“Wild Card” has taken on an unnecessarily negative connotation these days. “Oh, [insert human person] is a bit of a wild card” means you can’t rely on them. If your friend is a wild card, they’re probably liable to flake on you at the last second. If your dog is a wild card, your carpets might need replacing. If you are a wild card … well, you probably don’t know you’re one.
But wild cards are actually much more valuable than that. In some games like Rummikub (a favorite of mine) wild cards are the most powerful pieces in the game. The true definition of the competitive wild card, like the players we’re about to affix this label to in the NBA, is something that can take many forms and could swing the game for one team or another. That doesn’t mean wild cards aren’t risky; you get stuck with one in a hand that can’t use it? That could swing the game the other way (not in Rummikub, though, wilds are basically always good in Rummikub … look, it’s not a perfect comp).
There are obviously a number of wild cards in the NBA, but I didn’t want this list to be full of Cam Johnsons and Collin Murray-Boyleses, as while their play could swing a game, I think it’s unlikely to swing a season. These guys, meanwhile, could be the defining features of the 2026-2027 season, and their success or failure could be the difference between a ring and everyone getting fired.
Evan Mobley, Cleveland Cavaliers
Mobley is quickly becoming a divisive player, at least in my circles (they’re super cool circles). He is an elite defensive stopper but hasn’t made the offensive strides many hoped he would after such a promising first season. The “Garland-Mitchell-Mobley” trio looked like a seven-or-eight-year partnership, and it’s already over now that Darius Garland is in Los Angeles. He’s still been a positive, but Mobley just hasn’t been as effective with Donovan Mitchell as fellow big Jarrett Allen … which wouldn’t be a problem except oh my god he’s only in the second year of a 5-year $269 million contract.
It used to be true that you couldn’t overpay for stars; that is no longer the case with the second apron acting like an NBA hard cap. I was a Celtics writer when Boston gave Jaylen Brown over $300 million, and everyone (including me) just shrugged and said, “that’s what stars cost.” Not anymore. There is a real chance that the Cleveland Cavaliers massively overpaid Mobley if he can’t add more offense to his arsenal — it’ll be a tough pill to swallow if they did, given the financial commitment they just made to Mitchell. Tough enough to force yet another press of the post-LeBron Cleveland reset button? This season will be telling.
Bam Adebayo
Adebayo wasn’t a likely candidate to be in the World Wide Wild Cards Compendium until Giannis Antetokounmpo showed up and sent the expectations of the Miami Heat into orbit. But here we are. The 83-point man will have to be a complementary and efficient part of a new-look team that will no longer run through him in the frontcourt. Is that something he’s ready to deal with?
I don’t dislike Adebayo as a player. Some point to his efficiency decreasing, but a lot of that is because he’s shooting more 3-pointers in the last few years. His true shooting has dropped along with it, and he saw the lowest effective field goal percentage of his career last season; he took more shots than ever, and it didn’t necessarily make the Heat better. But it was a different kind of season, and he’s shown an ability to be an excellent second/third option behind Jimmy Butler. Could he be that again with Giannis?
I’m not sure, and we won’t know until we see how the duo is deployed. But Adebayo’s wild card status comes from the overflowing hope of this fanbase after a franchise-saving trade. They still are maybe the fourth or fifth best team in the East, though, and getting higher than that depends largely on Bam.
Jayson Tatum
Because of my aforementioned Boston Celtics writer past, Tatum is probably the player I’ve written the most total words about. He has, somehow, been underrated throughout his career despite sparkling achievements; he was the best player on a championship team, a six-time All-Star, four-time All-NBA first team. He’s already a mortal lock to make the Hall of Fame, and yet I find myself having to explain to Celtics fans to this day that he is significantly better than Jaylen Brown and no, they weren’t 1A, 1B: Tatum was number one, Brown was two.
The Celtics agree with me. Despite coming off an Achilles tear, they reinvested in Tatum in the splashiest way they could: trading Brown for the less-ball-dominant Paul George and draft capital and spending the rest of the offseason acquiring players to surround Tatum with rather than recreate him. He’s not really a “wild card” like Mobley and Adebayo are — I am under no illusions about if Tatum is a superstar or not (he is) and no I’m not biased give me a break.
But this Celtics season has the potential to be super awkward for Tatum if Boston stumbles out of the gate and the now-loaded Philadelphia 76ers take off running. The Celtics exceeded all expectations last year with Jaylen Brown at the helm; yet Brad Stevens and the Celtics brass said “eh, Tatum is still way better,” and tripled down on that theory. I agree with them, but history will decide who’s right based on how Tatum plays. He’s a premium wild card, one that is shinier than the others. “Wild Card” by Christian Dior. That works.
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