As the Knicks and Nets enter their 2025-26 seasons on entirely opposite trajectories, the conference around them has taken a major step back. Multiple stars hurt or departed, few clear contenders in sight, and Brooklyn doesn’t even have much tanking competition.
Let’s dive into the Atlantic Division as a whole to see how they measure up to each other and a weakened Eastern Conference.
New York Knicks
Projected starters: Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mitchell Robinson
Offseason additions: Mike Brown taking over as head coach for Tom Thibodeau, Jordan Clarkson, Geurschon Yabusele,
Offseason departures: Precious Achiuwa
The Knicks face a depleted East after winning 51 games and finishing second last season, sporting a relatively unchanged on-court roster outside of some badly needed added depth. The big question for the regular season is how quickly and effectively the Knicks adopt their new system under their new head coach.
Philadelphia 76ers
Projected starters: Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, Kelly Oubre Jr., Paul George, Joel Embiid
Offseason additions: VJ Edgecombe, Trendon Watford
Offseason departures: Yabusele
Philly is this season’s ultimate anomaly, with possibilities ranging from the high lottery to the Finals. Step one, as always for this team, is health, as their big three of Maxey, George and Embiid only shared the court for 15 games and under 300 minutes last year.
Just playing together and building chemistry would elevate them on talent alone above much of the East, but if they want to make real noise in the playoffs they’ll need a lot more to go right. Most expect bad luck or bad construction (no bigs, small wings) to derail this team long before that, but in a frail East, you can’t ignore this squad’s upside.
Boston Celtics
Projected starters: Anfernee Simons, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta
Offseason additions: Simons
Offseason departures: Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Luke Kornet
What a difference a year makes. One season removed from a championship, the Celtics sold their team, lost to the Knicks, lost their star player for the year and blew the team up in a soft reset.
It’s a skeleton crew compared to what they had, but don’t doubt the mettle and makeup of this team. Brown is still a high-level All-Star in his own right, Simons is a scoring marvel who finally gets a chance in a winning culture, and White and Payton Pritchard are still very much here.
They likely can’t compete too deep in the playoffs, but they’ll be a constant annoyance during the regular season and a “crap, really?” matchup in the Play-In and/or first round. However, one big question coming in is how quickly Brown can recover from a preseason hamstring injury.
Toronto Raptors
Projected starters: Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl
Offseason additions: Collin-Murray Boyles
The team of everybody’s favorite ex-Knicks, New York’s partner in lawfare and colleague in the Andrea Bargnani trade, your Toronto Raptors. They may snatch Philly’s “anomaly” belt quickly, boasting a talented but odd-fitting group of hungry young players vying for the playoffs.
Their big splash came last season when they traded for an injured Ingram; now we get to see him in action alongside this core of prospects, for which this is a pivotal year. The oddsmakers and experts don’t expect much more than a hearty Play-In threat, with a much more variable floor.
Brooklyn Nets
Projected starters: Egor Demin, Cam Thomas, Terance Mann, Michael Porter Jr., Nic Claxton
Offseason additions: Haywood Highsmith, Kobe Bufkin, five first-round draft picks
Offseason departures: Cam Johnson
Has Sean Marks “Jordi-proofed” (as per The Ringer’s Zach Lowe) this team adequately enough? The ultimate goal clearly isn’t winning, and running an entire point guard rotation out of rookies is one way to keep from that, but put good coaching and good talent together, and you run some risk.
There’s much more at play here, of course. Thomas is in a contract year for an organization that doesn’t want him. Many of these veterans could be shipped via trade, and everybody wants to see one of these prospects blow up.
Any way you run it, don’t expect Brooklyn to threaten the division or conference.
