After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Eastern Conference · tip-off October 20

Brooklyn Nets

Our win estimate next to the market's, the last three seasons, who came and went, and the rotation we expect.

Our estimate

30 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 24 to 35 wins.

The market

26.5 wins

Where the Kalshi yes price for "wins or more" crosses 50%.

Last season

20-62

2025-26 · net rating -10.1 (29th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 3.6 wins above the market.

Treat the gap as a flag, not a verdict. In backtests on 2024-25 and 2025-26 (60 team-seasons) this kind of estimate missed a team's win total by 8.3 wins on average. Last season's wins pulled toward 41 missed by 9.0. Ratings built from games alone said 28 wins for this team.

Two ways to count wins

Our range against the market

The blue bar is the middle 80% of our simulated seasons. The orange line is the market's win total.

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 26.5 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 30, middle 80%: 24 to 35 Market 26.5

Where we think they finish in the East

Top 6: 0.1% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 6.6% Outside the top 10: 93%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
1094¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
1594¢ 98¢ 96¢ 100%
2078¢ 79¢ 79¢ 99%
2555¢ 57¢ 56¢ 89%
3035¢ 36¢ 36¢ 51%
3518¢ 25¢ 22¢ 12%
404¢ 18¢ 11¢ 1%
452¢ 13¢ 8¢ 0%
500¢ 8¢ n/a 0%
550¢ 6¢ n/a 0%
600¢ 4¢ n/a 0%

A strike with no bid is treated as unpriced. The market win total is a straight line between the two strikes that straddle 50%.

What the scoreboard said

The last three regular seasons

Ratings are points per 100 possessions. Possessions are estimated from box scores, so treat them as close, not exact. Ranks are out of 30.

2025-26 · 20-62 (28th in wins)

Points per game
105.930th
Allowed per game
115.917th
Offensive rating
106.930th
Defensive rating
116.926th
Net rating
-10.129th

2024-25 · 26-56 (25th in wins)

Points per game
105.129th
Allowed per game
112.211th
Offensive rating
106.828th
Defensive rating
114.022nd
Net rating
-7.226th

2023-24 · 32-50 (22nd in wins)

Points per game
110.425th
Allowed per game
113.315th
Offensive rating
111.223rd
Defensive rating
114.120th
Net rating
-2.922nd

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-5.0130th
Defense
+0.3619th
Net, games only
-5.3729th
Roster value
-3.48

Offense, defense and net are points per game against an average team, fitted on every completed game before tip-off (defense: lower is better). Roster value is the on-court net per 48 minutes of the players on the roster list, weighted by minutes.

Who came and who left

Offseason moves

Built from the DraftKings roster list and 2025-26 box scores. Players who left had at least 500 regular-season minutes here last season.

In (6)

  • Julius Randlefrom MIN
    33.1 min, 21.1 pts a game
  • Keon Ellisfrom CLE
    20.5 min, 6.7 pts a game
  • Moritz Wagnerfrom ORL
    11.9 min, 6.9 pts a game
3 moredepth and rookies
  • Joshua JeffersonRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Mikel Brown Jr.Rookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Tyler BilodeauRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (5)

  • Nic Claxtonnow with CHI
    27.8 min, 11.7 pts a game
  • Ziaire Williamsnow with LAL
    22.9 min, 10.2 pts a game
  • Jalen Wilsonnow with ATL
    15.9 min, 6.4 pts a game
  • Tyrese Martinnot on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    18.8 min, 7.3 pts a game
  • Cam Thomasnot on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    24.3 min, 15.6 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our DFS minutes projection and are not scaled to a 240-minute game. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Julius Randle New here F · age 31 · 32.4 projected min 2025-26: 79 g, 21.1 pts, 6.7 reb, 5.0 ast

2025-26 · MIN

79games
33.1min
21.1pts
6.7reb
FG48.1%580/1207
3P31.5%109/346
FT80.2%398/496

5.0 assists a game

2024-25 · MIN

69games
32.3min
18.7pts
7.1reb
FG48.5%455/939
3P34.4%108/314
FT80.6%270/335

4.7 assists a game

2023-24 · NY

46games
35.4min
24.0pts
9.2reb
FG47.2%395/836
3P31.1%76/244
FT78.1%236/302

5.0 assists a game

Michael Porter Jr. F · age 28 · 30.8 projected min 2025-26: 52 g, 24.2 pts, 7.1 reb, 3.0 ast

2025-26 · BKN

52games
32.5min
24.2pts
7.1reb
FG46.3%444/958
3P36.3%176/485
FT85.9%195/227

3.0 assists a game

2024-25 · DEN

77games
33.7min
18.2pts
7.0reb
FG50.4%528/1048
3P39.5%193/489
FT76.8%149/194

2.1 assists a game

2023-24 · DEN

81games
31.7min
16.7pts
7.0reb
FG48.4%522/1079
3P39.7%220/554
FT83.6%92/110

1.5 assists a game

Ben Saraf G · age 20 · 28.0 projected min 2025-26: 44 g, 7.5 pts, 2.1 reb, 3.3 ast

