Power Rankings, Preseason 2026: Brodie Still Owns the Board

Power Rankings, Preseason 2026: Brodie Still Owns the Board

brodiedean8 is No. 1 until somebody gives me a basketball reason to move him.

That is the first ruling from the Preseason Title Equity Board, our annual attempt to answer the only question that matters before anybody has played a game: if I had to choose one roster to survive the entire season and still scare me in March, who gets picked first? Last season matters, roster construction matters, what you did this summer matters, and I am absolutely docking you if your plan requires six different things to break perfectly.

The interesting part is what happened underneath him. alecb5 is defending the title with an absurd starting group. goochshot won 18 games and then changed the shape of the roster anyway. Nighthawk2334 already proved he can eliminate the league's regular-season monster. Three new GMs entered with no record to protect and no history to hide behind. BigSuge basically rebuilt the idea of BigSuge in one summer.

So this is our first real ordering of the ten.

The Title Equity Tier

1. HeHateMe, brodiedean8

You want to punish brodiedean8 for the playoff exit, go ahead. I did that already. We all did that already. The part we cannot ignore is that the roster still starts Nikola Jokić, Cade Cunningham, Trae Young, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Amen Thompson and Stephon Castle before you even get to Julius Randle and Derik Queen.

That is the best combination of proven top-end fantasy power and usable depth on the board.

The summer was strange because Brodie kept trading pieces while still looking like a team that should probably stop touching things. He sent Jrue Holiday, Brandon Ingram, Ousmane Dieng, Egor Dëmin, alecb5's 2026 third and 44Colt's 2027 third for Trae Young. Later he sent Davion Mitchell, Moussa Diabaté and his 2029 first and third for Julius Randle and Isaiah Collier. He also added Yves Missi for Cameron Carr and his own 2029 second. There is an actual pattern here: he keeps converting future flexibility and supporting pieces into players he wants now.

The counter-case is easy. The roster is older in obvious places, and Isaiah Collier was reportedly still dealing with a right hamstring strain as of September 29. But Collier is not carrying this ranking, and neither is any one bench piece. Brodie can survive misses because Jokić, Cade, Trae and Amen sit at the center of the roster.

Look. The playoff scar matters when we rank legacies. It matters less when we rank October rosters.

Still first.

2. P. Giddey, alecb5

alecb5 has the cleanest argument for No. 1 because he actually has the trophy and then spent the summer adding Tyrese Haliburton and Walker Kessler to Luka Dončić, Jaylen Brown, Bam Adebayo, Jalen Johnson and Josh Giddey.

You could stop reading there.

The Haliburton deal cost Tyler Herro, Chet Holmgren and alecb5's 2028 first, and I understand anyone who thinks that price should push Alec below the safest contender tier. Chet is a gigantic dynasty piece. That future first belongs to matticus808 now. You cannot keep spending future value forever and expect nobody to notice.

But Alec's entire franchise philosophy keeps landing on the same answer: turn uncertainty into a smaller number of players you trust. He sent Jaden Ivey plus four picks for Jaylen Brown last season. He made the other famous deal we have already covered. Now Haliburton and Kessler come back into the picture together.

There is also a tiny Josh Giddey preseason note worth watching. He reportedly underwent surgery to clean up lingering issues heading into the season. That matters because Alec has enough creation around him to absorb a slower opening, which is exactly why stacked rosters matter. You can take the long view with one player when the rest of your lineup looks like this.

Could Alec repeat? Obviously.

Would I rather have Brodie's total roster for the full season? Barely.

That is the gap.

3. Shep and Co., goochshot

This is where the rankings get fun because goochshot has the best argument for being underrated and the best argument for having made his own life harder.

Last season gave us 18-3. This summer gave us Trey Murphy for goochshot's 2026 first and 2027 first, then Scottie Barnes, Paolo Banchero, Kon Knueppel and the pick that became Caleb Wilson for Victor Wembanyama plus three 2026 picks that have already conveyed.

That is a franchise choosing breadth over the biggest single asset in the deal.

I like the roster more than I expected to. James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Maxey, Trey Murphy, Scottie Barnes, Paolo Banchero, Kon Knueppel and Caleb Wilson gives Gooch a ridiculous number of ways to win a fantasy week. Mitchell's Cleveland situation reportedly changed when Darius Garland was moved for Harden, and that matters here because Gooch now rosters both Mitchell and Harden. If their real NBA pairing sustains high fantasy value for both, Gooch gets the benefit twice. If it compresses one of them, he feels that twice too.

