuesday night, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported the Warriors agreed to a two-year contract with restricted free agent Jonathan Kuminga, graciously ending their passive aggressive saga. Their final roster is starting to take shape. Let’s assume Kuminga’s prolonged, awkward contract situation doesn’t affect the locker room or his effort. Do the Warriors then have the legs to compete with the most physical, athletic teams in the league? Not just in a high-level playoff game, but do they have the bodies and offensive creation to get their aging stars through an 82-game season with juice in the tank?
As such, it is a truly make-or-break year for the youngins in the bay, not just Kuminga but Moses Moody and Brandin Podziemski as well. Even though the latter two guys aren’t top-shelf NBA athletes, the Warriors will be more primed to compete in April if they can get offensive contributions across the board in January. -Lucas Kaplan
Los Angeles Clippers: What Does Bradley Beal Have Left In The Tank?
The Los Angeles Clippers enjoyed a rather busy, high-profile offseason of transactions. Norman Powell has departed, dealt out in a three-team deal netting Los Angeles the versatile big man John Collins. Veterans Brook Lopez and Chris Paul were signed to fortify the bench. To replace Powell, the Clippers added Bradley Beal, who was bought out by the Phoenix Suns and subsequently hit free agency before landing in the City of Angels.
Powell enjoyed a career-best season with the Clippers in 2024-25. He averaged 22 points per game, garnered serious All-Star consideration and was particularly vital offensively as Kawhi Leonard initially sat out with injury then required time rounding into form. But Powell endured knee and hamstring injuries in the second half of the year, struggled adapting to a lesser role following Leonard’s return and labored in Los Angeles’ first-round defeat to the Denver Nuggets.
So, as the 32-year-old Powell entered the final year of his contract seeking a lucrative extension, the Clippers opted to move on and diversify their front-court. It was a completely reasonable decision. They needed more front-court versatility and Powell’s best years could now be behind him as he turns 33 in March. But it doesn’t change Powell’s importance to Los Angeles with his shooting, driving and complementary creation. When on, the electric swingman was a vital cog in the Clippers’ success.
He’s no longer around, replaced by the 32-year-old Beal, who’s navigated his own injury woes and is past his peak powers. The difference, though, is all that comes with a two-year, $11 million price tag rather than Powell’s one-year, $20 million deal on top of whatever extension they had potentially reached. Yet while frugality is a nice feather in the (salary) cap, it doesn’t automatically indicate an on-court win.
Can Beal emulate Powell’s services alongside Leonard, James Harden and Ivica Zubac?
For numerous reasons, Beal’s tenure with the Phoenix Suns was a disaster. He missed 58 games across two seasons, the Suns won zero playoff games and Beal didn’t come anywhere close to performing like someone on a max contract. But his numbers — 17.6 points per game, 41 percent from three, 56 percent on twos, 60 percent true shooting — were far from disastrous and suggest a quality player remains.
Now, he’s making $5.5 million per year on a team with much greater roster balance. Yet he’s also entering year 14 and sits roughly half a decade removed from his prime. His commendable box-score production in Phoenix minimizes substantial defensive foibles and some discomfort operating as an ancillary option offensively.
Los Angeles’ defensive infrastructure is vastly better, which could offer improved insulation there. But Beal must assimilate well as a background option to provide the wide-ranging scoring pop he can conceivably embed and be the effective predecessor to Powell the Clippers envision him as. -Jackson Frank
Los Angeles Lakers: Can Their Defense Keep Opposing Offenses Out Of The Paint?
The Los Angeles Lakers played the second half of their 2024-25 season without a truly positive center on the roster. It’s a worthy tradeoff for acquiring Luka Doncic in his prime but Jaxson Hayes as the Lakers’ only playable center isn’t up to contending standards. During the playoffs, head coach JJ Redick elected to tighten his rotation and largely iced out Hayes, riding smaller lineups in a five-game, first-round loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Los Angeles’s aggressive, physical defense relied on heavy gap help and switching to keep opponents away from the basket. The Lakers ranked 14th in opponent rim frequency but were 25th in opponent rim efficiency. Though they held Minnesota to a frigid 59.8 percent at the hoop in that series, they ranked last of any postseason team in rim frequency, which especially suffered from Hayes’s lack of playing time.
