The worst-case scenario after the worst-case scenario became a real-life nightmare for myself and a lot of castaway Seattle-based NBA fans in 2025.

Our team, my hometown team, the Seattle Supersonics, was taken away in 2008 and rebranded as the Oklahoma City Thunder. Since then, some Sonics fans have sworn off the NBA altogether; some found new teams to root for; some actually stuck with the Thunder as their team; and some put more energy into rooting against OKC than rooting for any other team. Then, after close calls in 2012 and 2016, the dreaded possibility became a sobering reality in 2025: the Thunder won an NBA championship. Still waiting for the league to grant Seattle an expansion team or a relocated franchise, while watching our Color Purple curses blown to smithereens (“Until you do right by me, everything you even think about is gonna fail”), OKC’s title run had the Seattle crowd either reaffirming or reevaluating our relationship with the NBA.

Personally, I’ve never hated the Thunder. It’s never been anything against the players, and I can even understand an OKC-based ownership group moving their newly purchased pro basketball team to OKC — but I still did not want that franchise to succeed.

Meanwhile, I’ve been trying on different NBA teams for the past 17 years like a man trying to find something to wear on a first date. That post-Sonics carousel has included about a dozen teams, from Portland to Orlando and many in between. I’ve learned to simply enjoy the NBA while following players I like, but sports are always better when you have that one team to get behind. Maybe I’ll never settle on one until the Sonics are reinstated … or until Las Vegas (current residence) gets a team. And if that never happens … ??

Going into the 2025-26 NBA season, there are a handful of teams in the running to become My Team, in which I have some rooting interest. And as it turns out, the story of this season, which tipped off October 21st and has seen every team in the league play about 10 to 12 games through Tuesday’s schedule, can be told through that particular group of teams.

The Real-Deal Title Contender Tier: Houston Rockets

Last year’s Rockets were a 2-seed in the West that no one really took seriously as a championship contender. As good as they were in the regular season, it wasn’t a surprise when they fell in the first round of the playoffs to a battle-tested Warriors squad.

And so the Rockets added a future Hall of Famer in the offseason, Kevin Durant, whose job is to provide the experience and crunch-time bona fides that’ll get Houston over the hump as a serious threat to win it all.

The Rockets had what looked like the perfect roster to challenge the best in the West, but then Fred VanVleet tore his ACL during an offseason workout, and suddenly Houston had a big problem at point guard. Amen Thompson (22 years old) and Reed Sheppard (21) have been enlisted to fill the positional void, and the Rockets look just fine at 6-3 through their first nine games with the league’s third-best scoring offense, but the team could still flip some of the talent on their roster for a more veteran point guard in what is undeniably a win-now season.

A couple years ago I picked the Rockets as one of my trying-them-on teams, right when they were coming out of a tanking cycle that brought them Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. and Jalen Green (who was used in the Durant trade), some of the current squad’s foundation. But as much as there was to like about Houston, the fandom felt forced; I didn’t have a natural connection with the Rockets. The Durant acquisition helped with the personal tie, though; probably because KD began his pro career in Seattle, and I was covering him as a writer back when he was in high school. They’re now one of the teams I’ll be rooting for to win a championship, and one of the few that actually has a chance to do it.

Joined by: Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder

Should Be a Title Contender, But Something’s Missing: Los Angeles Lakers

There’s Luka Doncic; arguably the best perimeter player in the game, likely future MVP. There’s LeBron James, former (four-time) MVP, who is 40 but still an All-NBA-caliber player. That should be enough, right? Surround those two with some halfway decent role players, and the Lakers should be an undeniable legit title contender. And this team actually has better-than-halfway-decent role players: Austin Reaves morphs into prime Larry Bird when Luka and LeBron are out of the lineup; Deandre Ayton was somewhat recently the starting center on an NBA Finals team; Rui Hachimura is a perfect gap-filler who produces inside the paint and outside the arc; Marcus Smart is a former Defensive Player of the Year. It’s all there, it seems.

So what’s missing? Why did the Lakers get bounced in the first round of the playoffs last season with the same Luka-LeBron-Reaves core? Why do they lose so many games that are easily winnable? Why do they end up battling tooth-and-nail with teams they should blow out of the water? The most obvious answer is defense. A middle-of-the-pack defense would be good enough to let such an offensively talented team thrive, but giving heavy minutes to Luka and LeBron and Reaves means there’s high risk of the defense being worse than middle-of-the-pack — a group that’s just not athletic enough, not young enough, and/or not strong enough to get critical stops. So far this season, L.A. is right in the middle with the 15th-ranked defense through Tuesday’s schedule, and they’ve got an 8-3 record to show for it.

I’d like to see the Lakers win. Given that LeBron has been one of my favorite players for most of his career, of course I’d want to see him get another ring on his way out. But as a Seattle native and longtime Sonics fan, it just feels wrong to go all-in as a Lakers fan. Even when they’re not good, it feels like a bandwagon move. But good luck to them this year.

