The Central Division loses one star, regains another, with Giannis Antetokounmpo\u2019s departure from the Bucks and Tyrese Haliburton\u2019s return to the Pacers. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers add an intriguing young talent; but will Peyton Watson be enough to supplant the division champion Pistons?<\/p>\n
Chicago Bulls
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No. 4 overall pick Caleb Wilson will look to make an immediate impact during his first NBA season.<\/p>\n
Amid all of the roster shuffling and player development, the Bulls finished 31-51 and did not qualify for the postseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Offseason moves<\/p>\n
\u2022 Additions: C Nic Claxton, G Norman Powell, F Dailyn Swain, F Caleb Wilson\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2022 Subtractions: C Mouhamadou Gueye, G Kam Jones, C Nick Richards, G Collin Sexton, G Anfernee Simons<\/p>\n
2026-27 season outlook<\/p>\n
The Bulls will embark on an era of off-court change, with Bryson Graham taking over<\/a> the basketball operations and Tiago Splitter replacing Billy Donovan<\/a> as coach. There are all indications that Chicago will continue to sift through players this season to see who sticks around while the team continues to rebuild.\u00a0<\/p>\n The highest hope lies with Wilson, their freakishly talented lottery pick<\/a>. Injuries prevented him from having a full season at North Carolina, but in his brief time there, he showed great athleticism combined with solid skills.\u00a0<\/p>\n The vision of Wilson next to Matas Buzelis is understandably exciting, but again, these two promising young talents will need time.\u00a0<\/p>\n To help the maturation process, and maybe grab a few extra wins, the Bulls signed Powell<\/a>, who\u2019s coming off a solid season in Miami. Powell and the Bulls hope a young core, coach and front office will eventually pay off soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cleveland Cavaliers After inking a new deal, Donovan Mitchell is set to continue pushing for more in Cleveland.<\/p>\n Fortified by a midseason trade<\/a> that brought James Harden, the Cavs went 52-30 and reached the conference finals.<\/p>\n Offseason moves<\/p>\n \u2022 Additions: F Mario Hezonja, C Khalifa Diop, G Meleek Thomas, G Peyton Watson<\/p>\n \u2022 Subtractions: G Keon Ellis, F Larry Nance Jr., F Georges Niang, G Dennis Schr\u00f6der, F Dean Wade<\/p>\n 2026-27 season outlook<\/p>\n How do the Cavaliers take the next step in a process that saw them reach the conference finals, yet come up well short against the Knicks?<\/p>\n For starters, the Cavs kept all the necessary rotational players, with the exception of Wade. Then they brought in Watson<\/a>, who had a breakout stretch with the Denver Nuggets last season.<\/p>\n He\u2019ll get ample time in the rotation, even more if his stint last season with the Nuggets wasn\u2019t a tease. Assuming Watson is a real-deal solid two-way player, the Cavs will bring extra firepower against the top teams in the East.<\/p>\n This also includes Harden, who showed signs of wear during the playoffs but was otherwise productive and, with the addition of Watson, can maintain fresher legs for a deep run.<\/p>\n Detroit Pistons The two-time All-Star averaged 23.9 points, 9.9 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game with Detroit last season.<\/p>\n The Pistons earned the top seed in the East, helped by a stellar season from Cade Cunningham and finished 60-22 and reached the East semifinals.<\/p>\n Offseason Moves<\/p>\n \u2022 Additions: F John Collins, G Gary Harris, G Isaiah Joe, G Ebuka Okorie, C Ugonna Onyenso, F Taurean Prince<\/p>\n \u2022 Subtractions: F Tobias Harris, G Caris LeVert, G Marcus Sasser, C Isaiah Stewart<\/p>\n 2026-27 season outlook<\/p>\n The competition for the top spot in the East will be stiffer this upcoming season; will the Pistons be able to string together another 60-win effort?<\/p>\n The Pistons lost Stewart, a decent backup center, but otherwise refrained from making any significant changes and essentially exchanged Harris and LeVert for Collins<\/a> and Joe<\/a>. The talent level among those four was virtually equal, so it appears to be a push.<\/p>\n Collins seems as if he\u2019s been in the NBA forever, and yet he\u2019s just 28 and seemingly still in his prime. As for Joe, who\u2019s one year younger, he has a chance to gain more minutes and perhaps a higher role with the Pistons than the depth-heavy Thunder.<\/p>\n All signs point toward Cunningham once again and his ability to make teammates better. In that sense, the Pistons are in a good spot.<\/p>\n Indiana Pacers Tyrese Haliburton will be making a comeback this season after missing all of 2025-26 with a torn right Achilles.<\/p>\n It was, as expected, a bridge year for the Pacers as they allowed Haliburton to heal from Achilles surgery. Indiana finished 19-63, fifth in the Central Division.<\/p>\n Offseason moves<\/p>\n \u2022 Additions: F Larry Nance Jr., F Kelly Oubre Jr., G Braden Smith<\/p>\n \u2022 Subtractions: G Kam Jones, C Micah Potter<\/p>\n 2026-27 season outlook<\/p>\n The Pacers go into the upcoming season hoping that the last 12 months were a commercial break. If so, and if Haliburton reverts back to normal<\/a> quickly, the Pacers will be in the mix in the East, in case everyone forgot.<\/p>\n Yes, this team was one game away from a championship in 2025. And since then, they added Ivica Zubac<\/a> from the LA Clippers, who has yet to play next to Haliburton.<\/p>\n That said, the Pacers remain virtually unchanged over the last year. They didn\u2019t place enough solid protections on the 2026 first-round pick (among other assets) they surrendered to get Zubac. That pick was claimed by the Clippers in the draft lottery, meaning the Pacers denied themselves the No. 5 overall selection \u2014 this, on the heels of a throwaway season.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why their summer was quiet. Nonetheless, a team with Haliburton back and Pascal Siakam playing at All-Star level, is poised to make noise anyway.<\/p>\n Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are entering a new era, fueled by a new coaching staff and a mix of young talent and seasoned players.<\/p>\n The last chapter of the Giannis Antetokounmpo book ended with his injury-interruption and a 32-50 record; the Bucks did not qualify for the postseason.<\/p>\n Offseason moves<\/p>\n \u2022 Additions: F Nate Ament, G Brayden Burries, G Tyler Herro, G Kasparas Jaku\u010dionis, G Jaime Jaquez Jr., G Caris LeVert, F Bogoljub Markovi\u0107, C Kel\u2019el Ware<\/p>\n \u2022 Subtractions: F Giannis Antetokounmpo, F Thanasis Antetokounmpo, G Gary Harris, G Andre Jackson Jr., F Bobby Portis, F Taurean Prince<\/p>\n 2026-27 season outlook<\/p>\n There\u2019s a feeling of relief that the Bucks can finally move on without the inflated hope of building a title contender around Giannis anymore. That ship, and Giannis, has sailed, and now Milwaukee can seek a new identity.<\/p>\n This process might take a minute, but at least the Bucks are laying the necessary youthful foundational pieces around the package they received from Miami in exchange for Giannis.<\/p>\n While Herro will assume most of the scoring load and Ware will have ample chances to establish himself as the big man replacement for Giannis, the Bucks also welcome a pair of first-round picks who should get immediate playing time.<\/p>\n Burries and Ament represent the rebuild<\/a>, and maybe someday, will point the Bucks toward the postseason again.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n Shaun Powell has covered the NBA since 1985. You can e-mail him at spowell@nba.com<\/a>, find his archive here<\/a> and follow him on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Central Division Pistons | Bulls | Cavaliers | Pacers | Bucks The Central Division loses one star, regains…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[275641,85,46,105],"class_list":["post-608743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-central-division-offseason-recap-and-a-look-ahead","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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