Every NBA offseason is now a great realignment event. Long-time contenders topple, flame out in desperation, or foreshadow their near demise with sweaty over-investment. Insurgents take their ground; as those ahead of them run out of the finite gunpowder that the league front office allows them, teams on the come-up only just begin to use theirs. Yes, this cosmic gumbo is made between franchises every single summer, because the powers that be have made it so.

Last week, I detailed how the last two champions are dealing with this annual slide-and-rise, with the Boston Celtics accepting their ho-hum fate by selling off core pieces, while the Oklahoma City Thunder begin to strap the financial time-bomb to their potentially dynastic roster—Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, since then, has been signed to one of the most lucrative contracts in the sport’s history.

Over the past few days, the third-most recent champ has re-entered the fray. The Denver Nuggets, after two years of seven-game series exits in the second round, have addressed their glaring depth deficiency. Out are Michael Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook, who get replaced by Cam Johnson and Bruce Brown. Backing them up, now, are Jonas Valanciunas and Tim Hardaway Jr., who extend the Nuggets rotation to a length it didn’t even demonstrate when they won it all. Should any of the Nuggets young prospects take a step forward in 2025-26, they could be among the deepest teams in the league.

It could easily be argued that the only reason a champion can afford to beef up like this is because they avoided doing exactly that for two seasons, instead starving in the way that salary-cap rules demand. The Milwaukee Bucks, now far from their own golden season, have never accepted this induced diminution, fighting against the rules with everything they’ve got. What that means, now, is that they’ve waived the badly injured Damian Lillard, and decided to pay off his salary in $22 million installments over the next five seasons, with each installment counting against their books.

In exchange for this drastic measure, the Bucks get the short-term financial leeway needed to sign free agent center Myles Turner. Turner will replace the outgoing Brook Lopez, who’s slowed down a lot since the glory of 2021, and is now a reserve for the Los Angeles Clippers. Turner is a fascinating, high-octane complement in the front court for Giannis Antetokounmpo, but his addition plugs only a few of the many Bucks holes that have formed during their struggle against modern NBA reality.

Any move made to keep Giannis from fleeing, however, seems to be acceptable practice for the Milwaukee front office. Ever since they traded a huge wad of assets to get Jrue Holiday five years ago, when Antetokounmpo was first exhibiting signs of competitive restlessness, the Bucks have shown no modicum of restraint in their year-to-year pursuit of extra basketball ammunition. As a result, Giannis and Turner will now start alongside three players far beneath their level of play. Barring a miraculous rise from one of Milwaukee’s many afterthought players, we’re about to see how far Giannis and Turner can drag a team on their own.

Two Eastern Conference teams much earlier in this process were the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic. Both took steps into a more intermediate phase of contention with recent moves, starting with the Magic’s acquisition of Desmond Bane. They got him in exchange for four draft picks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, their three-and-D guard who wasn’t. It was a lot of future to sacrifice for the present, but the move screamed self-awareness and maturity for a team that many were starting to wonder about, after they failed to seriously address their staleness in the backcourt for as long as they did.

Bane is an ace shooting hulk, and will pair nicely with Jalen Suggs at point guard, with both backed up by the Magic grabbing Tyus Jones off the market—exactly the kind of super-shrewd organizer who they need for second units (or, unfortunately, for the inevitable injuries to Suggs, who plays like a man at war). Just like that, the Magic have gone from first-round fodder to sincere Eastern contenders. 

Right near them in the standings should be the Hawks, who look to have completed their reimagination around Trae Young. Size, length, and athleticism have been key to this process; Atlanta has now surrounded the little play-making genius with teammates who can both maximize his vision and mask his defensive difficulties. Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, and Zaccharie Risacher were already there, but now Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Kristraps Porzingis join them, along with the rookie they drafted locally from Georgia, Asa Newell, a huge and rangy forward. In case this group of mega-athletes can’t shoot well enough, Atlanta also added one of the sharpest three-point men alive, in Luke Kennard.

The clear winners among all active teams this July, though, are the Houston Rockets. Their moves have most significantly altered the big-picture overview for 2025-26, because they started with a trade for Kevin Durant. Who better to add to a strong defensive team that struggled with half-court offense than… one of the greatest half-court scorers of all-time. Houston paid a relatively small price for that privilege, shedding Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and a draft pick that the Phoenix Suns have already used.

Durant will be flanked by more size, strength, and youth than he has known since at least a decade ago. There’s no reason to think the Rockets can’t still be one of the best defenses in the NBA, especially after they kept their off-season moving with the additions of Dorian Finney-Smith (who can replace Brooks in everything but temperament) and Clint Capela, a superb option at third-string center, who will help them keep Steven Adams fresh for the postseason. Houston has timed their transactional aggression perfectly, and decidedly won this round of realignment.