San Antonio has moved from the league’s long-view project to its immediate championship conversation. In the 25th NBA general manager survey, the Spurs drew 50% of the vote to win the 2027 Finals, narrowly ahead of Oklahoma City at 43%, and they were an overwhelming choice for the NBA’s best young core.
Victor Wembanyama sits at the center of that shift. The 22-year-old was selected as the projected 2026-27 MVP by 77% of responding executives and received 93% of the vote as the player they would choose to build a new franchise around, the highest shares recorded in either survey category.
Quick scan
- San Antonio led championship projections with 50%; Oklahoma City was next at 43%.
- The Spurs took 87% of votes for the league’s strongest young core.
- Wembanyama finished first in eight survey questions, including MVP, defense and versatility.
- Dylan Harper was the leading breakout pick at 27%, while Tobias Harris was voted the offseason’s most underrated addition at 20%.
- New York was the preferred Eastern Conference winner; San Antonio and Oklahoma City dominated the West forecast.
The survey covered 48 questions across teams, players, coaches, rookies and offseason moves. General managers were barred from voting for their own organization or staff.
New York led the Eastern Conference projection with 60% of first-place votes and 32% of the weighted point total. Philadelphia placed second at 19%, followed by Cleveland and Boston at 15% apiece, Detroit at 12%, then Toronto, Indiana and Miami. A year earlier, Cleveland had been picked by 63% of executives to win the conference.
Out West, San Antonio collected 53% of first-place support and 34% of total points, level with Oklahoma City in weighted share. The Thunder received the other 47% of first-place ballots. Minnesota, Denver, Houston, the Lakers and Portland followed; Oklahoma City had been last season’s runaway Western favorite, taking 87% of the vote.
Wembanyama’s eight category wins included best international player, where he edged Denver’s Nikola Jokić, 53% to 47%. He was also chosen as the opponent who creates the most coaching adjustments at 47%, ahead of Jokić’s 33%, and as the NBA’s most versatile player at 57%.
The defensive returns were even more decisive. Wembanyama drew 97% as the league’s top defender and the same 97% as the best interior defender, leaving Detroit’s Ausar Thompson and Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert with the remaining support in those questions. He also paced the versatile-defender category with 30%, in front of Houston’s Amen Thompson, Toronto’s Scottie Barnes, Miami’s Bam Adebayo and New York’s OG Anunoby.
Oklahoma City still carried the broader team-defense label, winning 77% of votes for the NBA’s best defensive club. San Antonio was second at 20%, with Toronto receiving 3%.
At the traditional spots, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remained the survey’s top point guard at 67%, ahead of New York’s Jalen Brunson, the Lakers’ Luka Dončić and Golden State’s Stephen Curry. Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards was the leading shooting guard at 73%, while Dončić narrowly led Boston’s Jayson Tatum as the preferred small forward, 37% to 33%.
Miami’s Giannis Antetokounmpo was picked as the premier power forward with 70%, with Wembanyama second at 23%. Jokić led Wembanyama in the center vote, 63% to 37%. Across all position ballots, Gilgeous-Alexander held the highest total vote share at 16%, with Antetokounmpo and Edwards at 15%, Jokić at 13% and Wembanyama at 12%.
Harper, 20, was viewed as the player most likely to make a major leap in 2026-27, taking 27%. Dallas’ Cooper Flagg, Toronto’s Collin Murray-Boyles, Houston’s Amen Thompson and Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace shared second at 7%; Spurs guard Stephon Castle also received support.
Castle appeared in the perimeter-defense voting as well, tying with Minnesota’s Jaden McDaniels at 7%. Houston’s Amen Thompson led that group at 30%, while Oklahoma City’s Alex Caruso and Ausar Thompson each drew 17%, followed by Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels at 10%.
The Spurs’ supporting work also registered in the roster-building questions. Harris was voted the most underrated player addition of the offseason at 20%, ahead of Boston center Mitchell Robinson at 17% and Charlotte’s Naz Reid at 10%. San Antonio assistant Billy Donovan was second in the assistant-coach vote at 13%, trailing Clippers assistant Jeff Van Gundy’s 17%; Spurs assistants Scott King and Corliss Williamson also received votes.
