Amen Thompson brought the lift Thursday as Houston closed its preseason business with a 116-89 thumping of Oklahoma City, one of several final tune-up results before Tuesday’s regular-season opener. The Rockets put six players in double figures, while New York needed Tyler Kolek’s late three to edge Toronto 122-120 at Madison Square Garden.
Key takeaways
- Alperen Sengun posted 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks in Houston’s win, while Bogdan Bogdanović made five threes on his way to 15 points.
- Kolek knocked down the Knicks’ go-ahead triple with less than one minute left, and Pacôme Dadiet denied Jaden Bradley’s last-drive attempt to seal the result.
- Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio led the annual GM survey, with the Spurs receiving 50% of championship picks and 87% of votes for the league’s best young core.
- Portland’s reworked guard room, led by Damian Lillard and Ja Morant alongside Deni Avdija, takes an undefeated preseason record into its meeting with Golden State.
- The regular season begins Tuesday with Celtics-Pistons at 3 ET, 76ers-Knicks at 7 ET and Thunder-Spurs at 9:30 ET.
Last preseason night sets the table
Houston controlled the Thunder from the opening stretch and never let the game turn into a late-game rehearsal. Sengun’s all-around line gave the Rockets a steady interior hub, and Bogdanović supplied the spacing with five makes from deep. Oklahoma City got 18 points from Jalen Williams and 17 from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
At Madison Square Garden, the Knicks found their closer in Kolek. His three put New York ahead inside the final minute, then Dadiet held up defensively when Bradley tried to get all the way to the rim on Toronto’s final possession. Jalen Brunson scored 20 and said the prospect of raising a banner at the Garden on Oct. 20 “is going to be a great night.” Scottie Barnes led Toronto with 23 points, while RJ Barrett added 21 points and eight rebounds.
Friday’s 12-game preseason finale includes Celtics-76ers at 7 ET on NBA TV and Nuggets-Lakers at 10:30 ET on ESPN. The broader League Pass slate has Miami at Orlando, Toronto at Detroit, Milwaukee at Indiana, Atlanta at Dallas, Charlotte at Memphis, Washington at New Orleans, Sacramento at San Antonio and Utah at Phoenix. Minnesota visits Chicago at 8 ET, with Anthony Edwards and LaMelo Ball among the headliners.
Portland meets Golden State at 10 ET after Lillard, Morant and Avdija reshaped the Blazers’ offense. Morant has shown flashes during the exhibition run, Avdija has logged two games of at least 20 points, and Lillard enters the finale averaging 14.5 points while shooting 37.5% on eight three-point attempts per game.
Lillard sees a workable division of labor when the two downhill guards collapse the defense. “If they are getting to the rim and into the paint, then kicking it out for my three, they should feel great about it,” Lillard said. “If we do the right things and play the right way, those opportunities will be there.”
Los Angeles gets Denver in the ESPN late window, with Sandro Mamukelashvili bringing another playmaking and cutting option around Luka Dončić following LeBron James’ departure. Mamukelashvili has also formed an unlikely friendship with Flavor Flav, dating to a 2022 Las Vegas dinner encounter. Flavor Flav recalled seeing one of Mamukelashvili’s dunks and said he “lost my mind,” even punching himself in the face because he had not recorded it.
Nikola Jokić comes into that matchup still drawing attention for a behind-the-back assist earlier in the preseason. In the Celtics-Sixers game, Jaylen Brown has averaged 20 points on 59.1% shooting while beginning to build a connection with VJ Edgecombe.
San Antonio tops the GM board
The league’s 30 general managers answered 48 questions in the 2026-27 survey, and San Antonio landed at the center of the forecast. The Spurs drew half of the title selections, with Oklahoma City close behind at 43%. New York and Philadelphia also collected championship votes, a reminder that the field remains crowded after eight different champions in the past eight seasons.
Wembanyama dominated individual categories. He received 77% of the MVP choices, 97% of the votes as the NBA’s top defender and 93% of the responses from executives asked whom they would select to start a franchise. Rookie guard Dylan Harper, meanwhile, led the breakout-player category at 27%, and Tobias Harris was voted the league’s most underrated offseason addition at 20%.
The positional hierarchy stayed intact from the prior survey: Gilgeous-Alexander was again chosen as the best point guard, Edwards as the leading shooting guard, Luka Dončić as the top small forward, Giannis Antetokounmpo as the best power forward and Jokić as the premier center. Stephen Curry again won the vote as basketball’s best pure shooter, an honor he has taken in every edition that has posed the question since 2013-14.
In the West, San Antonio received 53% of first-place projections and Oklahoma City 47%, while Minnesota, Denver, Houston, the Lakers and Portland also received top-four consideration. Five Eastern teams earned conference-winning votes, and eight teams drew selections to finish in the conference’s top three.
Harper also features prominently in breakout projections beyond the survey. The expectation is that his role could expand after an impressive rookie season and playoff appearance, even in a crowded Spurs backcourt. Brandon Miller is positioned to take on more of Charlotte’s scoring load after Ball’s departure, while Chicago’s Matas Buzelis is viewed as a candidate to challenge Norman Powell for the Bulls’ scoring lead while contributing rebounds, threes and defensive counting stats.
