Who are the projected celler dwellers of the 2025-2026 NBA season?

The NBA is offically back. Every new season has its projected league standings for all 30 teams. The standings are projected based off each teams previous season and their off season. With all of that mentioned, it is time to look ahead at the potential bottom feeders of the Eastern and Western Conference. The following teams are projected to miss the playoffs and the play in tournament. The Eastern Conference teams include the Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors and the Washington Wizards. The Western Conference teams include the New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacremento Kings and the Utah Jazz. Many of these teams lack the star power and quality role players to contend in their respective conferences. Some of these teams are built poorly while others built for the sole purpose of tanking. Teams like the Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors, New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix Suns, Portland Trail Blazers and  Sacremento Kings will look for bounce back seasons with the goal of taking a seasonal leap. The Play In Tournament could still be a possibly if these teams stay healthy and make strides. They will be the underdog in many of their matches and the odds will not be in their favor. Teams like the Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz will use the season solely for developing young players. Tanking will be an obvious factor for these four teams as the 2026 NBA Draft will be the focal point. The 2026 NBA Draft class is expected to be generational with young talents including future stars Cam Bozzer, Darryn Peterson and Aj Dybansta. All eyes will be on these prospects from the tanking teams. So will be the projected celler dwellers? Will there be any teams not mentioned taking a step back from last season’s success. It is only opening night with many months of basketball ahead.