The Thunder have a huge target on their backs after they won the 2024-25 NBA championship last June, but not everyone is equipped to take them down. Some teams are seemingly stuck in their rebuilding phase, as their fans feel that they are far from reaching the end of the tunnel.
Among those rebuilding squads are the Wizards, Hornets, Nets, and Jazz. It’s no coincidence that many analysts see the Eastern Conference as the weaker division, as three out of the four teams we’ll highlight today are from there, and the NBA 2025 odds don’t offer any hope.
Without further ado, allow SBOTOP to analyse why fans shouldn’t expect much from these four teams, as we take a look at their roster and their offseason moves.
Wizards
The Wizards are coming off yet another losing season after finishing with an 18-64 record in 2024-25. To make matters worse, they were not rewarded for their tanking efforts, as they only had the sixth overall pick of this summer’s NBA Draft, which they used to select Tre Johnson from Texas.
Washington oversaw a huge roster turnover this offseason. They acquired CJ McCollum, Cam Whitmore, Kelly Olynyk (who eventually went to the Spurs), Dillon Jones, and Malaki Branham, while parting ways with Jordan Poole, Anthony Gill, Richaun Holmes, Saddiq Bey, and Marcus Smart. The Wizards brought back Marvin Bagley III to a one-year deal and are finding a way to offload Khris Middleton, who exercised his $33.3 million player option this upcoming campaign.
The objective for the Wizards is to see more progress from their youngsters. Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly are competing for France in the ongoing FIBA EuroBasket, while Kyshawn George guided Canada to a fourth-place finish in the FIBA AmeriCup.
Hornets
The Hornets had the league’s third-worst record at 19-63, and they hope to have a healthier campaign to be better this upcoming season. Injuries to young stars LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller doomed them, with the former only playing 47 games and the latter appearing only 27 times last term.
Because of this, Charlotte were active during this summer’s NBA Draft. They had the fourth and 29th picks to select Kon Knueppel and Liam McNeeley, and the two youngsters guided the franchise to winning its first trophy of any sort in the Summer League.
Furthermore, the Hornets added some key veterans this offseason by trading for Collin Sexton and Pat Connaughton and signing Mason Plumlee and Spencer Dinwiddie to separate one-year contracts. They also re-signed Tre Mann to a three-year extension. In return, they parted ways with Vasilije Micic, Jusuf Nurkic, Mark Williams, and Josh Okogie.
Nets
After finishing with a 26-56 record last season, the Nets had an unprecedented five first-round picks in this summer’s NBA Draft, which they used to select unproven prospects. With the eighth, 19th, 22nd, 26th, and 27th picks, they took Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf, and Danny Wolf. It’ll be interesting to see how they’ll adapt to the league.
In other NBA 2025 news, Brooklyn traded for Michael Porter Jr., Haywood Highsmith, and Terance Mann via separate deals while re-signing Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams to two-year extensions. In return, they parted ways with Cameron Johnson, D’Angelo Russell, and Trendon Watford.
A successful 2025-26 campaign for the Nets is a breakout year for Porter, who has been with the Nuggets in the first seven years of his NBA career. The one-time NBA champion is expected to shoulder the heavy offencive load for the team this upcoming season onwards.
Jazz
The Jazz had the worst record in the NBA last season, 17-65, and as a result, they had a Top 5 pick that they used to select Ace Bailey from Rutgers. Bailey, who was reluctant to go to Utah, showed glimpses of his star potential during the Summer League, which should give hope to the team’s supporters.
This summer, Utah offloaded Jordan Clarkson, John Collins, Collin Sexton, Johnny Juzang, and Jaden Springer while acquiring Kyle Anderson, Kevin Love, Georges Niang, and Jusuf Nurkic. We won’t be surprised if the Jazz also offload either Anderson, Love, Niang, and Nurkic at some point next season since they’re going all-in on their youth movement.
Utah still have a star in Lauri Markkanen and top youngsters in Walker Kessler, Keyonte George, Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier, Brice Sensabaugh, Walter Clayton Jr., and Kyle Filipowski. Markkanen’s stock continues to rise for playing well for Finland in the FIBA EuroBasket tournament. However, he will be hard to move because of his huge contract.
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