Top 10 Must-Watch NBA Rivalries Shaping the 2026-27 Season

Zach Kram
September 2, 2026, 7:00 AM ET

Zach Kram is a national NBA writer for ESPN.com, specializing in short- and long-term trends across the league’s analytics landscape. He previously worked at The Ringer covering the NBA and MLB. You can follow Zach on X via @zachkram.

Multiple Authors

Some sports rivalries are eternal, due to factors of geography or shared history. Yankees vs. Red Sox. Army vs. Navy. North Carolina vs. Duke.

Yet, others wax and wane in context. For instance, the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons had arguably the NBA’s best rivalry during one of the league’s best eras; they battled in the playoffs every year from 1988 through 1991, the last three meetings coming in the conference finals.

But Chicago and Detroit have just one playoff matchup in the past 35 years, and they haven’t both reached the postseason in the same season since 2008-09. It’s difficult for a rivalry to sustain its intensity without regular playoff kindling.

In an ever-changing league, then, it’s worth surveying the current rivalry landscape. After a postseason and offseason that elevated some of the feistiest conflicts around, here are the NBA’s top 10 rivalries entering the 2026-27 season.

Our list tips off with one of the most intriguing NBA rivalries, because many of the first team’s fans still adore the second team’s best player. However, following Luka Doncic’s blockbuster move to Dallas in 2025, the Mavericks and Lakers will be inextricably linked for the remainder of Nikola Jokić’s legendary career.

Doncic has averaged 37.7 points in three games against the Mavericks since the trade, and the Lakers hold a 3-0 record in those contests.

Add in the presence of Cooper Flagg, whose rise as Dallas’ young star now surrounds so many of Doncic’s former playing partners (Kyrie Irving, P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, and others), and every meeting between these two teams will be a spectacle for the foreseeable future.

9. Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert vs. Suns Owner Mat Ishbia

The Cleveland Cavaliers’ and Phoenix Suns’ owners both run Michigan-based mortgage companies, and that business rivalry has carried over to the NBA. The board of governors’ vote to allow Ishbia to purchase the Suns was unanimous, albeit with one abstention: Gilbert.

“He doesn’t like me and I don’t like him,” Ishbia told the host of Bill Simmons’ podcast in 2023.

Whether coincidental or not, the Suns and Cavaliers haven’t executed a trade in over three years since Ishbia acquired the former. (The two franchises’ previous deal, according to Basketball Reference’s trade tracker, relocated Shaquille O’Neal to Cleveland back in 2009.)

From a purely aesthetic standpoint, this represents the best individual rivalry in the NBA today: the greatest offensive big man of the modern era pitted against a player with the potential to become the premier defensive big man worldwide.

For the most part, Jokić has maintained the lead thus far. He has averaged a staggering 37.3 points per game across seven meetings, including double-digit scores in at least three of those encounters.

The Duble Crown duo’s lone previous showdown last season demonstrated exactly why their head-to-head struggles ignite such excitement. In an overtime thriller in April, Wembanyama tallied 34 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks—only for Jokić to respond with 40 points, 13 assists and three blocks, sealing the victory with a remarkable Sombor shuffle over his competitor to secure the win.

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— KramClips (@KramClips) August 30, 2026

Boston and Miami hold the record for the most playoff matchups between any two NBA franchises in the last decade, with seven games spanning this century.

Those series unfolded in two distinct waves separated by roughly a decade. The Celtics and Heat converged intensely in the 2010–2012 period, then reconnected in the 2020–2024 window.

Three of those six series extended to full seven games, and four advanced to the conference finals rounds.

Notably, the opposing squads posted identical head-to-head records within that span: twenty-one victories each for Boston and Miami.

Adding further stakes is that Giannis Antetokounmpo now anchors the Heat roster after three playoff series of his own against Boston.

With this level of star power concentrated on both sides, it stands to reason that the Celtics and Lakers occupy a prestigious spot on this list—even if they aren’t currently locked in daily confrontation.

James and Curry’s competition first ignited at the dawn of the Golden State dynasty in 2015, yet neither player sits at their former peaks. LeBron will mark his solitary 42nd birthday this campaign, while Stephen will turn 39.

Even with five full Finals series elapsed, the couple remains the stuff of television legend—both earned Last All-Star honors last season alone—leaving plenty to energize every encounter.

Their feud transcends contemporary stats because it evolved into genuine camaraderie, culminating in Jayson Tatum earning Olympic gold alongside Kevin Durant in 2024.

This entry claims the #1 ranking specifically given Wembanyama and Jokić’s ongoing duel—the poster child for size in the modern era.”,

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