Ranking the top 10 NBA rivalries to watch in 2026-27 season
A competitive postseason and buzzy offseason have elevated some of the league's feistiest conflicts.
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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.
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10. Dallas Mavericks vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Our list tips off with one of the strangest NBA rivalries, because many of the first team's fans still adore the second team's best player. But after the Luka Doncic blockbuster in 2025, the Mavericks and Lakers will be inextricably linked for the rest of the 27-year-old future Hall of Famer's career.
Doncic has averaged 37.7 points in three games against the Mavericks since they traded him, and the Lakers are 3-0 in those contests.
Add in the presence of Cooper Flagg, Dallas' new young star, who is now surrounded by so many of Doncic's former running mates (Kyrie Irving, P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford and so on), 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 buy the Suns was unanimous, but with one abstention: Gilbert.
"He doesn't like me and I don't like him," Ishbia said about Gilbert on Bill Simmons' podcast in 2023.
Whether coincidental or not, the Suns and Cavaliers haven't made a trade in the three-plus years since Ishbia bought the former. (The two franchises' last deal, according to Basketball Reference's trade tracker, sent Shaquille O'Neal to Cleveland back in 2009.)
8. Nikola Jokic vs. Victor Wembanyama
From a purely stylistic perspective, this is the best individual rivalry in the NBA right now: the best offensive big man in decades versus a player with a chance to become the best defensive big man ever.
For the most part, Jokic has had Wembanyama's number thus far. He has scored a whopping 37.3 points per game in seven meetings, including at least 40 in each of the past three. But Wembanyama is nine years Jokic's junior, so that balance could start tilting in the other direction soon.
The two All-NBA centers' only showdown last season showed precisely why their individual duels are so thrilling. In an overtime contest in April, Wembanyama tallied 34 points, 18 rebounds, seven assists and five blocks -- only for Jokic to one-up him with 40 points, 13 assists and three blocks, including a majestic Sombor shuffle over his rival to help clinch the win.
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7. Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat
Boston and Miami have the most playoff matchups -- seven -- between any two teams in the 21st century, according to ESPN Research.
Those battles came in two flurries, a decade apart. The Celtics and Heat met in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 postseasons, then took some time off and reengaged their rivalry in the 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 playoffs. Three of those series went the full seven games, and four came in the conference finals.
Remarkably, the teams' overall record in those seven playoff series is even: 21 wins for Boston, 21 for Miami. And with Giannis Antetokounmpo now a member of the Heat -- after three playoff series of his own as a Milwaukee Buck against Boston -- there is even more star power in this rivalry. It's no wonder that Boston and Miami are slated to play on Christmas afternoon this season.
6. LeBron James vs. Stephen Curry
James and Curry were at the peak of their powers when their rivalry began at the dawn of the Warriors' dynasty in 2015, but the two are no longer quite at that level. James will celebrate his 42nd birthday during this upcoming season, and Curry will turn 39.
Yet a decade after they dueled in four straight Finals, every matchup between the two future Hall of Famers is still must-see TV. They're still talented enough -- both were deserving All-Stars last season -- to entertain, and there's simply so much history infused in all their meetings. Every time James beckons Curry into an isolation, and every time Curry pulls up for a 3-pointer over James' outstretched hand, it brings back the memories of so many high-stakes shots between the two defining players of this era.
Their rivalry gains spiritual bonus points because it has transformed into a friendship over the years, peaking with a gold medal as James and Curry teamed up at the 2024 Olympics.
5. Boston Celtics vs. Los Angeles Lakers
This is the active rivalry that is most rooted in nostalgia. The two winningest NBA franchises have 12 playoff meetings across three eras of basketball history (Russell vs. West, Bird vs. Magic, Pierce vs. Kobe), but just two since the 1980s.
It's difficult, of course, for teams in separate conferences to meet regularly in the playoffs -- especially in the current era of parity, where it's rare for any team to make multiple Finals trips in close succession. Both Boston and Los Angeles look like second-tier contenders entering the 2026-27 season, making it unlikely the two teams will reach the Finals anytime soon and face off for the first time since 2010.
That lack of consistency means Celtics vs. Lakers is no longer the best active rivalry in the NBA. But this rivalry's pageantry and history are so great -- the "Beat L.A." chants so deafening, the broadcast's old highlight reels so inspiring -- that it still warrants a healthy placement on this list.
4. Indiana Pacers vs. New York Knicks
This rivalry started with Reggie Miller on one side and Patrick Ewing and Spike Lee on the other, as the Pacers and Knicks met six times in eight postseasons from 1993 through 2000. That run produced a host of memorable moments, from Miller's choke pantomime and eight points in nine seconds, to Larry Johnson's four-point play.
Then it hibernated for a while; between 2000 and 2024, the two Eastern foes played only once in the postseason, when the Pacers eliminated the best team of the Knicks' Carmelo Anthony era in 2013.
But Tyrese Haliburton, Jalen Brunson and their teammates have rekindled an excellent rivalry. The Pacers eliminated the Knicks in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Madison Square Garden in 2024, then upset the Knicks again in the conference finals to reach the Finals in 2025 -- a series that featured a momentous comeback and Haliburton's homage to Miller's choke sign.
Both fanbases can point to injuries to downplay the other's accomplishments. A Knicks faithful might say that Indiana only won in 2024 because New York's roster was so injured; Pacers fans might contend that the Knicks' title run was possible because Haliburton's right Achilles tear meant New York didn't have to worry about them in the postseason.
That back-and-forth chatter serves to heighten this rivalry, which should recommence with Haliburton healthy this season and both teams angling to return to the Finals.
3. Denver Nuggets vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Most of the teams on this list are the NBA's most historically successful franchises -- which makes sense, because more deep playoff runs over decades means more opportunities for high-stakes clashes that stir up bad blood.
That's not the case for Denver and Minnesota, two franchises with a total of one Finals appearance between them. But they've stirred up enough recent drama -- via playoff showdowns in 2023, 2024 and 2026, as well as a 2018 de facto playoff tiebreaker that went to overtime on the last night of the regular season -- to warrant strong placement on this list nonetheless.
This rivalry has just about everything, from immense star power to compelling individual matchups -- most notably Rudy Gobert's efforts to guard Jokic -- to a healthy dislike between locker rooms. "They're all bad defenders," Timberwolves wing Jaden McDaniels taunted during the 2026 playoffs.
The Timberwolves have the upper hand for now: Minnesota eliminated the defending champion Nuggets in 2024 and advanced -- despite multiple injuries -- past their rivals in 2026. But Minnesota made dramatic changes to its roster this offseason, and both teams are now chasing the next two teams on this list rather than each other.
2. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs
These two southwestern giants have met in four playoff series since the Thunder moved from Seattle, and all four were memorably competitive:
In the 2012 conference finals, the Spurs took a 2-0 lead -- as part of a 20-game winning streak -- before the Thunder won four games in a row. In the 2014 conference finals, the Spurs won Game 6 in overtime to reach the Finals. In the 2016 second round, the Thunder upset a Spurs team that had won a franchise-record 67 games in the regular season; the Spurs had a 42-1 record at home that season before losing twice against the Thunder in San Antonio. In the 2026 conference finals, the Spurs eliminated the defending champs in Game 7 in Oklahoma City. That last series propelled this rivalry to an even greater level, after a regular season in which the Thunder started 24-1 only to drop three games to the Spurs in 13 days. Both teams have electric young backcourts, and Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren have been fierce rivals ever since they dueled on the international youth scene.
This rivalry has a strong case for the No. 1 spot right now, and because both Oklahoma City and San Antonio project to remain among the NBA's title favorites for seasons to come, they're likely to keep adding to that list of memorable playoff series.
Their next battle, though, comes as soon as possible when the Thunder take a trip to San Antonio on opening night.
1. Boston Celtics vs. Philadelphia 76ers
The Celtics and 76ers are the most frequent playoff rivals throughout NBA history. The two franchises have met in 23 playoff series all time, which is well ahead of the second-most-frequent matchup (15 meetings between the Knicks and Celtics).
But in recent seasons the rivalry seemed to be fading because it had grown so one-sided: Until this spring, the 76ers hadn't eliminated Boston since 1982. On the other side of the ledger, the Celtics knocked out Philadelphia in 1985, 2002, 2012, 2018, 2020 and 2023.
That changed this past season, however. First, the 76ers came back from a 3-1 deficit in the first round to stun the Celtics, who were favored not only to beat Philadelphia again, but to return to the Finals. Then, the 76ers traded for longtime Celtic Jaylen Brown, a former Finals MVP for Boston. And finally, they signed James in free agency.
Those transactions in particular add fascinating wrinkles to an already heated rivalry. Presumably, when the two teams meet this season, Brown and Jayson Tatum will spend plenty of time guarding each other as teammates turned rivals. James also folds in his own lengthy individual rivalry with the Celtics, whom he faced in playoff series in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2018; the NBA's all-time scoring leader experienced arguably the best and worst moments of his career against Boston in the playoffs.
At long last, the NBA's most frequent rivalry is once again its fiercest, as well.
