2025 was filled with seismic NBA stories, many of which will play out into 2026 and beyond. True game-changers in the literal and figurative sense.
On New Year's Eve, let's take a look back at the 10 biggest NBA stories of 2025.
1. Luka Doncic trade
On Feb. 1, we all thought Shams Charania had been hacked. No way this was real.
Turns out it was very real — Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison had convinced a new ownership to trade a fan-favorite 25-year-old, top-five player in the world entering his prime to the most hated empire in the NBA. For pennies on the dollar. It was unfathomable.
It changed everything. Before the year was out Harrison had been fired. Dallas fell apart without Doncic, slid into the lottery, then got blessed by the basketball gods when its 1.8% chance ended up getting the Mavericks the top spot in the NBA Draft and Cooper Flagg. The Lakers instantly became a threat again, although they are still figuring out how to build a team around Doncic that works.
This trade out of nowhere will be one of the biggest NBA stories of the decade, maybe the first half of the century. It was seismic in the changes, and nothing in 2025 was as big.
2. Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier arrested, indicted
Federal authorities arrested and indicted current Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups as part of two illegal gambling investigations. Also arrested was former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones (who was charged in both cases). One of those indictments alleged Rozier worked with illegal gambling consortiums to rig player prop bets by leaving a game early due to an "injury" (with the gamblers betting big on his unders). The other had Billups as the face of a rigged poker match, where being with the Hall of Famer and coach was the draw to bring in people who lost at the fixed games.
Both Rozier and Billups pled not guilty as their cases work their way through the court system. The NBA reopened its investigation, and both men are on unpaid leave from their teams. And through all of this, the NBA continues to have strong ties and promote legal gambling products and apps (in states where it's allowed).
This is one story we will hear much more of in 2026.
3. Thunder win NBA Title
More than just a title, it felt like the start of a dynasty.
Oklahoma City was clearly the best team in the NBA last season, winning 68 games behind MVP Shai Gilgous-Alexander, and in the end, it was fitting that this crew brought home the first title in the city's history. Jalen Williams played through incredible wrist pain, Chet Holmgren emerged as a star in the middle, and a deep team that could bring a stopper like Alex Caruso off the bench proved too much for everyone.
This is a young team — SGA is 27, Williams and Holmgren are on their rookie contracts (although that changes next season) — and while the tax aprons will hit them hard in the coming years, the club's stockpile of quality draft picks (they could have three first-rounders this season) allows them to replenish the cupboards without too much expense. The NBA has worked hard to make dynasties nearly impossible (whether that is a wise strategy is another topic), but no team is better situated to beat those odds than the Thunder.
4. Tyrese Haliburton tears Achilles in Game 7
The greatest "what if" of 2025 — and one of the big ones in NBA history — is what if Haliburton had not torn his Achilles early in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
The Pacers had improbably pushed the Thunder to a deciding game with their depth, pressure, pace and the play of Haliburton. In Game 7, Haliburton played through a sore calf but came out red-hot, hit 3-of-4 from deep, had a fast nine points, and then came the moment midway through the first quarter when he took a step back to explode forward, his Achilles tendon tore, and he went to the ground.
Would the Pacers have won Game 7 with him? We'll never know. The injury also turned the Pacers into a lottery team for the 2025-26 season, but it sets up a great bounce-back story for 2026-27.
5. Jayson Tatum tears Achilles
Entering last season and even the playoffs, Boston was the team to beat. The defending champs had won 61 games with the second-best defense in the league and a top-10 offense. The Celtics had the talent, the experience, and a Finals showdown with the Thunder could have been epic.
Then, with about three minutes left in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Jayson Tatum dove to the floor in a scramble for a loose ball, tore his Achilles and could not get up. It ended his playoff run and Boston's chances (though whether they would have beaten the Knicks in that series even with him is at best debatable and more likely doubtful).
Tatum missing time was the start of an offseason financial reset for the Celtics, who sent away Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, and set up what was supposed to be a gap year for the Celtics. It may not be that at all. Boston sits third in the open East, and Tatum is expected to return in the first months of 2026, setting up a very interesting playoff run. Still, his injury was a massive story this year.
6. Dallas wins lottery, drafts Cooper Flagg
Don't buy anyone telling you Nico Harrison had a plan — trading Luka Doncic to get a 1.8% chance of winning the NBA Draft Lottery is not a plan. It's a pipe dream.
Sometimes dreams come true. They did for Dallas, which landed a franchise cornerstone player for the next 10 years in Flagg. After a slow start because Jason Kidd played him out of position (or at least felt he had to because of how the now-fired Harrison built the roster), Flagg has come on strong and is averaging 19.4 points and 6.4 rebounds a game while playing strong defense. He looks like the next long-term, fan-favorite in Dallas, and the new ownership there is not going to make the same mistake twice.
7. Knicks make Eastern Conference Finals
There is nothing as much fun as Madison Square Garden rocking in the playoffs. It is one of the hallowed grounds in sport, and after too many years of watching their team wandering in the wilderness, Knicks fans have something worth cheering for again — not just a relevant team, but a contender.
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals last season might have been the best game of the year, even if the ending is painful for those Knicks fans.
Honorable mention stories
• NBA changing of the guard with youth (like Oklahoma City, but also Victor Wembanyama and Tyrese Maxey) stepping up and taking over the league in a generational change.
• Jimmy Butler joins Stephen Curry in Golden State to chase one more ring in the Bay.
• Unending Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors.
• Chris Paul/Clippers break up.
• The Kawhi Leonard/Aspiration/Clippers story. Many people may think this should be higher on the list. Pablo Torre and his "Pablo Torre Finds Out" podcast created a massive splash just before the NBA season tipped off with an investigative report about what was termed a "no-show" endorsement deal between Leonard and San Francisco-based environmental credits company Aspiration, with seven anonymous former employees of the company saying the deal was set up to help the Clippers circumvent the salary cap. The Clippers have vehemently denied any wrongdoing from the start, with owner Steve Ballmer saying he was one of the investors duped by Aspiration (whose CEO pled guilty to wire fraud). The NBA resumed its investigation.
So why is this so far down the list? Because the buzz out of league circles right now is that there is not nearly as much meat on the bone as implied in the initial reports, and that the Clippers are not going to face as stiff a punishment as some expected. This is something to watch in 2026.