That is the hidden risk.

The other objection is that Victor Wembanyama now sits on someone else's roster, and yes, we are going to stare at that every time Lil Sweet has a big week. But the return matters. Barnes, Banchero, Knueppel and Caleb Wilson give Gooch multiple valuable pieces instead of one centerpiece.

I have him third because Brodie and Alec can beat you with elite concentration. Gooch is trying to beat you with waves.

It can work.

The Teams Nobody Wants in March

4. Shane Gillis Alexander, Nighthawk2334

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the center. Alperen Sengun, Jaren Jackson, Lauri Markkanen, Jamal Murray, Austin Reaves, Deni Avdija, Jalen Duren and Tyler Herro form the rest of the starting group. There is no mystery about what Nighthawk is trying to do.

He also has the one result that should make every favorite uncomfortable. Nighthawk knocked brodiedean8 out in Round 1 last season.

This summer's notable move was straightforward too. He sent Nikola Jović, Tre Johnson and his 2026 and 2027 seconds for Tyler Herro and Neemias Queta. Herro goes directly into a lineup that already had enough frontcourt strength and needed another high-level guard.

The counter-case is ceiling. Do you take Shai plus this roster over Luka plus Alec's roster? No. Over Jokić, Cade and Brodie's depth? No. Over Gooch's pile of top-line options? I still say no.

But Nighthawk is the first team where I start thinking about matchup discomfort.

Nobody wants this draw.

5. The Injury Report, 44Colt

I keep staring at The Injury Report and reaching the same conclusion: this roster should be better than fifth, which is exactly why fifth feels right.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, Evan Mobley, Kawhi Leonard, Brandon Ingram, Miles Bridges, Jabari Smith and Keyonte George is a real starting group. The bench has DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Kristaps Porziņģis, Nic Claxton, Keegan Murray and Anthony Black.

Colt also added Miles Bridges, Nic Claxton and his own 2027 second from matticus808 in exchange for four later picks.

The talent case is obvious. The history case is annoying. Colt went 16-5 in 2024, then 13-8 last season, and still enters Year 3 without the thing that would move him into the top tier.

This is where our Title Equity Board becomes cruel. At some point, roster quality stops earning theoretical credit and starts creating expectations.

Could Colt finish first? Yes.

Would that surprise me? Not really.

Would another respectable season without a title surprise me? Even less.

Fifth until he forces us to stop doing this.

The New-GM Wild Cards

6. Antidote, avery228

avery228 gets the highest ranking of the three new GMs because Anthony Edwards, Jalen Brunson, Franz Wagner, Pascal Siakam, Ivica Zubac, Derrick White and Josh Hart gives him the easiest roster to understand immediately.

Then Cameron Boozer, the first pick in this league's 2026 rookie draft, gives him the upside swing.

Avery has no prior record here, so there is no résumé adjustment. We rank the roster. That is it.

The interesting thing is how little he had to force after the dispersal draft. Edwards went first overall in that draft, then Brunson, Wagner, Zubac and Siakam became the core of the initial build. He later sent his 2026 second to Brodie for Onyeka Okongwu and Jaylon Tyson, and Okongwu remains on the roster.

The strongest objection is that the roster has plenty of good players and fewer obvious top-three-in-the-league type fantasy anchors than the teams above it. Fine. That is why Avery is sixth.

But if Boozer immediately belongs in the weekly lineup and Edwards, Brunson and Wagner hold the top end, Avery is going to skip the normal expansion-team stage entirely.

There is no rebuilding grace period here.

7. Wemby and friends, lilsweet96

Victor Wembanyama is how you break a ranking.

You can spend ten minutes studying every roster, charting age, depth and picks, then reach Lil Sweet and stare at Wemby sitting next to Domantas Sabonis, De'Aaron Fox, Dyson Daniels, Mikal Bridges, Michael Porter, Ace Bailey and Bennedict Mathurin and start moving the team up two spots because one player makes the whole exercise feel stupid.

Reportedly, Wembanyama remains one of the NBA's brightest young stars. In dynasty terms, that gives Lil Sweet the kind of foundational player that lets a new GM take chances everywhere else.

