After an eventful first round of NBA playoff action and one game in each conference semifinal season, 16 potential NBA Finals matchups remain on the table.
Six of those series would be rematches of past NBA Finals, many of which were historic. The Lakers played in 10 total Finals against the Knicks, Pistons and 76ers throughout the years, including some of the most notable series in league history. Gregg Popovich’s lengthy Spurs run included championship victories over the Cavaliers as well as New York and Detroit.
The potential matchups also feature some very intriguing superstar showdowns. LeBron James against his Cleveland superstar successor Donovan Mitchell. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander going head-to-head with Jalen Brunson or Tyrese Maxey. Anthony Edwards vs. Cade Cunningham. Put us down for any of those.
As the second round heats up, Sports Illustrated’s NBA staff has ranked all of the possible Finals matchups, from No. 16 to 1:
16. Thunder vs. 76ers
Someone has to be last. And while it would probably be thrilling to watch both of these teams reach the NBA Finals, how a seven-game series with a championship on the line between them would go is another matter.
The 76ers feel like the best potential Finals opponent for the Thunder to hope for as they look to repeat, given their lack of deep playoff experience. One reason for hope though—last year, we put a Pacers-Thunder Finals matchup as the last entry on this very same list, and that wound up going seven games of brilliant basketball. Safe to say, we’re in for a treat no matter which two teams meet to battle for the championship.
15. Lakers vs. Pistons
This potential Finals showdown has plenty of history behind it. The Magic Johnson Lakers and Isiah Thomas Pistons split a pair of Finals series in 1988 and ‘89, and of course, the ‘04 Detroit squad—one that has a number of striking parallels to this year’s team—upset a Lakers squad with four Hall of Famers in the starting lineup. That series, one of the most famous Finals upsets in NBA history, preceded the breakup of the Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant pairing, ending an era of L.A. dominance.
This year’s series would be very different in that respect. The Lakers may still have the edge in brand-name stars, but the Pistons were one of the NBA’s best teams all season and won both matchups in the regular season. And yes, Luka Dončić and James played in both of those games (Austin Reaves missed one of the two).
14. Thunder vs. Cavaliers
The fact that this is so low on the list gives you a good bit of evidence of how stacked this potential field of Finals is. With the Thunder and Cavs, we’d get a matchup of two star guards who haven’t yet hit 30 in Mitchell and Gilgeous-Alexander. We’d also get James Harden, playing in the Finals for just the second time in his Hall of Fame career, and going up against the team that brought him there the first time to win a potential title.
13. Lakers vs. 76ers
Another matchup between two classic franchises made for TV. The storyline here would be old vets in Joel Embiid and Paul George chasing their first title, with James attempting to win his fifth, pulling him within one title of Michael Jordan. The shotmaking of Maxey vs. Dončić would be fun to watch, while Reaves and VJ Edgecombe would provide some exciting moments. Neither team has a ton of reliable depth, and both have been beaten up by injuries, so this series could turn into a slog, but it would be one worth tuning into.
12. Spurs vs. Cavaliers
These two franchises met in the 2007 NBA Finals, when the Tim Duncan-led Spurs were at the height of their powers, while LeBron carried the Cavaliers to the Finals in his fourth NBA season. While none of the games was a horrific blowout, it was an ugly series, in which Cleveland averaged just 80.5 points per game and shot 39.5% from the field and 29.3% from three.
The game has changed radically in the 19 years since, though San Antonio remains a defensive juggernaut and would be heavily favored. However, seeing the veteran Mitchell and Harden backcourt do battle with the Spurs’ litany of young guards, and the duel down low between Victor Wembanyama against Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley would be worth the price of admission.
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11. Timberwolves vs. 76ers
Edwards and Maxey’s playmaking would carry this series, but the matchups do have a bit of depth. Rudy Gobert already used his suffocating defensive prowess to eliminate one former MVP, Nikola Jokić. Now he could add Embiid to that list. It would be a battle of depth vs. star power, as the Timberwolves have six active players averaging double-figures in the postseason, while the 76ers have four starters scoring 80% of their points.
Minnesota’s team-first approach, which has everyone contributing, has been exciting, while Philly’s playmakers have owned the spotlight in crunch time. It’s a clash in styles that would be enticing.
10. Spurs vs. Pistons
Two young, inexperienced teams who surprised everybody by winning 60 games this year and wind up meeting in the Finals is good stuff. Wembanyama and Cunningham are next up in the NBA, the future faces of the league who will define the next generation of basketball; seeing them face off with everything on the line would make for excellent viewing. It’d also be a wonderful defensive showcase—we can’t be the only ones deeply interested in seeing how Isaiah Stewart would defend Wemby, can we? This wouldn’t be a pretty series but in general we could do a lot worse than two young stars going to war for their first titles.
9. Timberwolves vs. Knicks
Edwards taking on a bloodthirsty Madison Square Garden crowd seeing its first Finals since the Patrick Ewing days? Sign us up. Through that lens alone this is the best matchup possible. Imagine, if you will, Edwards screaming obscenities at a distraught Timothée Chalamet and Ben Stiller after draining a dagger jumper over O.G. Anunoby. It would be glorious.
