After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Western Conference · tip-off October 20

Golden State Warriors

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

Our estimate

44 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 38 to 49 wins.

The market

36.2 wins

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

Last season

37-45

2025-26 · net rating -0.6 (20th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 7.6 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 39 wins for this team.

Georges Niang (18 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 36.2 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 44, middle 80%: 38 to 49 Market 36.2

Where we think they finish in the West

Top 6: 52% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 43% Outside the top 10: 5.3%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
1590¢ 100¢ 95¢ 100%
2089¢ 100¢ 95¢ 100%
2583¢ 94¢ 89¢ 100%
3051¢ 71¢ 61¢ 100%
3553¢ 57¢ 55¢ 98%
4033¢ 36¢ 35¢ 82%
4516¢ 23¢ 20¢ 41%
508¢ 10¢ 9¢ 8%
551¢ 10¢ 6¢ 1%
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 · 37-45 (20th in wins)

Points per game
114.622nd
Allowed per game
115.214th
Offensive rating
112.718th
Defensive rating
113.317th
Net rating
-0.620th

2024-25 · 48-34 (11th in wins)

Points per game
113.817th
Allowed per game
110.58th
Offensive rating
113.014th
Defensive rating
109.77th
Net rating
+3.310th

2023-24 · 46-36 (16th in wins)

Points per game
117.88th
Allowed per game
115.218th
Offensive rating
115.511th
Defensive rating
113.014th
Net rating
+2.612th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-0.7725th
Defense
+0.2418th
Net, games only
-1.0120th
Roster value
+1.26

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 (3)

  • Brandon Williamsfrom DAL
    22.2 min, 13.0 pts a game
  • Georges NiangReturningLast played 2024-25 for ATL
1 moredepth and rookies
  • Yaxel LendeborgRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (3)

  • Pat Spencernow with PHX
    18.6 min, 7.2 pts a game
  • Quinten Postnow with MEM
    17.3 min, 7.7 pts a game
  • Buddy Hieldnow with CHI
    17.5 min, 8.0 pts a game

The rotation we expect

Top eight by projected minutes

Minutes come from our NBA engine: today's rosters, the depth chart, each team held to 240 minutes, and each player's chance of playing. Open a player for three seasons of per-game lines and shooting.

Draymond Green F · age 36 · 23.6 projected min 2025-26: 68 g, 8.4 pts, 5.5 reb, 5.5 ast

2025-26 · GS

68games
27.5min
8.4pts
5.5reb
FG41.8%205/491
3P32.6%101/310
FT70.2%59/84

5.5 assists a game

2024-25 · GS

68games
29.1min
9.0pts
6.1reb
FG42.4%216/509
3P32.5%80/246
FT68.7%101/147

5.6 assists a game

2023-24 · GS

55games
27.1min
8.6pts
7.2reb
FG49.7%185/372
3P39.5%51/129
FT73.0%54/74

6.0 assists a game

Gui Santos F · age 24 · 22.6 projected min 2025-26: 68 g, 9.2 pts, 3.9 reb, 2.3 ast

2025-26 · GS

68games
20.6min
9.2pts
3.9reb
FG50.0%230/460
3P35.1%78/222
FT72.5%87/120

2.3 assists a game

2024-25 · GS

56games
13.6min
4.1pts
3.1reb
FG45.8%82/179
3P33.0%34/103
FT69.0%29/42

1.4 assists a game

2023-24 · GS

23games
8.4min
3.6pts
2.1reb
FG50.9%28/55
3P37.0%10/27
FT94.1%16/17

0.6 assists a game

De'Anthony Melton G · age 28 · 20.4 projected min 2025-26: 49 g, 12.3 pts, 3.2 reb, 2.6 ast

2025-26 · GS

49games
23.0min
12.3pts
3.2reb
FG40.7%215/528
3P29.4%72/245
FT82.6%100/121

2.6 assists a game

2024-25 · GS

6games
20.2min
10.3pts
3.3reb
FG40.7%22/54
3P37.1%13/35
FT62.5%5/8

2.8 assists a game

2023-24 · PHI

38games
26.9min
11.1pts
3.7reb
FG38.6%139/360
3P36.0%77/214
FT83.5%66/79

3.0 assists a game

Brandon Williams G · age 26 · 17.8 projected min 2025-26: 66 g, 13.0 pts, 2.9 reb, 3.9 ast

2025-26 · DAL

66games
22.2min
13.0pts
2.9reb
FG47.2%291/617
3P23.2%36/155
FT79.3%241/304

3.9 assists a game

2024-25 · DAL

33games
14.8min
8.3pts
1.8reb
FG52.1%98/188
3P40.0%24/60
FT83.3%55/66

2.3 assists a game

2023-24 · DAL

16games
7.1min
3.4pts
0.8reb
FG37.0%20/54
3P20.0%3/15
FT64.7%11/17

1.1 assists a game

Georges Niang New here F · age 33 · 17.5 projected min 2025-26: no regular-season games on file

2025-26

No regular-season games on file.

2024-25 · ATL/CLE

79games
21.5min
9.9pts
3.4reb
FG46.1%286/620
3P40.6%166/409
FT79.3%46/58

1.4 assists a game

2023-24 · CLE

82games
22.3min
9.4pts
3.4reb
FG44.9%284/632
3P37.6%149/396
FT85.0%51/60

1.2 assists a game

Al Horford C · age 40 · 17.0 projected min 2025-26: 45 g, 8.3 pts, 4.9 reb, 2.6 ast

2025-26 · GS

45games
21.6min
8.3pts
4.9reb
FG42.6%138/324
3P36.1%74/205
FT84.6%22/26

2.6 assists a game

2024-25 · BOS

60games
27.7min
9.0pts
6.2reb
FG42.3%195/461
3P36.3%114/314
FT89.5%34/38

2.1 assists a game

2023-24 · BOS

65games
26.8min
8.6pts
6.4reb
FG51.1%214/419
3P41.9%108/258
FT86.7%26/30

2.6 assists a game

Gary Payton II G · age 33 · 16.1 projected min 2025-26: 73 g, 7.5 pts, 3.6 reb, 1.7 ast

2025-26 · GS

73games
15.6min
7.5pts
3.6reb
FG58.3%242/415
3P29.1%37/127
FT65.0%26/40

1.7 assists a game

2024-25 · GS

62games
14.9min
6.5pts
3.0reb
FG57.4%171/298
3P32.6%31/95
FT71.1%27/38

1.3 assists a game

2023-24 · GS

44games
15.6min
5.5pts
2.6reb
FG56.3%103/183
3P36.4%20/55
FT60.9%14/23

1.1 assists a game

Will Richard G · age 23 · 15.2 projected min 2025-26: 69 g, 6.4 pts, 2.5 reb, 1.3 ast

2025-26 · GS

69games
20.0min
6.4pts
2.5reb
FG46.8%162/346
3P33.5%71/212
FT85.2%46/54

1.3 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.