And Lil Sweet took chances.

He sent Scottie Barnes, Paolo Banchero, Kon Knueppel and matticus808's 2026 first to Gooch for Wembanyama plus picks that later became part of the rookie-draft reshuffling. He sent Kyrie Irving and Darius Garland to BigSuge and got Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Matas Buzelis, two already-used 2026 picks and BigSuge's 2027 first. He drafted Nate Ament at No. 10 and still holds future firsts from alecb5 and BigSuge.

That last part matters. This roster is competitive now without closing the future.

So why seventh? The top five have clearer proven league-winning structures, and Avery's first lineup feels deeper to me entering opening night.

But Lil Sweet has the easiest path to making this ranking look dumb.

Wemby does that.

The Volatility Department

8. Flat Earth Advocates, BigSuge

There is no team I trust less and no team I want to rank three spots higher more than BigSuge.

Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Ja Morant, Kyrie Irving, LaMelo Ball, Jalen Green, Alex Sarr and VJ Edgecombe is absurd on paper. Darius Garland is sitting on the bench. Myles Turner is sitting on the bench. Nikola Vučević is sitting on the bench.

BigSuge spent the summer changing the entire shape of the roster. He received Ja Morant and Jalen Green from Natebarrett5 for three picks. He sent Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Matas Buzelis, two 2026 picks and his 2027 first for Kyrie Irving and Darius Garland. He had already built toward this point through earlier deals that brought in Anthony Davis.

The reason he is eighth is not talent. Talent puts him near fourth.

The problem is roster concentration without enough proof that this version works together in our format. BigSuge went 6-15 last season, but that record belongs to a different roster and should not be stapled onto Morant, Irving, Garland and the rest of the new additions. The summer changed too much.

So we have a pure projection team.

My guess? BigSuge finishes higher than eighth.

My ranking? Make him prove the overhaul solved something.

9. Coopa Troopas, Natebarrett5

Natebarrett5 is building the roster I would most want if the standings stopped mattering for two years.

They do not.

Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, AJ Dybantsa, Brandon Miller, Donovan Clingan, Cedric Coward, Scoot Henderson, Kyshawn George, Bub Carrington, Mikel Brown, Darius Acuff and Yaxel Lendeborg is a ridiculous collection of young dynasty bets. Nate added Dybantsa at No. 3 in the rookie draft, Acuff at No. 5, Brown at No. 12 and Lendeborg at No. 13.

He also turned Ja Morant and Jalen Green into the picks that became Dybantsa and Lendeborg, plus a 2027 second that later went out in the Collin Murray-Boyles deal. That is exactly the sort of lineage we care about. Two established players became multiple shots at a younger core.

The issue is the present. Joel Embiid, Zion Williamson and Rudy Gobert give Nate veteran production around the kids, but this roster is still asking a huge amount from young players.

The counterargument is last season. Nate went 10-11 before this rookie class even arrived. Fair. That is why this is ninth instead of a rebuild basement.

But the second-order question is obvious: if Dybantsa, Flagg, Harper and the rest develop quickly, Nate eventually has to decide when the collection phase ends.

That decision is coming.

The Long Game

10. Sam Presti’s Burner, matticus808

Putting matticus808 tenth feels ridiculous until you remember these are 2026 power rankings, not 2028 power rankings.

Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren are the center of the build. Cason Wallace came in for three future seconds. Darryn Peterson went No. 2 in the rookie draft, Kingston Flemings went No. 7, Morez Johnson went No. 9, Dailyn Swain went No. 11 and Labaron Philon went No. 16. Matticus also holds future firsts from goochshot, alecb5 and 44Colt.

This is the league's clearest long-horizon roster.

The problem is that the starting lineup currently asks an enormous amount from players with no Da League track record because Matticus himself has no prior season here. Peterson, Flemings, Swain, Morez Johnson and Ajay Mitchell all sit in the starting group alongside Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Cason Wallace and Jared McCain.

Jalen Williams reportedly entered camp after never getting proper rest for his hamstring last season because of repeated return attempts. That is worth monitoring because he is one of the few players here Matticus cannot easily replace with equivalent proven production.

I understand the upside case. I might love this roster in two years.

But the Preseason Title Equity Board does not give credit for trophies you plan to win later.

Somebody has to be tenth.

Matticus may eventually own half the future.

Right now, Brodie owns the board.