EuroLeague 2026-27 power rankings: BeBasket top 10, bold predictions included

No EuroLeague game has been played yet for the 2026-27 season. The competition's own schedule lists 380 games, with the earliest tip-off set for September 24, 2026, and every one of them still marked as unplayed as of this writing on September 15. That means any ranking published today cannot rest on results, standings or box scores.

What follows is BeBasket's own top 10, built instead on what clubs have actually done since the spring: who they signed, who they hired on the bench, who they kept, and where they finished last season. It is deliberately an editorial call, not a statistical projection, and it is built to challenge — not simply repeat — the previews already published elsewhere this summer.

How we built this ranking

Two mainstream previews set the tone for the summer, published within days of one another in early August. One flipped several of the league's biggest names compared to the other, most notably swapping the order of Olympiacos and Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens at the very top and dropping Real Madrid all the way to sixth.

BeBasket's ranking leans on four criteria: the volume and quality of offseason recruitment, coaching continuity or change, where a club finished the previous season, and how the specialized press is already framing the summer. Official transfer records confirm nine arrivals across six clubs this offseason, from Elie Okobo and Jaron Blossomgame at Dubai Basketball to Mikael Jantunen at Real Madrid and Maxwell Lewis at Zalgiris Kaunas — each dated and logged as official between June and August 2026.

Where BeBasket differs from the existing previews, it is called out directly below. The clearest divergences involve Anadolu Efes Istanbul, ranked higher here than elsewhere, and Real Madrid, ranked lower than one mainstream forecast because of the scale of its summer turnover.

Panathinaikos and Olympiacos separate themselves at the top

Both mainstream previews agree on one thing: nobody else is close to these two clubs. BeBasket agrees, and settles the order with Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens first, Olympiacos Piraeus second — while one preview had the reigning champion at number one.

The case for Panathinaikos starts with the bench. The impact of brining in Zeljko Obradovic is having it's effect as more stars are arriving, with the most recent being Sylvain Francisco.

The team is already being called the best offseason on paper, so far, and it all started with the arrival of coach [Zeljko] Obradovic... and the cherry on top was Francisco. The Greens also made waves in the European market—and beyond—with the additions of Yabusele, Fall, Badio, and Bonga.

Olympiacos counters with continuity and a marquee backcourt addition. They kept their championship-winning roster almost entirely intact and added even more talent to the backcourt that will be anchored by Rising Star of the Year Jean Montero and the same head coach for a seventh consecutive season.

Olympiacos is the defending champs and they added Jean Montero to already very solid backcourt. Between a proven coach retooling a champion and Obradovic building a superteam, BeBasket gives the Greek capital's other green giant the nod for first, with Olympiacos a very close second.

Fenerbahce holds, Dubai Basketball rises

Fenerbahce Istanbul lands third here, matching both mainstream previews. Saras Jasikevicius for guided his team to the Final Four six seasons in a row. This year's challenge will be integrating nine new players, most of them are experienced stars — the club's official signing of Marcus Bingham Jr. this July. In total, eleven departures and nine arrivals and there will be adjustments made for losing players like Biberovic and De Colo.

Dubai Basketball takes fourth, and this is where BeBasket parts ways with other mainstream previews, which have the club down at sixth. They have one of the highest budgets in Euroleague, so an expensive roster, filled with experienced players, and one of the best tacticians on the bench. The list of additions cited elsewhere — Elie Okobo, Jaron Blossomgame, Mamadi Diakite and Davion Mintz joining what was already an a solid first year squad — reads like a top-four case.

Official transfer records confirm Okobo and Blossomgame both signed in mid-July 2026. BeBasket sides with the more bullish read here: this is a top-four roster, not a sixth-place one.

Anadolu Efes jumps the mainstream queue, Hapoel Tel Aviv stays put

This is BeBasket's boldest call. Both mainstream previews slotted Anadolu Efes Istanbul seventh. BeBasket puts the Turkish club fifth, ahead of Zalgiris, Crvena Zvezda and Milano, on the strength of a genuinely reloaded roster and a coach finally getting a normal offseason. Head coach Pablo Laso will get a full season and the team has already signed Mike James, Matt Strazel and Dario Saric.

They did however, lose Shane Larkin and it marks the end of an era. Signing Mike James certainly guarantees excitement and experience in big EuroLeague competition. Official records add Santiago Yusta and Daron Russell to the club's confirmed 2026 arrivals, deepening a roster both previews already praised without moving it up their lists.

Hapoel Tel Aviv holds at sixth, matching the fifth spot from one preview closely enough that BeBasket sees no reason to move it. That preview noted last season, Hapoel spared no expense to build a winner as a EuroLeague debutant. There is also another readon to be optimistic: with a real offseason and preperation, Micic won't be as rusty this year as was this past year.

Real Madrid slides after a summer of departures

Real Madrid is BeBasket's other major divergence from the mainstream consensus, landing seventh. The arrival of Coach [Pedro] Martinez and Los Blancos' track record equate to confidence that this team will be at least a lock for the playoffs but the departures of Mario Hezonja and Trey Lyles who leave behind a huge offensive void will have to be addressed. Pedro Martinez takes over a group that will need time to build a new identity even with veterans like Campazzo, Llull, Tavares and Deck keeping parts of their old identity intact. Official records confirm just one notable arrival so far, Mikael Jantunen, signed on July 23. That is not enough continuity for BeBasket to match the more optimistic forecast of other previews, so the Spanish club settles just outside the top six.

Zalgiris, Crvena Zvezda and Milano round out our top 10

Zalgiris Kaunas takes eighth on the strength of one player. Jonas Valanciunas in the paint and a dynamic rebuilt backcourt,and if he can stay healthy, everything changes for Zalgiris.

Few teams in Europe can match his impact in the paint. Official records confirm the club also added Maxwell Lewis in June, giving the roster another piece around Valanciunas.

Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade lands ninth, built on continuity rather than turnover. Much of last season's roster is back and Coach Navarro is a proven winner. That combination of a settled roster and a coach both previews rate highly is enough to keep the Belgrade club inside BeBasket's top 10, even without a marquee summer arrival on record.

Armani Olimpia Milano completes the list at 10th. The signings of two-time champion Alec Peters and his former teammate Moses Wright show that the team made some great additions to the team however, they also lost some key players. Official transfer records confirm Devon Hall and Jalen Cole also joined the Italian club in early July, adding depth behind the two headline names even as departures elsewhere keep Milano's ceiling in question.

None of this settles anything, of course. The whole point of a preseason ranking built on transfers and coaching hires is that it gets tested the moment the ball goes up on September 24, and BeBasket's bets on Dubai Basketball and Anadolu Efes will look very different once the standings start to fill in.