After The Timeout · NBA 2026-27 guide

Western Conference · tip-off October 20

Memphis Grizzlies

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

Our estimate

37 wins

Median of 20,000 simulated seasons. Middle 80%: 31 to 42 wins.

The market

32.0 wins

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

Last season

25-57

2025-26 · net rating -5.8 (24th in the NBA)

Our estimate is 5.2 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 31 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 32.0 market wins in an 82-game season
Our median 37, middle 80%: 31 to 42 Market 32.0

Where we think they finish in the West

Top 6: 6.8% Play-in, 7th to 10th: 46% Outside the top 10: 48%
Market prices by strikeKalshi, captured Oct 19, 4:38 pm UTC
Wins or moreBidAskMidOur odds
1095¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
1595¢ 100¢ 98¢ 100%
2089¢ 94¢ 92¢ 100%
2577¢ 80¢ 79¢ 100%
3059¢ 61¢ 60¢ 95%
3535¢ 36¢ 36¢ 69%
4017¢ 22¢ 20¢ 26%
456¢ 12¢ 9¢ 4%
501¢ 9¢ 5¢ 0%
550¢ 4¢ 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 · 25-57 (25th in wins)

Points per game
114.720th
Allowed per game
120.726th
Offensive rating
110.425th
Defensive rating
116.223rd
Net rating
-5.824th

2024-25 · 48-34 (11th in wins)

Points per game
121.72nd
Allowed per game
116.924th
Offensive rating
115.26th
Defensive rating
110.69th
Net rating
+4.66th

2023-24 · 27-55 (24th in wins)

Points per game
105.830th
Allowed per game
112.812th
Offensive rating
105.330th
Defensive rating
112.312th
Net rating
-7.026th

Our preseason ratings

Offense
-0.6423rd
Defense
+3.5628th
Net, games only
-4.2127th
Roster value
-1.09

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)

  • Jerami Grantfrom POR
    29.8 min, 18.6 pts a game
  • Kris Murrayfrom POR
    23.5 min, 5.8 pts a game
  • Isaiah Stewartfrom DET
    22.7 min, 10.0 pts a game
  • Quinten Postfrom GS
    17.3 min, 7.7 pts a game
  • Micah Peavyfrom NO
    15.0 min, 4.3 pts a game
3 moredepth and rookies
  • Cameron BoozerRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Carson CooperRookie / newNo NBA box score on file
  • Karim LopezRookie / newNo NBA box score on file

Out (6)

  • Jaren Jackson Jr.now with UTAH
    30.8 min, 19.2 pts a game
  • Santi Aldamanow with DAL
    27.8 min, 14.0 pts a game
  • Kentavious Caldwell-Popenow with PHI
    21.3 min, 8.4 pts a game
  • Jock Landalenow with ATL
    23.6 min, 11.3 pts a game
  • Vince Williams Jr.not on a 2026-27 roster we can see
    21.7 min, 8.0 pts a game
1 more
  • Ja Morantnow with POR
    28.4 min, 19.4 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.

Jahmai Mashack G · age 23 · 31.0 projected min 2025-26: 30 g, 6.4 pts, 2.7 reb, 2.3 ast

2025-26 · MEM

30games
22.3min
6.4pts
2.7reb
FG39.5%77/195
3P25.3%19/75
FT54.3%19/35

2.3 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Jerami Grant New here F · age 32 · 30.2 projected min 2025-26: 57 g, 18.6 pts, 3.5 reb, 2.1 ast

2025-26 · POR

57games
29.8min
18.6pts
3.5reb
FG45.3%331/730
3P38.9%136/350
FT81.4%262/322

2.1 assists a game

2024-25 · POR

47games
32.4min
14.4pts
3.5reb
FG37.3%214/574
3P36.5%108/296
FT84.9%141/166

2.1 assists a game

2023-24 · POR

54games
33.9min
21.0pts
3.5reb
FG45.1%383/850
3P40.2%111/276
FT81.7%255/312

2.8 assists a game

Zach Edey C · age 24 · 26.5 projected min 2025-26: 11 g, 13.6 pts, 11.1 reb, 1.1 ast

2025-26 · MEM

11games
25.8min
13.6pts
11.1reb
FG63.3%62/98
3P20.0%1/5
FT78.1%25/32

1.1 assists a game

2024-25 · MEM

66games
21.5min
9.2pts
8.3reb
FG58.0%251/433
3P34.6%18/52
FT70.9%90/127

1.0 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Javon Small G · age 23 · 24.9 projected min 2025-26: 40 g, 9.9 pts, 3.2 reb, 3.8 ast

2025-26 · MEM

40games
20.8min
9.9pts
3.2reb
FG46.5%134/288
3P42.3%60/142
FT82.9%68/82

3.8 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Walter Clayton Jr. G · age 23 · 24.7 projected min 2025-26: 69 g, 7.8 pts, 2.0 reb, 4.0 ast

2025-26 · MEM/UTAH

69games
20.4min
7.8pts
2.0reb
FG38.4%177/461
3P30.7%75/244
FT90.1%109/121

4.0 assists a game

2024-25

No regular-season games on file.

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Gregory Jackson F · age 21 · 24.5 projected min 2025-26: 54 g, 12.7 pts, 4.4 reb, 1.5 ast

2025-26 · MEM

54games
21.8min
12.7pts
4.4reb
FG49.6%255/514
3P33.2%64/193
FT74.2%112/151

1.5 assists a game

2024-25 · MEM

29games
15.8min
7.2pts
3.2reb
FG37.2%74/199
3P33.7%32/95
FT72.5%29/40

1.0 assists a game

2023-24 · MEM

48games
25.7min
14.6pts
4.1reb
FG42.8%241/563
3P35.7%102/286
FT75.2%115/153

1.2 assists a game

Jaylen Wells F · age 23 · 24.1 projected min 2025-26: 69 g, 12.5 pts, 3.2 reb, 1.6 ast

2025-26 · MEM

69games
26.4min
12.5pts
3.2reb
FG43.1%301/698
3P35.3%129/365
FT78.4%134/171

1.6 assists a game

2024-25 · MEM

79games
25.9min
10.4pts
3.4reb
FG42.5%287/676
3P35.2%138/392
FT82.2%111/135

1.7 assists a game

2023-24

No regular-season games on file.

Micah Peavy New here Questionable F · age 25 · 23.8 projected min 2025-26: 61 g, 4.3 pts, 1.9 reb, 1.0 ast

2025-26 · NO

61games
15.0min
4.3pts
1.9reb
FG38.5%106/275
3P25.9%28/108
FT75.9%22/29

1.0 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.