One preseason tradition is selecting one number for each NBA team to highlight a defining aspect of the roster entering the year. Last season that exercise flagged Jalen Johnson’s breakout in Atlanta, the Milwaukee Bucks’ struggles in Giannis Antetokounmpo’s final season and the Portland Trail Blazers’ league-worst turnover rate. This year’s 30 numbers aim to surface trends, storylines and statistical nuggets to monitor over the 2026-27 campaign.
Atlanta’s number is 108.6: the Hawks allowed 108.6 points per 100 possessions after the All-Star break, the second-lowest mark in the NBA in that span behind the Oklahoma City Thunder. Atlanta finished the full season ranked 10th on defense, and that was before adding Luguentz Dort, described in the roundup as one of the league’s most ferocious perimeter defenders. Whether Dort and Dyson Daniels can coexist without a drop-off on offense remains to be seen, but paired with Nickeil Alexander-Walker and the rest of Atlanta’s defensive infrastructure the group could form one of the NBA’s stingiest units.
Boston’s number is 4. In each of Joe Mazzulla’s four seasons as head coach the Celtics have finished with a top-five offensive and defensive rating, per Cleaning the Glass. Only three other teams matched that across the span: the 2023-24 Thunder, the 2024-25 Thunder and the 2025-26 San Antonio Spurs. That sustained two-way performance produced one title and three playoff upsets in Mazzulla’s tenure; after an offseason of turmoil the underlying consistency should be encouraging for Celtics fans. Even without Jaylen Brown, the team projects to resemble a regular-season championship contender on both ends, at least on paper.
Brooklyn’s number is 72% — the share of Egor Demin’s shot attempts that were 3-pointers last season. Demin averaged 10.3 points per game, posted a solid assist-to-turnover ratio and made 38.5% of his triples, but 72% of his field-goal attempts came from beyond the arc. That rate ranked 16th-highest among 279 players with at least 1,000 minutes; the three players immediately ahead were Klay Thompson, Gary Trent Jr. and Landry Shamet. The 6-foot-8 point guard enters a fuller offensive roster after the Nets drafted Mikel Brown Jr. and acquired Julius Randle and will be encouraged to diversify his scoring.
Charlotte’s number is 11.6. The Hornets scored 125.0 points per 100 possessions with LaMelo Ball on the floor last season, per Cleaning the Glass — a mark in the 97th percentile. With Ball off the court the offense fell to 113.4 points per 100 possessions, the 36th percentile, producing an on/off gap of 11.6 points that was the second-largest among rotation players. That gap sat between Nikola Jokic’s 15.2 and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 11.0, the top two MVP finishers. Ball was traded this summer, and players such as Coby White, Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller are positioned to take on larger roles as Charlotte’s offense reorients.
