NBA season 2025-26 Preview: 7 best duets in the NBA

The era of the “three big” is over. Dous are what is throughout the League.

Blame the second apron of the NBA luxury tax, but the days of the offici fronts that think in terms of the need for three elite stars to win a title is in the end. It has always been difficult to assemble these teams, but now the tax apron makes it incredibly difficult to keep three maximum players together with enough support around them to win for a certain period of time.

Elite Duos-Con a list of high quality role players around them-is the direction in which the League is going now. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown in Boston won a ring two years ago, while last season he was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams.

Who are the best Duets of NBA? Here are my first seven (followed by some honorable mentions/names to look at).

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams (Thunder)

“I think we both trust each other, we have the same mentality, winning the mentality, we want the best for each other above all,” said Gilgeous-Alexander during the finals of his chemistry with Williams. “He too and I are naturally good friends. We always talk inside and off the pitch. Always together. This helps with it, for sure. So we use our experiences together to grow.”

SGA and J-Dub were the driving force of Oklahoma City who won 68 games last season, and they are the reason why Adam Silver will deliver the team’s rings on the opening evening (right here on NBC and Peacock). Helps their games to complete each other.

Last season, the Thunder had a net score of +13.1 in the regular season when Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams shared the field (which was a +7.1 still impressive in the playoffs). Their comedy and the ring make them the duo more decorated in the story of Thunder – which is not a small honor considering that this franchise has seen Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant, and then Westbrook and Paul George.

It can be argued that OKC is a “three big” with Chet Holmgren-and all three are now on maximum-but extensions in the center are Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander who are the driving force that makes the team beat this season.

Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray (Nuggets)

This remains the most devastating and unstoppable pick-and-roll combination in the championship. This duo is the reason why a banner of the championship hangs in the ball arena.

They didn’t take a step back last season: Denver had a clear evaluation of +11.1 when they shared the field, in 58 games. In this season, the duo of the Nuggets is surrounded by a deeper list of quality players: Cameron Johnson, Bruce Brown and Tim. Hardaway Jr. Join the returns Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Peyton Watson – but are Jokic and Murray who make Denver the greatest threat to Oklahoma City in the West.

Donvan Mitchell and Evan Mobley (Cavaliers)

If a team outside of Okc is close to “Three Grandi”, they are the Cleveland Cavaliers. Any combination of Mitchell, Mobley and Darius Garland works (and if I doubt how critically the Garland is, he thinks back to the playoffs last year and how their offense fought as Garland was almost not trying to play due to an injury to the finger of the foot).

However, we are putting Mitchell and Mobley as a key duo – if the knights will come to the NBA finals for the first time without that “Akron’s child”, this is the duo that will feed him. Mobley is the defensive player of the year who added 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds of a game last season, and the Cavaliers are banking on him taking another step forward offensive next season. Mitchell is the All-Nba rock of the first team on which this team is based for Big Plays, a boy who scored 24 points and five assists on average a game last season.

When Mitchell and Mobley shared the field last season, the Cavaliers had a clear score of +11.1. Do it again and Cleveland probably starts to repeat as seed n. 1 in the East and gives the possibility to get to the finals.

Stephen Curry and Draymond Green (Warriors)

At the end of the day, these are the two men that Steve Kerr trusts most of all the others: they were the most used coupling of warriors last season and the team had a net score of +7.3 when they shared the field.

The recovery and legendary curry handles are the gravity that opens the offense of the warriors and green that passes from the short roll maintains the buzzing offense. In addition, Green remains the central lineback of the defense of warriors.

Yes, the Warriors have Jimmy Butler plus some key players, but if Golden will be a post -stal noise, it will be because curry and green are in vintage form.

Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns (Knicks)

This duo, put together shortly before the opening of the training field last season, ended up lifting the Knicks to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in 25 years.

Furthermore, it was not an unprecedented usability. The Knicks had a clear evaluation of +4.9 when Towns and Brunson shared the field, with weak defensive numbers that draw them. That defense seemed better for the playoffs, after Mitchell Robinson had returned and played near the cities.

The potential is moreover, and the new coach Mike Brown will rely on the depth of this list, looking for better combinations giving rest to his stars. However, if the Knicks take advantage of their opportunities in the East this season, he must start with Brunson and the cities and are a little more comfortable and play each other better this season.

Lebron James and Luka Doncic (Lakers)

Two of the highest Qi players in the game next to each other, two brilliant passers -by who can both mark. This duo has the potential to be unstoppable.

It was not the case of last season, when Doncic was exchanged shocking with Los Angeles at February: the Lakers had a net score of +2 when they shared the court. The defense was what he held them back.

Now, with a complete training field to smooth out the nodes, expectations are rich in Los Angeles (they are always with the Lakers fans), especially with “Magro” Luka who shows up at the field. However, the defense remains the main concern: Doncic is a solid defender of the team but it can be taken to be adequately targeted, Lebron can still compose defense features but it is no longer a consistent force to that end, and another appetizer to Austin Reaves is a target. This will exert a lot of pressure on the new Deandre Ayton center to clean the problems in the paint and around the edge. The way the coach JJ Redick manages the defense of this team will be one of the key questions of the season.

However, with the duo of Lebron and Luka, the Lakers can beat anyone on a certain night.

James Harden and Ivica Zubac (Clippers)

The most neglected duo in the NBA: they played the third almost all the minutes of a combination of two men in the championship last season, and the Clippers had a very impressive net of +10.3 score when they shared the field.

While he has a profound list to lean on 82 games, wait for coach Tyronn Lue to play a lot of Harden and Zubac together, using their game to two men. Lue, as a coach, tilts into what works and this mating works.

Honor mention:

• Victor Wembanyama and De’Aron Fox (Spurs). We saw them together only for five games last season (before the blood clots of the shoulders of Wembanyama ended up his season), but if he put himself as expected, I could seem foolish for not having them among the first seven.
• Kevin Durant and Amen Thompson (Rockets). A potentially devastating coupling on the wing and one with many more shots of creation and responsibility for team organization now that Fred Vanvleet is out for the season.
• Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner (magic). We had the opportunity to see them together only for 40 games last season (the team had a clear evaluation of +3.8 in the minutes that shared the field). Orlando is ready for a jump this season, but needs this duo to stay healthy and take a step forward together.
• Take Young and Jalen Johnson (Hawks). Another team with a great offseason, but if this team will jump from being a perpetual game team to a team of the first four, these two must bring the heavy load. Last season the Hawks were a +4.3 when they were on the field together, but this was only in 34 games due to injuries.
• Paul George and Joel Embiid (76ers). Potentially good like any duo in this list, but they must remain healthy and on the pitch this season. Last season they only played 18 games together and enter both this season Questions about their health.