Northwest Division 2026-2027 preview: Oklahoma City defends, Minnesota swings big, Portland bets on two stars

The Northwest has rarely looked this unsettled heading into a new season. Oklahoma City is the reigning champion of 2024-2025, Denver still has Nikola Jokic, and Minnesota, Portland and Utah have all remade their rosters around new backcourts or new timelines. Preseason games tipped off on October 12, with Atlanta beating Oklahoma City 113-110 that night, according to NBA.com, ahead of the October 20 regular-season opener reported by Yahoo Sports.

Oklahoma City loses Dort in a cost-cutting move, but keeps the core that won it all

Oklahoma City's title defense already took a hit this summer, and it wasn't an injury. On July 19, 2026, the Thunder sent Luguentz Dort and Ryan Nembhard to the Atlanta Hawks in a three-team trade that also included the Dallas Mavericks, who landed Zaccharie Risacher. Oklahoma City's return was modest: three second-round picks, including one from 2027 and one from 2031, according to ESPN, Hoops Rumors, the New York Post and Blazersedge. Sam Presti, the team's president of basketball operations, called it a "financial decision," per Sports Business Journal, not a basketball judgment on a player who had started for seven seasons and helped deliver the 2024-2025 title.

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Dort's departure leaves a hole at the wing spot opposite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning regular-season MVP who averaged 31.1 points, 6.6 assists and 4.3 rebounds on 55.3% shooting in 2025-2026. Oklahoma City is the 2024-2025 champion but fell in Game 7 of the 2025-2026 Western Conference Finals to San Antonio, with the title going to New York. Jalen Williams, limited to 33 games last season by two wrist surgeries and an April sprain, and Chet Holmgren, who dropped from 17.1 points a night in the regular season to 10.5 against Victor Wembanyama's 19.3 in that same series, remain the other two pillars alongside Isaiah Hartenstein, who signed a three-year, $75 million extension.

Oklahoma City used its draft capital on Aday Mara, Bennett Stirtz and Otega Oweh, and also shed Aaron Wiggins (to Atlanta), Isaiah Joe (to Detroit) and Ousmane Dieng (to Charlotte) while bringing in Jared McCain from Philadelphia. Mark Daigneault enters his seventh season with the division's most talented core still in place, even if the exact replacement for Dort in the starting lineup remains unsettled.

Denver's Watson standoff ends in Cleveland, leaving Cameron Johnson to start

Denver's offseason drama has a resolution, and it isn't the one the Nuggets wanted. Peyton Watson, whose contract talks had dragged through the summer, signed a four-year, $88 million deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers via sign-and-trade on August 19, 2026, according to DenverSports.com. Denver had offered up to four years and $70 million with a team option in the final season, per Sports Illustrated and Yahoo Sports, but Watson and his camp wanted more — at one point reportedly weighing playing the season on his $6.5 million qualifying offer rather than accept Denver's number, per information relayed by Mile High Sports citing Marc Stein.

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The practical effect: Cameron Johnson, once floated as the fallback option if Watson walked, is now Denver's starting wing by default. The Nuggets did hold onto Spencer Jones, matching a two-year, $12 million offer sheet to keep him.

Jokic, the two-time reigning MVP, chose not to sign his extension this summer, instead waiting until 2027 for a potential $359.5 million deal. He missed four weeks in December 2025 with a hyperextended left knee. Jamal Murray, on a guaranteed $161.451 million contract, stays the starting point guard, Aaron Gordon holds down the four, and Christian Braun has become a fixture at guard. Denver also lost Jonas Valanciunas without finding a trade partner, leaving Marvin Bagley III and Zeke Nnaji as the only depth behind Jokic at center. David Adelman returns as full-time head coach after Denver's first-round playoff exit last spring.

Minnesota goes all-in on LaMelo Ball next to Anthony Edwards

Minnesota didn't tinker after its Western Conference Finals loss to San Antonio — it swung big. On June 25, 2026, the Timberwolves sent Naz Reid and draft picks to Charlotte for LaMelo Ball and Josh Green, a deal that eventually grew into a four-team structure with Brooklyn and Chicago. Brooklyn ended up with Julius Randle and the No. 28 pick, Chicago took Nic Claxton, and Minnesota walked away with its new backcourt centerpiece.

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Ball averaged 20.2 points and 7.1 assists over 74 games in Charlotte last season. He now runs alongside Anthony Edwards, who put up 27.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists on 39.0% shooting from 3-points and won MVP of the All-Star Game in February 2026. Edwards needs an All-NBA selection, a top-three MVP finish or a Defensive Player of the Year award this season to unlock a four-year, $301 million supermax, according to Yahoo Sports.

The projected starting five — Ball, Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Donte DiVincenzo and Rudy Gobert, who averaged 10.1 points and 10.8 rebounds on 65.8% shooting — leans hard into backcourt scoring. Ayo Dosunmu re-signed, and French big man Joan Beringer gets an expanded role. Chris Finch, entering his sixth full season with a 258-193 record in Minnesota, carries a payroll of $215,954,846, about $15.5 million over the luxury-tax line.

Portland bets on two healthy franchise players at once

Portland made the playoffs for the first time in five years in 2025-2026, finishing seventh in the West, and responded by doubling down on star power. On June 29, 2026, the Blazers acquired Ja Morant from Memphis for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray. Morant played just 21 games last season in Memphis, averaging 18.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists.

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He arrives alongside a returning Damian Lillard, who sat out the entire 2025-2026 season after rupturing his left Achilles tendon with the Milwaukee Bucks. Neither Morant's health history nor Lillard's recovery is a guarantee, which makes the projected starting five — Lillard, Morant, Toumani Camara, Deni Avdija and Donovan Clingan — one of the biggest variables in the division.

The young core that got Portland to the playoffs is intact: Avdija averaged 19.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists, Camara added 13.0 points and 5.1 rebounds, Shaedon Sharpe chipped in 13.5 points, and Clingan posted 11.2 points and 10.8 rebounds over 87 games. Robert Williams III signed an extension to stay. The franchise also brought in new head coach Micah Nori and a new ownership group over the summer, with media day scheduled for September 28.

Utah completes its rebuild with Jaren Jackson Jr. and the No. 2 pick

Utah is the one Northwest team not scrambling to win now. After four years of organized tanking, the Jazz enter 2026-2027 with 18 players under contract and a roster built for the first time with real competitive intent. The turn started on February 3, 2026, when Memphis sent Jaren Jackson Jr., John Konchar, Jock Landale and Vince Williams Jr. to Utah in an eight-player deal, with Memphis getting back Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang and three picks.

On July 1, 2026, Utah moved Walker Kessler to the Lakers for 2031 and 2033 picks and a 2028 swap, with Kessler reportedly signing a four-year, $130 million deal in Los Angeles. The Jazz then used the No. 2 pick in the 2026 draft on Kansas guard Darryn Peterson.

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Lauri Markkanen, who averaged 26.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists on 47.7% shooting last season, anchors a projected starting five of Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, Markkanen, Jackson Jr. and Jusuf Nurkic. Isaiah Collier, in his sophomore season, averaged 7.2 assists against 2.5 turnovers and recorded a 22-assist, 17-point game that made him the youngest player in league history with 20-plus assists in a game, according to KSL Sports. Will Hardy, head coach since June 2022, oversees a payroll of $178,017,268 against a $164.961 million salary cap — well under the $200.428 million luxury-tax threshold.

Predicted Northwest Division standings

1. Oklahoma City Thunder — Losing Dort hurts, and Jalen Williams' health is a real question, but the SGA-Holmgren-Hartenstein core remains the division's deepest and most talented group.

2. Denver Nuggets — Jokic alone keeps Denver in contention even after losing Watson to Cleveland, though the depth behind him is thinning.

3. Minnesota Timberwolves — The Ball-Edwards backcourt bet is high-upside, but it came at the cost of frontcourt depth.

4. Portland Trail Blazers — A new coach, a new owner and two star guards whose health is unproven make this the division's biggest wild card.

5. Utah Jazz — The rebuild is over on paper, with Jackson Jr., Markkanen and Peterson in place, but the Jazz are still the clear long shot in a division this top-heavy.