On Friday morning, when the barista at my local coffee shop leaned over the counter, wrinkled his face into a hideous demonic leer, and hissed “Ennnnnn … Beeeeee … Ayyyyyy” at me, I will confess, dear Reader, that I had no idea what the hell he was getting at (and my tip reflected as much!). A few minutes later, when a grotesque gnarled sewer rat, dripping with rank nameless effluvium, poked its one-eyed head out of a storm drain’s black shadows and chittered “NBANBANBA” at me as I strolled by with my quadruple espresso, I did what any sensible pedestrian would do: hitched up my pants legs and ran screeching for a rabies booster and an ampule of Holy Water. And when Defector’s own Patrick Redford messaged me in Slack later that afternoon to say, insanely, “Hey man, don’t you think we should probably put together a 2025–26 NBA preview some time soon, for the sports and culture website we co-own and operate,” I did the only advisable thing: crushed the ampule of Holy Water on my laptop’s screen and frisbeed the whole accursed thing into a river.
Unrelatedly, later it occurred to me to wonder whether the folks over at the National Basketball Association were planning on staging another one of their “season” exhibitions this year, and whether, if they were, we at Defector mightn’t write up some thoughts and expectations ahead of that, for the edification and entertainment of our loyal paying readership. As it turns out: No! They are not having a season this year. Alas, we will never get to see the Washington Wizards win the 2026 Finals, for that reason alone. But here is what the basketball enthusiasts at Defector might have produced in advance of the season, if there were going to be one, which there is not—a rich and thoughtful list of some teams and players and storylines we’re excited or intrigued by, and looking forward to following as the season develops—presented here for your enjoyment. – Albert Burneko