The actual basketball might turn out substandard due to both teams’ proclivity to long stretches of terrible play, and as a result, this might be a short series. But the desperation for a title would hang thick in the air and that’s the foundation any memorable Finals series must contain.
8. Timberwolves vs. Cavaliers
The Timberwolves fighting for their first-ever championship against a Midwestern rival in the Cavaliers would make for a series full of passive-aggressive trash talk throughout the 900-mile stretch between Minnesota and Cleveland. It would also result in at least one very notable name earning their first title.
The impact of Edwards’s first title at only 24 years of age would obviously be significant, but how does the Harden legacy talk change with a title at 39 and his fifth team? What about Mitchell? Does a loss for the Cavs still lead to the destruction of this current core the way an early exit seems like it would? The implications of this one would be far-reaching, even without getting into the fascinating schematic choices that would have to be made on the court.
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7. Thunder vs. Pistons
This would be a fun meeting of similar styles of basketball—both the Thunder and Pistons win games by bludgeoning the opponent with in-your-face defense and rely on a top-flight scoring guard to lift their offense. The narrative clash would make for grand fodder outside the games, too.
Detroit is an up-and-coming squad with a star in Cunningham experiencing his first playoff success, while Oklahoma City is pushing to become the first new, true dynasty the NBA has seen in nearly 10 years. The potential for ugly basketball is exceptionally high—higher than the above six matchups, to be sure. But the theater of Cunningham vs. SGA would help mask that.
6. Spurs vs. Knicks
This would be a rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals, which locked in Duncan’s place among basketball’s elite. His spiritual successor Wembanyama doesn’t really need that kind of reputational boost at this point, but an early NBA title would put him on an impressive Hall of Fame trajectory.
On the other side, by leading the Knicks to revenge over the Spurs, Brunson would put in his greatest data point yet to be known as the Greatest Knick of All Time. This would also be a rematch of this year’s NBA Cup final, a 124–113 New York win, which Adam Silver would certainly enjoy. Wemby, who was coming back from an injury and came off the bench in that one, had 18 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks in 25 minutes. With Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson on the other side, it would be a tremendous test for the Defensive Player of the Year.
5. Spurs vs. 76ers
Embiid was once the young, do-it-all center everyone else was compared to. In this matchup, he’d be facing the guy who currently holds that title in Wembanyama. The Baby Spurs reaching the NBA Finals would be fun in itself, but the matchups outside of Embiid and Wemby are highly intriguing. Sixers rookie Edgecombe and Spurs second-year guard Stephon Castle would line up across from each other, while two Kentucky products would provide a thrilling point guard matchup with De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Maxey going at it. It would also be future Hall of Famer George’s first trip to the Finals.
4. Timberwolves vs. Pistons
Edwards was born in August 2001, less than two months before Cunningham. The Timberwolves and Pistons’ lead guards are clearly the league’s best backcourt players under the age of 25, who dominate with very different playing styles.
A matchup between these two Midwestern powers would be an excellent showcase of the NBA’s young talent. Detroit would have a chance to cap one of the most remarkable two-year turnarounds in recent memory. Minnesota would play in its first-ever NBA Finals, gunning for title No. 1. Would these two teams draw record television ratings? Probably not, but NBA diehards would have a lot to like with this matchup.
3. Lakers vs. Cavaliers
LeBron facing the Cavs for one more shot at a title? Yes please. The stories write themselves here, with James returning home to battle as Cleveland looks for its second title. On the court, this would be a fun matchup. Dončić and Reaves battling Mitchell and Harden? Mobley and Allen protecting the rim as James and Dončić attack it, while Rui Hachimura tries to spread the floor to keep them out of the lane? That all sounds like a really fun, up-and-down chess match featuring two of the league’s top offenses.
2. Thunder vs. Knicks
As we stand right now, the Thunder have the best odds to win the Western Conference (and repeat as NBA champions), while the Knicks are the favorite to advance out of the East. The Pistons may be the No. 1 seed, and the Spurs proved to be a strong foil for Oklahoma City in 2025–26, but it is hard to argue against this as the matchup of the two best teams in basketball at the moment.
Any Finals featuring New York, which hasn’t won a title since 1973 or played for one since 1999, will be an exciting affair. OKC may not bring quite the brand value of LeBron James and the Lakers, but they’ll have the chance to make their mark as a modern dynasty, and burnish their reputation as the league’s current supervillain. Both make for compelling television.
1. Lakers vs. Knicks
This is the NBA’s glamour matchup, and with the Celtics out, it is easily the pairing that would draw the most viewers. While some may groan at the prospect of another NYC vs. L.A. showdown being important for ratings, the matchup on the floor would be intriguing, especially if Dončić has returned. Dončić and Brunson were selected in the same draft by the Mavericks and were teammates for four seasons. James facing down Mikal Bridges and Anunoby, and Towns going up against fellow former No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton, would all be fascinating battles. New York vs. L.A. narratives are stale, but this matchup wouldn’t be.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ranking Every Possible NBA Finals Matchup Remaining As Second Round Gets Underway.
