Biggest Winners and Losers from 2025 NBA Preseason

The 2025 NBA preseason is winding down, and the real campaign is right around the corner.

And while everything we've seen in these exhibitions deserves the typical exhibition caveats—rotations are weird, starters aren't playing a ton, teams are experimenting and so on—the last few weeks have produced some pretty obvious winners and losers.

The biggest examples on both sides of that line can be found below.

Cooper Flagg's basic production (11.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks) from this preseason doesn't leap off the screen, but several individual plays certainly have.

From pull-up threes to explosive rim protection to solid playmaking and passing, Flagg has shown that he can be a utility player capable of filling up any of the major statistical categories.

He may not collect as many 30-point games as LeBron James did as a rookie. His highlights may not draw as many eyeballs as Victor Wembanyama's did in his first year. But it looks like Flagg will steadily collect a bunch of workmanlike lines around 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists, a block and a steal.

And on a team with as much veteran talent as the Dallas Mavericks, that will still be enough to land Flagg Rookie of the Year honors and get analysts thinking about an Andrei Kirilenko-like ceiling.

The Los Angeles Lakers going 1-4 is a bit of a bummer in itself. Wins and losses don't mean much before the regular season starts, but you'd certainly prefer to see the former.

But the real problem, of course, is the lengthening timeline of LeBron James' recovery from sciatica. The latest reporting has LeBron targeting a mid-November return.

If we assume that means he'll be back after L.A.'s five-game road trip from November 8 through November 15, he'll have missed the first 14 games of the season.

L.A.'s schedule isn't a murderer's row till then, but if they look underwhelming to that point, you have to wonder if LeBron will be even more conservative about his return.

Beyond all of that, simply being able to see him play alongside Luka Dončić and new center Deandre Ayton would've been instructive. And it now looks like we have to wait several weeks to see how the dynamic between those three will work.

On the bright side, this could give Lakers fans a good opportunity to see what life beyond LeBron will look like. But if this team wants to compete for a title now, it needs a fully healthy and engaged LeBron.

The Houston Rockets are 3-0 this preseason, but that's just the beginning of the good news.

The wing rotation is seemingly scoring at will. Jabari Smith Jr., Kevin Durant and Amen Thompson are all over 17 points per game and under 26 minutes per game. In just 24.1 minutes, Alperen Şengün is averaging 8.3 assists. Reed Sheppard has played real minutes in all three games and is shooting 42.9 percent from deep.

A few weeks ago, news of Fred VanVleet's torn ACL put a little damper on an otherwise stellar offseason that saw this team plug KD into Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks' rotation minutes.

But during these preseason contests, the VanVleet-less Rockets have looked well-balanced, loaded with talent and ready to contend for a title without their starting point guard.

It's hard to pull the issues of the Philadelphia 76ers and Memphis Grizzlies apart.

Both are relying heavily on players who've long struggled to stay on the floor. Both have not come close to getting their full rosters together for any of this preseason.

For Philly, Joel Embiid and Paul George still haven't debuted. And there doesn't appear to be a firm timeline for a return to action for either.

It's encouraging to see videos of Embiid playing one-on-one in practice, but it will be hard to gauge what kind of season the Sixers are in for until he and George both play consistently for a few weeks in a row.

Same goes for the Grizzlies. Jaren Jackson Jr. shockingly returned way ahead of schedule for this preseason, but there's still no timetable for Ja. And that means the beginning of the season could feature a lot of shots for inexperienced (or relatively inexperienced) players like Cedric Coward and Jaylen Wells.

There's still a hint of mystery about the starting frontcourt of the Miami Heat. They could go a bit smaller and more perimeter-oriented with Nikola Jović and Bam Adebayo. Or, they could slide Bam to the 4 and start second-year center Kel'el Ware alongside him.

Either way, it looks like the 21-year-old big is primed for a breakout.

In just 22.4 minutes per game this preseason, Ware averaged 17.4 points, 11.0 rebounds and 1.6 threes, while shooting 44.4 percent from deep.

He looks like a dynamic play finisher (from both the inside and out) who can make Miami a little bigger and more athletic than it would be with the Jović frontcourt. Those two, of course, can spend some time together too, which could potentially make the middle of the floor wide open for slashers.

Miami's preseason record (0-5) and an injury for Tyler Herro made it a pretty easy candidate to be considered a "Loser" in this exercise, but Ware is giving Heat fans enough hope to keep them from that distinction.

Beyond being 0-3 in these exhibition games, the Sacramento Kings doubled down on their already inexplicable roster construction by adding Russell Westbrook this preseason.

It feels too early for Russ to be done in the NBA. He was a solid bench contributor for the Denver Nuggets last season, but he just doesn't make a lot of sense for the Kings.

Sacramento was already set to play some mighty cramped offensive lineups with DeMar DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis. Adding Westbrook to those two will make the team far too easy to defend and put too much pressure on the floor-spacing abilities of Zach LaVine and Keegan Murray.

On top of that, the Kings don't have a ton of young talent to generate some hope for the future. And the ones who are there (like Murray, Keon Ellis and Nique Clifford) have more of a battle for playing time and scoring opportunities with every addition of a post-prime veteran.

Sacramento needs to turn the page on this era. See what it can get for Sabonis, DeRozan and LaVine. Start over (again). Instead, it looks like the Kings are going to scratch and claw for a play-in berth.

After an offseason that featured more "violent" training, time spent with legendary bigs like Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin Garnett, a visit to NASA and a 10-day retreat with Shaolin monks, Victor Wembanyama looks ready to dominate the 2025-26 campaign.

In just 19.6 minutes, Wemby is averaging 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.0 steals.

If he maintains that kind of production into the regular season and with starter minutes, and if the San Antonio Spurs buck expectations and win close to 50 games, Wembanyama has a real chance to be an MVP candidate.

That may not be enough top Jokić or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but some third- or fourth-place votes could be in play for Wemby.

Before he was fired ahead of the 2025 postseason, former Denver Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth laid out an intriguing vision for longterm competitiveness under the league's new and more restricting collective bargaining agreement.

In short, Booth hoped to be able to find steals late in the draft and develop those players quickly enough to be contributors on their rookie contracts. He had at least one win (Christian Braun), but most of the rest of his picks weren't ready to help Jokić compete for championships right now.

So, the new front office (led by Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace) scrapped the idea and used the offseason to quickly add Cameron Johnson, Jonas Valančiūnas, Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr.

And this preseason, Denver's second unit (which has included time for Booth picks Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther) has looked far more competent than it did over the previous couple regular seasons.

If the Nuggets can win more of their non-Jokić stints than they historically have (over the last four years, Denver is plus-10.6 points per 100 possessions with Jokić on the floor and minus-8.7 with him off), Denver could be a dominant regular-season team.

After a hint of controversy (including his slide to the fifth overall pick and a perceived desire to wind up on a different team) accompanied Ace Bailey on his way to the Utah Jazz, no rookie did more to shift expectations this preseason.

Tendonitis in his knees has cost him some time, but Bailey averaged 16.0 points in 26.8 minutes, while shooting 58.8 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from deep.

Perhaps most importantly, it looks like the Jazz coaching staff has effectively streamlined Bailey's game in just a few short weeks.

Bailey is moving well off the ball, barely dribbling on his scoring opportunities and catching the ball ready to shoot.

With an underwhelming supporting cast at Rutgers (outside of Dylan Harper), Bailey often looked overburdened. In this Utah system, he once again looks like a potential superstar.