The final part of the 2025-2026 NBA preview features teams looking to find where they stand on the roster, along with a couple of teams looking to make a deep run into the postseason.
The final part of the 2025-2026 NBA preview is here, and it features the Southwest Division. This division consists of the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, and the San Antonio Spurs. A lot of interesting things can happen in this division with the already experienced volatility in the health of players and the overall improvement of rosters.
Dallas Mavericks
PG: Kyrie Irving | D’Angelo Russell | Brandon Williams | Jaden Hardy
SG: Klay Thompson | Caleb Martin | Dante Exum
SF: Cooper Flagg | Naji Marshall | Max Christie | Ryan Nembhard
PF: Anthony Davis | PJ Washington | Miles Kelly | Moussa Cisse
C: Dereck Lively | Daniel Gafford | Dwight Powell
The Mavericks are coming off a season in which I don’t think anyone associated with the franchise predicted would happen. The Luke Doncic trade will serve as a time stamp for both franchises involved in the blockbuster move last season before the trade deadline. Since then, Dallas has had some of the best luck in the lottery, landing the number 1 overall pick in the draft that gifted them the rights to draft Cooper Flagg, who is the ROTY favorite heading into the season. While Kyrie Irving will be out for a majority of the season as he recovers from a torn ACL he suffered last year. The team added D’Angelo Russell in free agency, but outside of his addition, there’s been little turnover with the roster since the end of the season. The Mavericks will look to remain competitive while Kyrie returns to play. The roster is deep and offers a ton of size and length all over the floor. The things to keep an eye on will be how much the Mavericks use Anthony Davis at the 4 spot and how much point guard Cooper Flagg will play.
Houston Rockets
PG: Reed Sheppard | Aaron Holiday | JD Davidson | Fred VanVleet
SG: Amen Thompson | Josh Okogie | Kevon Harris | Isaiah Crawford
SF: Kevin Durant | Jae’Sean Tate | Chris Matthews | Dorian Finney-Smith
PF: Jabari Smith | Tari Eason | Jeff Green
C: Alperen Sengun | Clint Capela | Steven Adams
The Rockets had one of the best offseasons. The addition of Kevin Durant is the headline of the names added, but they said some crucial depth in the form of Clint Capela and Dorian Finney-Smith. The team also resigned Steven Adams, Jae’Sean Tate, Aaron Holiday, and Jeff Green this offseason. In addition, Fred VanVleet renegotiated his contract with the team and signed Jabari Smith Jr. to his rookie-scale extension worth $122 million over the next 5 seasons. Unfortunately, for the Rockets, Fred VanVleet suffered a torn ACL in his offseason workouts and will miss the rest of the season. This will emphasize the development of Reed Sheppard, the team’s 3rd overall pick a season ago. Kevin Durant is also eligible to sign a veteran extension with the team, and Tari Eason is still available to sign his rookie extension with the team as well. Houston will look to compete with the best teams in the Western Conference and will need to navigate the difficulties of not having VanVleet available to play this season. The Rockets also have a luxury of shiny draft assets they can use to lure in a ready-to-play point guard with experience if they decide to go another direction outside of what’s on the current roster.
Memphis Grizzlies
PG: Ja Morant | Ty Jerome | Javon Small | Braxton Key
SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope | Scotty Pippen Jr. | Cam Spencer | Nate Hinton
SF: Jaylen Wells | Vince Williams | John Konchar | PJ Hall
PF: Santi Aldama | GG Jackson | Cedric Coward | Brandon Clarke
C: Jaren Jackson Jr. | Jock Landale | Olivier-Maxence Prosper | Lawson Lovering | Zach Edey
The Memphis Grizzlies started last season on a nice win streak and confidently gained the ability to believe they belonged amongst the best in the Western Conference. However, a unique offensive design wasn’t enough to keep management from making a head coaching change just 2 weeks before the playoffs, and the Grizzlies were bounced in the first round of the playoffs. The offseason allowed Memphis to redesign the roster by trading away Desmond Bane for 4 round picks and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The team also added Ty Jerome in free agency and re-signed Santo Aldama and Cam Spencer to new contracts with the team. The Grizzlies currently have some injuries to the front court with Jaren Jackson Jr recovering from offseason surgery, and 2nd year center Zach Edey suffered an ankle injury over the summer that needed surgery, as he will miss the start of the regular season. It’ll be a challenging start to the season for first-year head coach Tuomas Iisalo.
New Orleans Pelicans
PG: Jordan Poole | Jose Alvarado | Trey Alexander | Dejounte Murray
SG: Herb Jones | Jeremiah Fears | Bryce McGowens | Jaden Springer
SF: Trey Murphy | Jordan Hawkins | Micah Peavy
PF: Zion Williamson | Saddiq Bey | Karlo Matkovic | Christian Shumate
C: Yves Missi | Derik Queen | Hunter Dickinson | Kevon Looney
The Pelicans had one of the most disappointing seasons for the franchise last season. The team was ravaged by injuries from the start of the season, and it continued throughout the year. Point guard Dejounte Murray will miss the start of the season and the rest of 2025 with an Achilles injury. The team did have some roster turnover, though. They added point guard Jordan Poole in a trade with the Wizards, sending them CJ McCollum. In the draft, they added Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen as well. They made a trade with the Hawks to get Queen and gave up an unprotected first-round pick in 2026 to make it happen. The Pelicans added Kevon Looney in free agency to round out the new additions to the team for the season. The Pelicans are at an interesting point in their franchise. The win-now trade puts them in jeopardy of missing out on a potential lottery pick if they struggle this season. Overall, head coach Willie Green will need to be at his best to protect against the fear of losing out on a generational player in the draft next season.
San Antonio Spurs
PG: Stephon Castle | Dylan Harper | De’Aaron Fox | Jordan McLaughlin
SG: Devin Vassell | Carter Bryant | David Jones | Adam Flagler
SF: Julian Champagnie | Keldon Johnson | Harrison Ingram | Stanly Umude | Lindy Waters
PF: Harrison Barnes | Kelly Olynyk | Riley Minix | Jeremy Sochan
C: Victor Wembanyama | Luke Kornet | Bismack Biyombo | Micah Potter
The Spurs had a nice offseason of adding around one of the best players in the NBA in Victor Wembanyama. Wembanyama suffered a season-ending injury, as he was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder shortly after the All-Star break last year. In free agency, the team added Luke Kornet on a 4-year $44 million deal and acquired the rights to Kelly Olynyk via trade with the Wizards. They gained De’Aaron Fox’s commitment for at least the next 5 years with a max contract extension that was signed this past offseason. The team also added a couple of lottery picks in Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant through the draft this past season as well. This will be the first season in nearly 30 years that Greg Popovich has not been the head coach of the team. He transitioned into the front office for the team after suffering a health scare towards the beginning of last season. Mitch Johnson was officially appointed interim head coach and had the interim tag removed shortly into the offseason. He’ll be at the helm of a young and hungry team looking to make the postseason for the first time in 5 seasons.
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