Joined by: Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks

Still Clinging to Relevancy: Los Angeles Clippers

They were the oldest team in the league last season … and then they added 37-year-old Brook Lopez and 40-year-old Chris Paul to the rotation. Even more than their L.A. counterparts, the Clippers are in full-on “win now” mode; it truly feels like now or never for the Kawhi Leonard-James Harden duo, and things are even more dire with the Kawhi salary-cap scandal and coach Ty Lue’s gambling ties looming over the franchise. The Clippers might have no choice but to break up this group and start fresh, if for no other reason than to get investigators off their back.

While they’re still together, the Clippers (3-7) still have a shot at contending for a title. When Kawhi’s available, he’s one of the best all-around players in the NBA. Harden remains one of the best playmakers in the league when he’s not in a postseason Game 7. Ivica Zubac is quietly one of the league’s most consistent centers. Newcomer John Collins can be a frontcourt spark off the bench. And while Brad Beal isn’t All-Star-level, 20-ppg Brad Beal anymore, he can bring something to the table similar to how late-career Ray Allen helped the Heat.

Unlike the Lakers, I’ve never cared much for the Clippers. (At least the Lakers had Magic and Kareem when I was a kid, and later Shaq and Kobe.) The Clippers were almost always irrelevant. But I’m a big-time James Harden fan, so I’m invested in this version of the Clips doing something. And I can’t quite write them off yet.

Joined by: Miami Heat, Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks

That New-Relevancy Smell: Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks were a trendy offseason pick for the team that made the biggest improvement going into 2025-26, after they picked up Kristaps Porzingis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and Luke Kennard — adding size, defense, and shooting to a roster that needed size, defense, and shooting. Atlanta would also be getting Jalen Johnson back after a season-ending injury, expected progression from Dyson Daniels and Zaccharie Risacher, and with star point guard Trae Young back to run the show.

After four straight years of play-in-level mediocrity, the Hawks on paper look like they could get back to the 2021 form that had them in the Eastern Conference finals. During that mediocre stretch Trae alone made it worth watching this team, but the ’25-26 roster has several pieces that make the team easy to root for.

So far, Atlanta is an unspectacular 6-5 through Tuesday’s schedule, but they’ve dealt with some early-season injuries. If they can get reasonably healthy, they really could crack the list of legit contenders in the East.

Joined by: Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Orlando Magic

Staring Hard at the Reset Button: Sacramento Kings

I really want to get in with the Kings, in part because they are one team whose every game I can watch without getting NBA League Pass (thanks to YouTube TV). I’d prefer a true West Coast team to follow as a native West Coaster, plus the Kings have a few players who I’ve always liked, including DeMar DeRozan, Malik Monk, and Dennis Schroder.

This is a team full of veterans aiming for their first championship — headlined by Russell Westbrook — who have often been scapegoated as the reason why their previous teams did not win championships. They can drop stats and make highlights, but something’s not working; Sacramento is 3-8 through its first 11 games. (For starters, they have the third-worst defense in the NBA in terms of points allowed, and second-worst for field goal percentage allowed.) There are too many proud vets here to tank, but this collection of talent isn’t exactly built to win. This seems like a recipe for a wave of trade-deadline deals that will have the Kings looking a lot different midway through the season.

Joined by: Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans

Trying to Escape the Basement: Charlotte Hornets

They’ve been so bad for so long, but this season it looks like the new regime is serious about winning. The Hornets (3-7 through Tuesday’s schedule) have put a promising class of rookies — Kon Knueppel, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Liam McNeeley, and Sion James — alongside their incumbent foundational pieces. And they have a coach in Charles Lee who has a winning pedigree and, more importantly, trust and leeway from the organization.

It also feels like the time is now for Charlotte to make a decision on whether LaMelo Ball is really the franchise player it wants to build around. And I don’t think this front office would keep him around just because he goes viral and sells tickets. As a halfway fan of the team (I have family in the Charlotte area and have considered living there), I can’t say LaMelo inspires rock-solid confidence that he’s the one. I wouldn’t mind if the Hornets made a straight-up deal for Memphis’ disgruntled star Ja Morant, or unloaded LaMelo for picks and pivoted to making Brandon Miller the team’s centerpiece.

Joined by: Toronto Raptors, Portland Trail Blazers

Holding it Down at the Bottom: Brooklyn Nets

For all the talk this past offseason about clearing up cap space and stockpiling draft picks to make a bold move for a superstar (Giannis Antetokounmpo? Trae Young?), the Nets didn’t spend those resources on anyone with so much as an All-Star berth on his resume. Brooklyn’s biggest acquisition was Michael Porter Jr., an elite role player from a good team who was probably destined to thrive statistically as a go-to option on a bad team.

It’s no surprise that the Nets are 1-10 through their first 11 games. They’re all-in on rebuilding, a.k.a. tanking. And that’s the toughest part for me about rooting for this team, even though I used to live in Brooklyn — not far from the Barclays Center site — and I like so many things about the Nets except for the actual basketball being played on the court. As a fan, you know Brooklyn is going to be bad, and they could be bad for the foreseeable future. And it’s no fun when there’s not even the tease of hope sprinkled on top of the losing.

Joined by: Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards