The dust has finally settled on one of the wildest offseasons in recent memory, featuring LeBron James packing his bags for Philadelphia, a reshuffled West, and a loaded rookie class ready to take over, which means it is time to find some value. For the 2026-27 NBA season, we are looking at a changing of the guard where historical trends point to massive leaps. Whether it is Cooper Flagg ready to orchestrate a Thunder-style surge in Dallas, Luka Doncic stepping into a completely unleashed Lakers offense now built entirely in his image, or rookies and bench mob staples stepping into heavy vacuums, this board is ripe with opportunity. Let's dive right into our official best bets for win totals, awards, and futures here at Fantasy Alarm before the season begins. They’ll all be uploaded into the Fantasy Alarm bet tracker so you can follow along!
2026-27 NBA Win Totals: Best Over/Under Bets
Dallas Mavericks O 33.5 Wins: -105 on DK Sportsbook (1 unit)
We’ve seen superstar ascension correlate with teams having higher ceilings/floors, and that’s what it feels like with Cooper Flagg in Year 2. It’s not just that Flagg is bordering on superstardom, but they have the perfect “Robin” to Flagg’s “Batman” in Kyrie Irving returning to the lineup.
The most recent examples of this are the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and Detroit Pistons.
OKC: 2021-’22 - 24 wins – 2022-’23 - 40 wins – 2023-’24 - 57 wins
SAS: 2023-’24 - 22 wins – 2024-’25 - 34 wins – 2025-’26 - 62 wins
DET: 2023-’24 - 14 wins – 2024-’25 - 44 wins – 2025-’26 - 60 wins
Those three teams saw their superstars take massive leaps. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became league MVP. Victor Wembanyama arguably is the face of the league. Cade Cunningham finished fifth in MVP voting and was 1st team All-NBA. That’s the type of upside Cooper Flagg has coming off a rookie of the year campaign in which he averaged 21 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 4.5 APG, and 1.2 SPG on 47% shooting.
Outside of Flagg and a returning Kyrie Irving, the Mavericks have really solid depth after adding Santi Aldama (via trade) and Zaccharie Risacher (via trade). Their center room should be healthier than it has been in the past two seasons, and they’re going to be a good defensive unit led by Max Christie, Flagg, and P.J. Washington. They could be the team that surprises the most this year.
Los Angeles Lakers O 45.5 Wins: +100 on DK Sportsbook (1 unit)
I’m very bullish on the Los Angeles Lakers this year, and I don’t care who knows it. There are plenty of reasons, too. Through two seasons under JJ Redick, the Los Angeles Lakers have won 50 and 53 games. Was LeBron James a part of those teams? Of course he was, but the Lakers built a team around Luka Doncic that they love. They have shooters everywhere, they have a rim threat paired with Doncic, and the same guy in Walker Kessler who protects the rim as well as anyone in the league. In each of Kessler’s first three seasons, he averaged north of two blocks per game, which is something the Lakers did not have with Deandre Ayton.
I haven’t said Austin Reaves’ name yet, but Reaves is coming off a 22.3 PPG, 5.5 APG, and 4.7 RPG season and is now playing without LeBron James. The Lakers have two stars and a perfect complementary roster around them that should be elite offensively and improve defensively with Kessler and how hard Collin Sexton and Quentin Grimes always play on both ends.
2026-27 NBA Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie Best Bets
Cameron Boozer, Memphis Grizzlies: Rookie of the Year +300 on DK Sportsbook (1 unit)
The rookie of the year race is going to be awesome this season. This was a star-studded draft class, and it’s going to be exciting to watch them all perform, but Cameron Boozer landed in the best spot of them all for personal growth. Boozer was drafted by the Grizzlies, who are fresh off trading Desmond Bane, Jaren Jackson, and Ja Morant in the last two seasons. Zach Edey’s availability has been a big concern, and Ty Jerome is their other most consistent offensive threat.
While AJ Dybantsa deals with Anthony Davis and Trae Young, Darryn Peterson is surrounded by Lauri Markkanen, Jackson Jr., and Keyonte George; Boozer will be the focal point in Memphis. He averaged 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game at Duke in his one year at college, and is a player you can run your entire offense through despite playing power forward. He’s an efficient shooter, can knock down threes, and makes his free throws. He scores at every level and will have the ball in his hands the most of any rookie this year.