Deandre Ayton was their only notable offseason addition to the center room and while he has a few strengths, paint protection isn’t one of them. Across his career, Ayton has almost no influence on opposing offenses’ rim frequency (minus-0.1 percent on-off swing) but his efficiency footprint isn’t promising (plus-2.8 percent). Ayton’s strength and lateral mobility suit him well for individual defense but his inconsistent motor and processing make team concepts and rim protection much more challenging.
Despite Hayes’s flaws, Redick could have leaned on him a bit more against Minnesota and more options at center (even if the options are mediocre) could inspire more lineup creativity. Marcus Smart isn’t the defender he once was but he’s one of the better paint-protecting guards of all-time while Jake LaRavia’s size and positioning add some defensive value.
Winning in an NBA dominated by skilled giants almost always requires great center play and paint scoring/protection. The Lakers will need as much as they can get from Ayton, Hayes and LeBron James in what may be his last season as a pro. Los Angeles’s offense should be excellent. Can its defense hold up enough to fuel a postseason run? -Ben Pfeifer
Phoenix Suns: Is Devin Booker Still An All-NBA-Caliber Player?
Since the turn of the decade, Devin Booker has looked like a borderline All-NBA player or better. That was until last season, when Booker failed to even make an All-Star team. This phenomenon is best understood by tracking his Estimated Plus-Minus (EPM) over the years. From 2022-24, Booker finished among the top 23 in EPM. But last season, he fell all the way to 60th.
Was this just a blip in the radar? Or, are Booker’s best days behind him?
That second question may seem silly for someone entering their age-29 season but keep in mind Booker has already played 10 NBA seasons.
The bow in Booker’s quiver at this point is he spent last season on a roster ill-fitted to amplify his skill-set. Now, while they no longer have Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, they do have a more balanced unit.
Dillon Brooks is a good three-and-D player with a history of making bad teams respectable. Ryan Dunn will be another year older. Mark Williams and Khaman Maluach are promising rim-running, rim-protecting bigs. Jalen Green is better at getting to the rim than Durant and Beal.
The Phoenix Suns probably won’t be very good next year but Booker will have more spacing, defense and rim pressure around him than he did last year. That should lead to a bounce-back campaign for the smooth two-guard, unless he really is aging out of his prime. -Mat Issa
Sacramento Kings: How Wild Is Head Coach Doug Christie Willing To Get?
Toward the end of Game 3 of the Los Angeles Clippers’ 2023 first-round series against the Phoenix Suns, head coach Tyronn Lue, desperate for answers with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George down for the count, decided to field an interesting lineup. Russell Westbrook, Norman Powell, Bones Hyland, Eric Gordon and Terrence Mann. Not a single center in the lineup. Heck, they didn’t even have someone over 6 feet 5 inches.
The Clippers ended up losing the series but the lineup intrigued me. I wanted to see micro-ball further explored. And as I wrote earlier this offseason, I think the Sacramento Kings are the perfect team to test the limits of this style.
Outside of Domantas Sabonis (who, by the way, is an undersized center), almost all of the Kings’ best players are guards — or at least function like guards (Zach LaVine, Malik Monk, DeMar DeRozan, Dennis Schroder, Keon Ellis and Devin Carter).
As the old adage goes, “KYP” (Know Your Personnel). Build a philosophy around the pieces you have. In this case, the Kings have a ton of smaller and speedier players. So, it would behoove them to try and get those players as many minutes as possible. Hence the opportunity for micro-ball lineups, particularly when Sabonis is on the bench.
But is Christie daring enough to deviate from the status quo? As last season taught us, coaching is about unforgiving a profession as it gets. Christie is probably safer if he goes to more traditional lineups. However, with this roster, that approach won’t get the Kings very far. If Christie wants to maximize this team’s ceiling, he’ll need to enter uncharted territory. -Mat Issa