2025-26 · BKN

44games
20.8min
7.5pts
2.1reb
FG39.6%120/303
3P21.1%19/90
FT83.0%73/88

3.3 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Drake Powell F · age 21 · 26.8 projected min 2025-26: 63 g, 6.5 pts, 1.8 reb, 1.4 ast

2025-26 · BKN

63games
20.9min
6.5pts
1.8reb
FG40.2%144/358
3P28.0%51/182
FT89.6%69/77

1.4 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Egor Demin G · age 20 · 26.2 projected min 2025-26: 52 g, 10.3 pts, 3.2 reb, 3.3 ast

2025-26 · BKN

52games
25.1min
10.3pts
3.2reb
FG39.9%179/449
3P38.5%124/322
FT83.1%54/65

3.3 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Keon Ellis New here G · age 26 · 24.8 projected min 2025-26: 72 g, 6.7 pts, 1.9 reb, 1.0 ast

2025-26 · CLE/SAC

72games
20.5min
6.7pts
1.9reb
FG44.0%169/384
3P36.3%91/251
FT72.9%51/70

1.0 assists a game

2024-25 · SAC

80games
24.4min
8.3pts
2.6reb
FG48.9%227/464
3P43.3%139/321
FT84.9%73/86

1.5 assists a game

2023-24 · SAC

57games
17.1min
5.4pts
2.2reb
FG46.1%107/232
3P41.7%70/168
FT74.3%26/35

1.5 assists a game

Terance Mann G · age 30 · 22.1 projected min 2025-26: 63 g, 7.2 pts, 3.2 reb, 3.0 ast

2025-26 · BKN

63games
24.3min
7.2pts
3.2reb
FG45.7%168/368
3P36.4%56/154
FT78.8%63/80

3.0 assists a game

2024-25 · ATL/LAC

67games
21.1min
7.7pts
3.0reb
FG49.6%205/413
3P36.8%60/163
FT69.1%47/68

1.8 assists a game

2023-24 · LAC

75games
25.0min
8.8pts
3.4reb
FG51.5%254/493
3P34.8%71/204
FT83.2%79/95

1.6 assists a game

Danny Wolf F · age 22 · 22.0 projected min 2025-26: 57 g, 8.9 pts, 4.9 reb, 2.2 ast

2025-26 · BKN

57games
20.9min
8.9pts
4.9reb
FG40.5%178/440
3P32.2%68/211
FT77.1%84/109

2.2 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

How to read this

Method and limits

How our estimate is built
  • Our estimate starts from the roster. Each player's on-court net points per 48 minutes (from his most recent full season, pulled toward zero when the sample is small) is averaged by minutes across the roster list, then turned into wins at about 2.9 wins per point of net.
  • That win total is then pushed through the real 2026-27 schedule 20,000 times, using a home win probability for every game, to get the range and the playoff and play-in odds.
  • Ratings built from games alone (6,153 games before October 20) are kept as a comparison. They fade old games over the offseason, which pulls every team toward average.
  • The market number is the wins where Kalshi's "wins or more" price crosses 50%, read off a straight line between strikes five wins apart.
What the estimate does not know
  • Possessions are an estimate from box totals, not tracked possessions.
  • The season simulation uses each game's win probability from the ratings and nothing else: no rating uncertainty, injuries, trades after the cutoff or in-season rating updates, so the 10th-90th percentile band is narrower than a real season's spread.
  • The 2026-27 schedule file lists 1200 games (80 per team on average) rather than 1230. Each team's missing games ([2] per team) are played against an average opponent at a neutral site with no rest terms.
  • Projection method: (d) roster values. In the walk-forward study its hold-out MAE was 8.3 wins (n = 60 team-seasons) against 9.0 for last season's wins regressed toward 41. Typical error is still about 8 wins per team, so treat every number as a wide estimate.
  • Roster values use each player's box-score plus-minus, which is not adjusted for teammates. Players with no box-score history count as average at 10 minutes a game.
  • Ties in the seeding are broken at random; head-to-head and division rules are not applied.
  • Every team has a usable market median.
  • Market median uses the midpoint of the yes bid and ask for each strike and a straight line between the two strikes (5 wins apart) that straddle 0.5; a strike with no bid is treated as unpriced.
  • Rosters are the DraftKings Best Ball player list for draft group 150564, kept only where the player is on his team's current ESPN roster (ESPN team rosters, 2026-10-19): released and departed players are out. Players DraftKings lists as Out are not in the engine's pool, so they have no projected minutes and are not in the top 8; each team's moves block names them.
  • Projected minutes are the engine's per-player estimates from box scores through 2026-04-12; they are not scaled to the team's 240 minutes and do not model new teammates.
  • Box scores start in 2021-22; a player with no box score on file is marked as a rookie or new, which can include veterans returning from abroad. Ages come from the ESPN player directory (2025-26 file) and are missing for players it does not list.
  • This team has 2 games the schedule file does not list yet; they are treated as games against an average opponent.

Data built Oct 19, 2026. Estimates are ours and can be wrong.