Keaton Wagler, Los Angeles Clippers: To Be Named First Team All-Rookie +300 on DK Sportsbook (.25 units)
There are four players that are expected to take the NBA by storm and be the consensus best four rookies of the year: Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, AJ Dybansta, and Caleb Wilson, but the fifth player is up in the air, with three options ahead of the field: Darius Acuff, Yaxel Lendeborg, and my pick, Keaton Wagler. The Clippers roster is in flux, and really, that’s an organizational thing from top down. After losing their next five first-round picks due to the cap circumvention that took place with Kawhi Leonard, they traded Leonard for Brandon Ingram, and Ingram has a partially torn Achilles. They also got Max Strus in a three-team trade, and he’s missing multiple months with an injury too.
The rest of the roster, and possibly starting lineup, includes Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones, and Rui Hachimura. They’ll have Bradley Beal for some games this year, and the only truly reliable offensive player they have to start the year is Darius Garland, but his availability has been spotty in recent years. Wagler has a real opportunity to potentially start early on in the season and be one of the team’s leading scorers, especially when they quickly fall out of playoff contention, and the team has nothing to play for except hoping Wagler develops into a star.
2026-27 NBA MVP Odds: Best Bet to Win MVP
Luka Doncic, Los Angeles Lakers: +550 on DK Sportsbook (1 unit)
We’ve yet to see Luka Doncic win an MVP award in his eight seasons in the NBA despite finishing in the top-five four times and top-eight in six. For the first time as a Laker, it’s Doncic’s team now that LeBron James has moved onto the Philadelphia 76ers.
In 1173 minutes without LeBron James last season, Doncic posted a 41.9% USG rate, which is up from his 35.2% marker on the year. In 15 games without James last year, Doncic averaged 35.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 8.4 APG while shooting 47.1% from the floor. There aren’t many players that could average that over the course of the year, and Doncic is one of them. Doncic has typically qualified for awards throughout his career despite the laundry list of injuries he’s suffered throughout his NBA career.
The Lakers changed their roster around Doncic to perfectly complement him. He has shooters in Quentin Grimes, Austin Reaves, Collin Sexton, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Jaden Hardy, and the perfect pick-and-roll partner in Walker Kessler, who is a constant lob threat.
2026-27 NBA Sixth Man of the Year Odds and Best Bets
Ajay Mitchell, Oklahoma City Thunder: +600 on DK Sportsbook (.5 units)
The current favorite for the award is Ajay Mitchell, and although I have another name to consider for the award – two really because I could’ve written up Dylan Harper as well – I get why Mitchell is currently +150 higher odds than second place. The Thunder had some major roster movement this offseason with a lot of their ancillary pieces. They traded Aaron Wiggins, Luguentz Dort, and Isaiah Joe, and each of those players averaged at least 21.2 minutes per game.
Mitchell himself had a massive role averaging 25.8 MPH along with 13.6 points, 3.6 assists, and 3.3 rebounds per game. He’s once again going to come off the bench, and although he’s going to be playing on a team with a healthier Jalen Williams, Mitchell should take another big leap with how many minutes are available to him and the rest of their bench mob. The only players on the team last year with a higher usage rate than Mitchell were the Thunder big three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren.
Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics: +800 on DK Sportsbook (.5 units)
Just looking at what the Celtics are doing this preseason, it seems as if Payton Pritchard is destined to once again be tethered to the bench at the start of games. Whether that’s right or wrong, that doesn’t matter for us when looking to bet on sixth-man of the year awards. Pritchard, who won this award in 2024-’25, is destined to compete for the award again this season.
Pritchard had a 20.6% usage rate last year, but that ballooned to 28.2% without Jaylen Brown on the floor, and if you’ve been living under a rock recently, Brown is on the 76ers now. They added a 36-year-old Paul George in his place, and Pritchard’s going to be more of a priority than George on a nightly basis. It was a career-year in every sense of the word for Pritchard a year ago, posting watermarks in points, rebounds, assists, field goal attempts, and minutes.
It’s highly plausible that Pritchard, who’s gotten better each and every year he’s been in the NBA, flirts with 20 PPG this season, which would likely give him a leg up on the rest of the field coming off the bench.