After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Western Conference · tip-off October 20

LA Clippers

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

Our estimate

42 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 36 to 47 wins.

The market

27.9 wins

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

Last season

42-40

2025-26 · net rating +1.1 (16th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 14.2 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 44 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 27.9 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 42, middle 80%: 36 to 47 Market 27.9

Where we think they finish in the West

Top 6: 35% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 54% Outside the top 10: 11%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
2073¢ 85¢ 79¢ 100%
2558¢ 62¢ 60¢ 100%
3041¢ 45¢ 43¢ 100%
3528¢ 29¢ 29¢ 95%
406¢ 17¢ 12¢ 68%
453¢ 10¢ 7¢ 25%
500¢ 6¢ n/a 4%
550¢ 6¢ 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 · 42-40 (18th in wins)

Points per game
113.824th
Allowed per game
112.610th
Offensive rating
115.111th
Defensive rating
114.018th
Net rating
+1.116th

2024-25 · 50-32 (6th in wins)

Points per game
112.920th
Allowed per game
108.24th
Offensive rating
113.413th
Defensive rating
108.84th
Net rating
+4.75th

2023-24 · 51-31 (5th in wins)

Points per game
115.612th
Allowed per game
112.310th
Offensive rating
116.74th
Defensive rating
113.416th
Net rating
+3.37th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-0.4922nd
Defense
-1.4310th
Net, games only
+0.9514th
Roster value
+0.59

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)

  • Brandon Ingramfrom TOR
    33.8 min, 21.5 pts a game
  • Rui Hachimurafrom LAL
    28.3 min, 11.5 pts a game
  • Gradey Dickfrom TOR
    14.0 min, 6.0 pts a game
  • Jalen Pickettfrom DEN
    16.1 min, 5.2 pts a game
  • Max Strusfrom CLE
    24.0 min, 11.2 pts a game
3 moredepth and rookies
  • Baba MillerRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Keaton WaglerRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Nick MartinelliRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (6)

  • Kawhi Leonardnow with TOR
    32.1 min, 27.9 pts a game
  • John Collinsnow with DET
    27.1 min, 13.6 pts a game
  • James Hardennow with CLE
    35.5 min, 25.4 pts a game
  • Ivica Zubacnow with IND
    31.0 min, 14.4 pts a game
  • Nicolas Batumnot on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    17.5 min, 4.0 pts a game
1 more
  • Bennedict Mathurinnow with NO
    28.0 min, 17.4 pts a game

DraftKings lists as out right now: Brandon Ingram, Max Strus. They are not in the rotation below.

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.

Darius Garland G · age 26 · 30.3 projected min 2025-26: 45 g, 18.8 pts, 2.4 reb, 6.7 ast

2025-26 · CLE/LAC

45games
29.8min
18.8pts
2.4reb
FG46.0%309/672
3P39.6%122/308
FT86.1%105/122

6.7 assists a game

2024-25 · CLE

75games
30.7min
20.6pts
2.9reb
FG47.2%554/1174
3P40.1%212/529
FT87.8%224/255

6.7 assists a game

2023-24 · CLE

57games
33.3min
18.0pts
2.7reb
FG44.6%375/841
3P37.1%132/356
FT83.4%146/175

6.5 assists a game

Brook Lopez C · age 38 · 27.5 projected min 2025-26: 75 g, 8.5 pts, 3.6 reb, 1.3 ast

2025-26 · LAC

75games
21.8min
8.5pts
3.6reb
FG42.8%232/542
3P36.0%114/317
FT75.7%56/74

1.3 assists a game

2024-25 · MIL

80games
31.8min
13.0pts
5.0reb
FG50.9%394/774
3P37.3%139/373
FT82.6%114/138

1.8 assists a game

2023-24 · MIL

79games
30.5min
12.5pts
5.2reb
FG48.5%366/755
3P36.6%148/404
FT82.1%110/134

1.6 assists a game

Rui Hachimura New here F · age 28 · 27.2 projected min 2025-26: 68 g, 11.5 pts, 3.3 reb, 0.8 ast

2025-26 · LAL

68games
28.3min
11.5pts
3.3reb
FG51.4%307/597
3P44.3%116/262
FT69.4%50/72

0.8 assists a game

2024-25 · LAL

59games
31.6min
13.1pts
5.0reb
FG50.9%293/576
3P41.3%102/247
FT77.0%87/113

1.4 assists a game

2023-24 · LAL

68games
26.8min
13.6pts
4.3reb
FG53.7%363/676
3P42.2%98/232
FT73.9%99/134

1.2 assists a game

Jordan Miller F · age 26 · 25.7 projected min 2025-26: 60 g, 10.0 pts, 3.0 reb, 2.3 ast

2025-26 · LAC

60games
22.0min
10.0pts
3.0reb
FG53.1%212/399
3P34.5%38/110
FT77.7%136/175

2.3 assists a game

2024-25 · LAC

37games
11.3min
4.1pts
1.6reb
FG43.3%58/134
3P21.1%8/38
FT80.0%28/35

0.9 assists a game

2023-24 · LAC

8games
3.5min
1.6pts
0.6reb
FG55.6%5/9
3P50.0%1/2
FT100.0%2/2

0.0 assists a game

Kris Dunn G · age 32 · 25.4 projected min 2025-26: 82 g, 7.3 pts, 3.3 reb, 3.6 ast

2025-26 · LAC

82games
27.2min
7.3pts
3.3reb
FG47.6%227/477
3P37.4%80/214
FT76.5%62/81

3.6 assists a game

2024-25 · LAC

74games
24.1min
6.4pts
3.4reb
FG43.9%192/437
3P33.5%75/224
FT68.2%15/22

2.8 assists a game

2023-24 · UTAH

65games
19.2min
5.5pts
2.9reb
FG47.0%147/313
3P36.9%41/111
FT68.8%22/32

3.9 assists a game

Derrick Jones Jr. F · age 29 · 25.4 projected min 2025-26: 50 g, 10.1 pts, 3.5 reb, 1.4 ast

2025-26 · LAC

50games
26.9min
10.1pts
3.5reb
FG49.9%189/379
3P35.9%55/153
FT76.3%71/93

1.4 assists a game

2024-25 · LAC

77games
24.3min
10.1pts
3.4reb
FG52.6%310/589
3P35.6%78/219
FT70.3%83/118

0.8 assists a game

2023-24 · DAL

76games
23.4min
8.6pts
3.3reb
FG48.3%239/495
3P34.3%82/239
FT71.3%97/136

1.0 assists a game

Bradley Beal G · age 33 · 23.8 projected min 2025-26: 6 g, 8.2 pts, 0.8 reb, 1.7 ast

2025-26 · LAC

6games
20.2min
8.2pts
0.8reb
FG37.5%18/48
3P36.8%7/19
FT75.0%6/8

1.7 assists a game

2024-25 · PHX

53games
32.0min
17.0pts
3.3reb
FG49.7%345/694
3P38.6%102/264
FT80.3%110/137

3.7 assists a game

2023-24 · PHX

53games
33.4min
18.2pts
4.4reb
FG51.3%377/735
3P43.0%101/235
FT81.3%109/134

5.0 assists a game

Kobe Sanders G · age 24 · 17.5 projected min 2025-26: 68 g, 7.3 pts, 2.2 reb, 1.6 ast

2025-26 · LAC

68games
19.9min
7.3pts
2.2reb
FG46.6%179/384
3P40.8%80/196
FT82.6%57/69

1.6 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.