The NBA’s 2025-2026 Ballyhoo: A Gander From Galway

Simon Dymond

Alright lads. Time to ponder the next great American kerfuffle, the 2025-2026 NBA season. The League Pass will probably cost a phantasmagorical sum, maybe €150. But we’ll pay. We always do, for those bleary-eyed 3 a.m. games in Dublin.

The Denver Nuggets will still be a puzzle. Their gargantuan Serb, Nikola Jokić, likely cares more for his horses than another trophy, and that’s why he’s brilliant. He plays basketball with the calm of a man who has just solved the world’s most difficult crossword. The Boston Celtics will be there, all serious and green, they are a bit like the GAA on a global scale. But can they outsmart a man who thinks in chess moves. I dont know.

Keep both eyes on the San Antonio Spurs. That French lad, Victor Wembanyama, isn’t a person. He is a seven-foot-four praying mantis who learned to shoot a basketball. His wingspan is wider than a Cork alleyway. I predict he’ll sweep both the MVP and the Rookie of the Year awards in 2026, its a dead cert. That’s just science.

So, start saving your euros. This season promises to be a stupendous tussle. A man needs his hoops. It’s better than watching the rain.

NBA 25-26

▶ The Wild West and Other Bedlam

Then you have them Lakers. In Los Angeles. LeBron James will be forty-one. A fossil in basketball years. He will still be better than most, which is just plain daft. Maybe he finally retires and buys a chipper in Belfast. Who knows. His continued excellence is a glorious affront to Father Time.

And what about the Golden State Warriors, the old swashbucklers. Stephen Curry will still shoot the ball like a wizard casting a spell. But the team is getting long in the tooth. They has looked shaky. It’s like watching your favourite trad band, you love them but you worry about their knees.

The real dark horse is Oklahoma City. A team full of pups. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander plays with a preposterous calm, he glides around the court like he hasn’t a care in the world. He’s the antidote to all the shouting and brouhaha.

So the whole thing is a glorious mess. A magnificent muddle. Prepare for a season of complete and utter pandemonium. It’ll be worth every cent, even if the kettle boils a dozen times before dawn.

▶ The Grand Finale, or Just More Madness?

Let’s not forget Philadelphia. The 76ers. A team permanently on the verge of either greatness or a spectacular meltdown. Joel Embiid, a colossus of a man will likely be brilliant and then injured. It is the way of things. A tale as old as time itself. He is a magnificent, frustrating enigma.

So the whole league is a dog’s dinner. The teams is all jumbled up. A proper omnishambles. But my money stays on that French lad. Wembanyama for MVP and Rookie of the Year. Yes, I know it makes no sense. But since when did basketball make sense. It’s glorious codswallop.

From my sofa in Waterford, it looks like a beautiful disaster. The NBA 2025-2026 season won’t be tidy. It won’t be predictable. And that is why we’ll be watching. That is why the money leaves our pockets. For the story.

Simon Dymond
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