In the NBA's second apron era, deep rosters rarely stay deep for long. Team identities can flip quickly, and money can force painful divorces. This summer alone, the 2026 champion New York Knicks lost beloved backup center Mitchell Robinson, the 2025 champion Oklahoma City Thunder shed three rotation players in cost-cutting trades, and the 2024 champion Boston Celtics traded away Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Timberwolves sacrificed frontcourt depth to assemble a tantalizing backcourt duo, and LeBron James said goodbye to the Los Angeles Lakers after eight seasons.
With the offseason dust settled and the preseason in full swing, ESPN's Ben Golliver takes stock of all 30 teams. Salary cap rules prevent teams from aggregating talent, so everybody is missing something, even the leading title contenders. The question is what each team's biggest hole is.
The Atlanta Hawks have built a balanced rotation with ballhandling, outside shooting and on-ball defense. Their biggest question is whether Jalen Johnson can grow from All-Star to superstar. His regular-season numbers dipped in a first-round series loss to the Knicks, but he is only 24. Atlanta also holds flexibility and draft assets to pursue a big-name addition later.
The Boston Celtics face a different problem. Trading Jaylen Brown for Paul George made sense financially, but it created two immediate issues. George, 36, played less than half as many minutes as Brown last season, and he attempted only 111 free throws in 2025-26 compared with Brown's 536. Boston ranked last in free throw attempts even though Brown ranked fifth in the NBA. Tatum is the most obvious candidate to fill the gap, but he is still returning from a 2025 Achilles injury.
Source: ESPN NBA · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing