July 12, 2026
By: Kevin
Stats for the 2025-26 NBA Season and Legacy Scores have been updated!
Along with that, I had to award playoff points to players who made it to the Finals and Conference Semifinals. I want to give a short explanation on why I came to the decisions I did beginning with the Eastern Confernce runner up Cleveland Cavaliers.
If you would have asked me which two teams were going to make the East Finals I would have picked the Knicks and the Cavs. It should not be surprising that is where we ultimately ended up but that is not necessarliy how it felt in the moment.The Eastern Conference playoffs provided mostly ugly basketball along with the Knicks steamroller. The last men standing in the Knicks' pile of rubble was the Cavs. The Cavs did not cover themselves in glory during this run. Cleveland needed seven games to get past a plucky Toronto Raptors team and an exposed Detroit Pistons team that predictably regressed from their top seeded 60 win regular season in the playoffs.
During this run, James Harden had his typical playoff struggles and injuries kept Donovan Mitchell from carrying his typical scoring load but a weakened East kept Cleveland alive. Evan Mobley had some moments but demonstrated that he is definitely not a star that can carry a team in the playoffs. Jarrett Allen had a typically productive playoffs in his role, but he ultimately is a supporting piece for any championship contender.
With Harden and Mitchell's respective struggles, I decided the best choice was to designate Allen and Mobley as Co-Best Players during this run. I did not feel that either of the Cleveland bigs were stellar enough to be considered the team's best player, so co-best player seemed like the correct call. Mitchell and Harden still earn major contributor designations along with Max Strus, Sam Merrill, and Dean Wade who each ate up lots of minutes for Cleveland and were relatively productive. Finally, Jaylon Tyson and Dennis Schroeder get minor contributor designations as players that played substantial minutes but were not particularly efficient.
Things did not quite go to plan for the title favorite Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC started off the season incredibly hot accounting for a 24-1 record and looked like an all-time great team. Then their biggest obstacle showed up in the form of Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs that defeated the 2025 champs in the NBA Cup Semifinals. This would be foreshadowing as the only team in the West that proved strong enough to take the Thunder down was the Spurs who beat OKC 3 out of 4 times in the regular season and then 4 out of 7 in the West Finals. One of the big culprits for this was a banged up Jalen Williams. Not having a second shot creator due to a recurring hanstring injury really hampered the offense leading to inefficient scoring from league MVP Shai Gilgeious-Alexander. This was further exacerbated when emerging playmaker Ajay Mitchell also went down early in the West Finals. These injuries very possibly cost the Thunder back-to-back championships. All Star forward Chet Holmgren also shrank from the moment in the face of old nemesis Wembanyama, leading the the Thunder's exit.
Shai, The two-time league MVP, obviously is the straw that stirs the drink for this team and rightfully earns the best player designation. Choosing a second option is complicated, however. If healthy, J-Dub would have been the choice but injuries held him back leading to a minor contributor tag. Mitchell was shaping up to take that spot but his injury cut him down. Holmgren also had his stuggles making me uncomfortable giving him the nod, so ultimately I chose to not give anyone the second option designation. Holmgren and Mitchell were tagged as major contributors along with Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein. Along with J-Dub, the other Jaylin Williams, Isaiah Joe, Lu Dort, and Jared McCain all received minor contributor tags. Dort and McCain played lots of minutes but were inefficient in them and J-Wil and Joe were productive in their lesser minutes.
The precoscious Spurs nearly took home the title, but Jalen Brunson and the Knicks' fourth quarter heroics kept the dream from being realized. After having sizeable leads in each game of the FInals, San Antonio ultimately fell to New York 4-1. That final series score obviously doesn't do this Spurs team justice. A few more breaks and a little more experience would have likely resulted in them taking home the Larry O'Brien Trophy for the sixth time in franchise history.
Leading the charge of course is Victor Wembanyama, a talent unlike this game has ever seen. Even as a 22 year old, Victor is almost the certainly the greatest defensive player in the history of the NBA. His defense and budding offense almost brought the championship back to the river walk and clearly earns the Best Player moniker. Perhaps the the biggest surprise was the player who receives the second option title, Dylan Harper. Harper, the rookie guard, established himself as a shot creator and finisher in these playoffs including a 40 point game in the first round against the Blazers. This team had many major contributors including Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, and Julian Champagnie. The complicated decisions came in the form of injury-plagued De'Aaron Fox and Wemby backup Luke Kornet, who ultimately I decided to give major contributor tags. Fox struggled in the playoffs capped off by his meltdown at the end of game four but I believe he played enough minutes and was just productive enough to get over the line. Kornet, on the other hand, did not play that many minutes but his role in spelling Wemby was critical to this stretch. While it is true that San Antonio lost the Wemby-less minutes, it could have been much worse with a less capable backup center, and who can forget his chasedown block of Isaiah Hartenstein in game seven of the West Finals. Finally, 2026 Sixth-Man-Of-The-Year Keldon Johnson, bench sparkplug Carter Bryant, and reliable veteran Harrison Barnes receive minor contributor tags. Johnson struggled in the playoffs but came through in game seven against OKC.
The Knicks finally did it, ending a drought of 53 years. After being down 2-1 in the first round against Atlanta, New York found top gear and cruised to the finals winning 13 straight games through game two of the NBA Finals. It was more of a struggle in the Finals but ultimately, they got it done winning the series 4-1.
This ensemble ended up being more than the sum of its parts and that made it challenging to give out designations. At different points in the playoffs I considered different formations of how to assign credit to the players for the team's success. Early on in the Playoffs it was Karl-Anthony Towns' playmaking that led the Knicks but the deeper they went the more second team All-NBA guard Jalen Brunson asserted himself as the top dog at Madison Square Garden. Considering this, I decided the best formulation was to assign Brunson as option 1a and Towns as option 1b. Star role player wing OG Anunoby was also incredible in these playoffs capped off with his put back tip shot to win game four of the Finals. He easily could have earned a second option tag but decided to keep it clean and just mark him as a major contributor since I already have decided on the 1a/1b model. Of course, fellow starters Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart also receive major contributors along with key reserves Mitchell Robinson and the surprising Landry Shamet, who had a career run in this playoffs. Jose Alvarado became a New York legend in his limited minutes and he along with lesser factors Miles McBride and Jordan Clarkson each earned minor contributor distinctions.