After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Western Conference · tip-off October 20

Dallas Mavericks

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

Our estimate

32 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 27 to 37 wins.

The market

35.8 wins

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

Last season

26-56

2025-26 · net rating -5.3 (23rd in the NBA)

Our estimate is 3.2 wins below 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 34 wins for this team.

Kyrie Irving (34 projected minutes) has no 2025-26 regular-season games on file but is in the rotation we expect. Our roster rating counts him at his most recent full season.

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 35.8 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 32, middle 80%: 27 to 37 Market 35.8

Where we think they finish in the West

Top 6: 0.6% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 14% Outside the top 10: 85%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
1594¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
2093¢ 100¢ 97¢ 100%
2589¢ 96¢ 93¢ 97%
3072¢ 79¢ 76¢ 73%
3552¢ 53¢ 53¢ 28%
4035¢ 37¢ 36¢ 4%
4519¢ 25¢ 22¢ 0%
507¢ 16¢ 12¢ 0%
550¢ 8¢ n/a 0%
600¢ 6¢ n/a 0%
650¢ 6¢ 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 · 26-56 (23rd in wins)

Points per game
114.123rd
Allowed per game
119.623rd
Offensive rating
109.227th
Defensive rating
114.520th
Net rating
-5.323rd

2024-25 · 39-43 (18th in wins)

Points per game
114.215th
Allowed per game
115.420th
Offensive rating
112.817th
Defensive rating
113.920th
Net rating
-1.219th

2023-24 · 50-32 (6th in wins)

Points per game
117.97th
Allowed per game
115.620th
Offensive rating
115.68th
Defensive rating
113.517th
Net rating
+2.214th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-0.2318th
Defense
+2.6126th
Net, games only
-2.8422nd
Roster value
-2.64

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 (8)

  • Zaccharie Risacherfrom ATL
    22.4 min, 9.6 pts a game
  • Santi Aldamafrom MEM
    27.8 min, 14.0 pts a game
  • Jett Howardfrom ORL
    12.7 min, 5.5 pts a game
  • Marcus Sasserfrom DET
    12.1 min, 5.2 pts a game
  • Kyrie IrvingReturningLast played 2024-25 for DAL
3 moredepth and rookies
  • Morez JohnsonRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Sergio de LarreaRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Tobi LawalRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (6)

  • Klay Thompsonnow with MIA
    21.7 min, 11.7 pts a game
  • Brandon Williamsnow with GS
    22.2 min, 13.0 pts a game
  • Ryan Nembhardnow with DEN
    19.5 min, 6.6 pts a game
  • Dwight Powellnot on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    14.6 min, 3.4 pts a game
  • Anthony Davisnow with WSH
    31.2 min, 20.4 pts a game
1 more
  • Khris Middletonnow with WSH
    21.1 min, 10.0 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.

Kyrie Irving G · 33.6 projected min 2025-26: no regular-season games on file

2025-26

No regular-season games on file.

2024-25 · DAL

50games
36.0min
24.7pts
4.8reb
FG47.3%447/945
3P40.1%144/359
FT91.6%196/214

4.6 assists a game

2023-24 · DAL

58games
35.0min
25.6pts
5.0reb
FG49.7%562/1131
3P41.1%173/421
FT90.5%190/210

5.2 assists a game

PJ Washington F · age 28 · 31.2 projected min 2025-26: 56 g, 14.2 pts, 7.0 reb, 1.8 ast

2025-26 · DAL

56games
30.9min
14.2pts
7.0reb
FG45.0%296/658
3P32.5%76/234
FT68.7%125/182

1.8 assists a game

2024-25 · DAL

57games
32.2min
14.7pts
7.8reb
FG45.3%301/665
3P38.1%91/239
FT72.2%143/198

2.3 assists a game

2023-24 · CHA/DAL

73games
30.4min
12.9pts
5.6reb
FG43.6%354/811
3P32.0%132/413
FT68.3%99/145

1.9 assists a game

Cooper Flagg F · age 19 · 30.2 projected min 2025-26: 70 g, 21.0 pts, 6.7 reb, 4.5 ast

2025-26 · DAL

70games
33.6min
21.0pts
6.7reb
FG46.8%559/1194
3P29.5%72/244
FT82.7%283/342

4.5 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Naji Marshall F · age 28 · 28.7 projected min 2025-26: 74 g, 15.2 pts, 4.7 reb, 3.3 ast

2025-26 · DAL

74games
29.5min
15.2pts
4.7reb
FG51.0%419/821
3P29.1%62/213
FT76.0%228/300

3.3 assists a game

2024-25 · DAL

69games
27.8min
13.2pts
4.8reb
FG50.8%362/712
3P27.5%60/218
FT81.2%130/160

3.0 assists a game

2023-24 · NO

66games
19.1min
7.1pts
3.6reb
FG46.3%170/367
3P38.7%58/150
FT79.1%68/86

1.9 assists a game

Santi Aldama New here F · age 25 · 27.9 projected min 2025-26: 43 g, 14.0 pts, 6.7 reb, 2.9 ast

2025-26 · MEM

43games
27.8min
14.0pts
6.7reb
FG47.9%228/476
3P35.0%70/200
FT66.7%76/114

2.9 assists a game

2024-25 · MEM

65games
25.5min
12.5pts
6.4reb
FG48.3%313/648
3P36.8%120/326
FT69.1%65/94

2.9 assists a game

2023-24 · MEM

61games
26.6min
10.7pts
5.8reb
FG43.5%247/568
3P34.9%106/304
FT62.1%54/87

2.3 assists a game

Max Christie G · age 23 · 26.6 projected min 2025-26: 77 g, 12.3 pts, 3.2 reb, 2.0 ast

2025-26 · DAL

77games
29.1min
12.3pts
3.2reb
FG44.1%320/725
3P40.4%180/446
FT89.9%125/139

2.0 assists a game

2024-25 · DAL/LAL

78games
27.2min
9.6pts
3.3reb
FG42.7%252/590
3P36.6%115/314
FT85.5%130/152

1.9 assists a game

2023-24 · LAL

66games
14.3min
4.3pts
2.2reb
FG42.7%103/241
3P35.6%42/118
FT78.3%36/46

0.9 assists a game

Daniel Gafford C · age 28 · 21.8 projected min 2025-26: 55 g, 9.5 pts, 6.9 reb, 1.1 ast

2025-26 · DAL

55games
21.7min
9.5pts
6.9reb
FG65.5%207/316
3Pn/a0/0
FT68.3%110/161

1.1 assists a game

2024-25 · DAL

57games
21.6min
12.3pts
6.8reb
FG70.2%283/403
3Pn/a0/0
FT68.9%135/196

1.4 assists a game

2023-24 · DAL/WSH

74games
24.5min
11.0pts
7.6reb
FG72.5%348/480
3Pn/a0/0
FT67.4%118/175

1.6 assists a game

Moussa Cisse C · age 24 · 21.6 projected min 2025-26: 37 g, 4.6 pts, 5.8 reb, 0.2 ast

2025-26 · DAL

37games
14.3min
4.6pts
5.8reb
FG57.4%66/115
3Pn/a0/0
FT46.9%38/81

0.2 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.