Mitch Johnson drew recognition in two coaching categories, receiving votes as a top people manager and for defensive schemes. San Antonio’s De’Aaron Fox was named the league’s second-fastest ballhandler at 17%, behind Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey at 53% and ahead of Portland’s Ja Morant at 13%.
Elsewhere in the offseason survey, Philadelphia was rated as the club with the best overall summer at 73%, followed by Miami at 10% and Charlotte at 7%. Miami’s acquisition of Antetokounmpo was considered the move most likely to change the league, taking 53%; Philadelphia additions Jaylen Brown and LeBron James followed at 20% and 13%, tied with Toronto’s Kawhi Leonard.
Indiana was selected as the team most likely to improve, receiving 43%, followed by Washington at 23%, Utah at 13% and Toronto at 7%. Philadelphia, at 27%, was again viewed as the league’s hardest team to forecast, with Minnesota next at 17% and the Lakers and Jazz at 13% each.
The rookie ballot put Memphis forward Cameron Boozer first for Rookie of the Year at 50%. Chicago’s Caleb Wilson received 20%, Washington’s AJ Dybantsa 17% and Utah’s Darryn Peterson 13%. Dybantsa and Wilson split the vote for the rookie most likely to become the best player five years from now, at 33% each.
Milwaukee’s Brayden Burries, selected 10th in the draft, was considered the biggest draft-value steal with 30%. Toronto’s Allen Graves, Philadelphia’s Labaron Philon and Cleveland’s Meleek Thomas were tied next at 10%.
Sasha Vezenkov was named the best international player outside the NBA at 77%, well ahead of Jonas Valančiūnas at 7%. Wembanyama’s victory over Jokić in the NBA international-player question marked a sharp turn from last year, when Jokić had claimed 93%.
Miami coach Erik Spoelstra retained first place as the league’s best head coach at 43%, with Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault at 37% and New York’s Mike Brown at 10%. Spoelstra, Boston’s Joe Mazzulla and Golden State’s Steve Kerr shared the top spot for player management and motivation, each at 23%.
Indiana’s Rick Carlisle was viewed as the best at in-game adjustments, taking 30% over the Clippers’ Tyronn Lue at 23% and Spoelstra at 20%. Carlisle also led the offense category at 47%. Daigneault was the clear leader for defensive game-planning at 67%, ahead of Spoelstra and Houston’s Ime Udoka, each at 10%.
Boston’s Mike Conley was the active player executives most often identified as a future head coach, earning 50%. Indiana’s T.J. McConnell was second at 13%, followed by Brunson at 10% and Golden State’s Draymond Green at 7%.
Minnesota and San Antonio shared the vote as the NBA’s most entertaining team, each at 30%. Denver and Philadelphia each received 10%. Denver and Oklahoma City also split the home-court advantage category at 37%, ahead of New York’s 20%.
Oklahoma City was chosen to have the league’s most efficient offense at 27%, followed by Denver at 20%, New York at 17%, Boston at 13%, Philadelphia at 10% and the Lakers at 7%. The Thunder’s Gilgeous-Alexander also remained the top point guard, a useful marker of how tightly the West’s projected race is packed around Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
Houston’s Amen Thompson was named the NBA’s best athlete with 63%, followed by Edwards at 20% and Ausar Thompson at 10%. Curry nearly swept the shooting categories, earning 97% as the best pure shooter, 80% as the league’s best off-ball mover and 50% as the player executives want taking the final shot.
Jokić was voted the best passer at 87% and held a 67%-33% edge over Philadelphia’s James in basketball IQ. Brunson was selected as the top leader at 53%, ahead of Curry at 20%, while Curry’s late-game vote put him in front of Brunson, Dončić, Gilgeous-Alexander and Houston’s Kevin Durant.
For San Antonio, the survey reads less like a patient-development forecast than a present-tense scouting report. Wembanyama has the league’s executive class looking at both ends of the floor, Harper is already a breakout favorite, Castle remains in the defensive discussion, and the Spurs are being asked to carry championship expectations now.
