The NBA season is just over a month away, and we're ramping up our season preview offerings with a look at the most important players on every team, division by division. These aren't necessarily the best players on each team — they're the pivot points, the ones who could make the biggest difference between success and 82 games of grinding frustration.
Chicago Bulls — Matas Buzelis
This is clearly a transition year for the Bulls — although you could plausibly say that about every recent iteration of the team, transitioning from one mediocre version to the next. But things are set up for especially big changes in the near future. Six players expected to see big minutes for them this season — Zach Collins, Nikola Vucevic, Kevin Huerter, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Jevon Carter — will hit free agency at the end of the season.
They just signed Josh Giddey to a four-year extension, but the drawn-out process certainly didn't inspire optimism that he'd play out that entire deal in Chicago. Look at their books heading into the 2027-28 season, and they only pieces still locked in are Giddey, Patrick Williams, Noa Essengue, a team option on Tre Jones and a team option on Matas Buzelis.
All that is to say, it's not clear exactly what the Bulls are building around for the future, and Buzelis is probably the most intriguing option. He averaged a modest 8.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.9 blocks per game, shooting 36.1 percent from beyond the arc as a rookie. But he was increasingly impressive as the season went along, and there is good reason to think he could take a leap this season.
Buzelis has great size and mobility on the wing. He competes at the defensive end, hits open jumpers and can handle the ball. He's still figuring out how to read the defense once he gets past the first defender, but he draws a ton of fouls, and you can see the outlines of a strong creator. In the best case scenario, he and Giddey continue to build chemistry, he becomes a more polished scorer and creator and looks like he could be a primary offensive threat. If that doesn't happen, the Bulls are once again staring at a blank slate and desperately trying to summon a workable vision of the future.
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Cleveland Cavaliers — De'Andre Hunter
On paper, Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen might be the most intimidating quartet in the league. There are clear weaknesses, but their distinct strengths are so overwhelming that it often doesn't matter. It didn't matter much as they cruised to 64 regular season wins, the second-most in the regular season and second-most in franchise history. What that group was on the floor together, they outscored opponents by an average of 9.8 points per 100 possessions.
But you already know what happened next — a gentleman's sweep at the hands of the Pacers in the Eastern Conference semis. Garland was injured, but even in the five games he played, the Cavs were outscored by 11 points per 100 possessions with their Big 4 on the court.
What the Cavs need is a fifth, not just to perfect the core lineup, but to balance things out even more when they have to dip into their bench. Isaac Okoro wasn't the answer. Max Strus wasn't enough. Caris LeVert wasn't the right fit. They're hoping De'Andre Hunter will be. Hunter averaged 14.3 points and 4.2 rebounds per game, hitting 42.6 percent of his 3s after the Cavs acquired him from the Hawks at the deadline. He's a terrific spot-up shooter, provides complementary creation, and is by far the best defender on the roster who doesn't play center. On paper, he's the perfect finishing touch to that lineup.
The Cavs were plus-18.5 points per 100 possessions when he was the fifth-man with their core four in the regular season. The problem is that group only played 39 minutes together and just six in the postseason. The Cavs need to stay healthy, and that may mean using their depth. But they also need to know what works and be ready to lean on it when it matters most — Garland, Mitchell, Hunter, Mobley, Allen — that's their recipe for winning it all.
Detroit Pistons — Jaden Ivey
The turnaround of the Detroit Pistons was one of the best stories in the league last season, but they run into a brick wall in the playoffs, struggling to replicate their regular-season offensive efficiency in a six-game loss to the Knicks. Cade Cunningham put up big numbers but struggled with efficiency and the lack of complementary creation put an enormous load on him.
It's a problem the Pistons are hoping a healthy Jaden Ivey can fix this season.
Ivey played just 30 games last year, before a broken leg ended his breakout third season early. When he went down, Ivey was averaging 17.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists, shooting 46 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from beyond the arc — and in just under 30 minutes per game. Shooting efficiency was the biggest flaw in his game across his first two seasons, but he really seemed to have turned the corner with a 67.4 effective field goal percentage on catch-and-shoot attempts. His pull-up game was still a work in progress, but his speed and strength in transition and the halfcourt give the Pistons an offensive dimension they didn't have last year.
Expectations are sky-high for the Pistons this season, especially with big questions marks surrounding East competitors like the 76ers, Bucks, Pacers and Celtics. Their big offseason upgrades are to the supporting cast — Duncan Robinson and Caris LeVert replacing Malik Beasley and Tim Hardaway Jr.. If they're going to hit another level, it's going to be Ivey who takes them there.
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Indiana Pacers — Bennedict Mathurin
The Pacers' ceiling without Tyrese Haliburton is indisputably lower, but I think their floor will be a lot higher than people expect. TJ McConnell and Andrew Nembhard can keep things moving and their system is so turbocharged at this point, TK
If anyone on this roster can lift the ceiling of this team in Haliburton's absence, it's Mathurin. He's already established himself as a legitimate microwave scorer — putting up an average of 15.9 points per game across his first three seasons, despite never averaging more than 30 minutes per game and just barely starting over a third of his games. Per 36 minutes, he's averaged 20.2 points on a 56.9 true shooting percentage over a three-year sample.
The kid can get buckets.
For the past few seasons, that scoring has been decidedly complementary, but that won't be the case this season and there's every reason to think he can do it with more defensive attention. The number that I keep coming back to is his career free-throw rate of 0.409. To put that in perspective — it's about the same as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander last season.
Mathurin his demonstrated a consistent ability to get to the line, and he's done it for long enough that it's not a mirage. Last season, only four players — Paolo Banchero, Karl-Anthony Towns, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Edwards — had at least 500 drives and drew fouls on a higher percentage of them. His mark of 12.1 percent was higher than Jimmy Butler, Zion Williamson, Luka Dončić, Jayson Tatum, SGA, James Harden or Ja Morant.
It may not be the most aesthetically pleasing offensive approach, but his ability to create free throws out of static halfcourt possessions is special and could really lift Indiana through stretches when fastbreak buckets are hard to come by. Stylistically, he's a very different offensive player, but his scoring ability has the potential to explode and keep the Pacers in the mix at the top of the East.
Milwaukee Bucks — Giannis Antetokounmpo
I've been trying to get creative with these capsules, looking for players who represent a pivot point for reach team, not necessarily just taking the best player, the load-bearing star. For the Bucks, it's all Giannis — he is the best player, shoulders an enormous load and indisputably represents their pivot point.
Giannis will turn 31 in December, but he's still one of the four- or five-best players in the league. And the core that helped him lead the Bucks to their first title in 50 years is almost completely gone — Myles Turner in for Brook Lopez, Kyle Kuzma in for Khris Middleton, Gary Trent Jr. in for Jrue Holiday, Cole Anthony in for Donte DiVincenzo, Gary Harris in for Pat Connaughton, 30-year-old Bobby Portis in for 25-year-old Bobby Portis.
Those are downgrades across the board, some bigger than others. This only works for the Bucks if they can catch lightning in a bottle, take advantage of injuries to the Pacers, Celtics and 76ers, the self-destructive tendencies of the Knicks and Cavs and the relative inexperience of the Magic and Pistons. They have to somehow become more than the sum of their parts, and that only works if Giannis can make it happen.