There Is One Clear Winner of the Annual NBA GM Survey

The Spurs and Knicks were both mentioned heavily in the annual NBA GM survey. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

On Thursday, the NBA released its annual general manager survey.

All 30 GMs around the league answered a variety of questions about the upcoming season (they were not allowed to vote for their own team or players in any category). These questions ranged from the standard, like who will win this year’s championship to more creative queries, such as which player is best moving without the ball.

It’s been a yearly exercise for a while now and serves as an interesting, fun look into how the top decision-makers in basketball view the state of the league. It’s not often prescient (80% of GMs surveyed predicted the Thunder would win last year’s title) but much can be gleaned from a straw poll of the brightest minds in the game.

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This year’s survey had one clear winner: the Spurs and their roster of electric young talent.

NBA GMs love what the Spurs are building

The Spurs are highly regarded around the NBA. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Spurs were this year’s GM pick to win the 2026–27 NBA championship, receiving 50% of votes to be the last team standing. This is not an unpopular opinion; myself, Chris Mannix and Blake Silverman all picked San Antonio to raise the Larry O’Brien Trophy in our own season predictions. Half the league’s general managers are in agreement that Victor Wembanyama will win his first title after last year’s devastating Finals loss.

But that’s not the only area in which NBA GMs feel the Spurs are ahead of the game. They were named as the team with the most promising young core with Wemby, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle. San Antonio was also tabbed to finish first in the West standings and tied for the team GMs believe will be the most fun to watch this season, along with the Timberwolves. Expectations are exceptional for the defending conference champions.

As far as individual players go, Wembanyama was praised effusively in this survey. He was the runaway pick for MVP, with 77% of participants predicting he’ll finally break up the Nikola Jokić-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander monopoly by taking home basketball’s most important individual award. Unsurprisingly, this held true for Defensive Player of the Year as well. Nearly every GM voted Wemby to win his second straight DPOY award, with the French star earning 97% of the votes (Ausar Thompson of the Pistons earned the other votes).

Wembanyama was also named the player GMs would most like to start a franchise with, the player who forces the most adjustments from an opposing coach, the best international player, the best defensive player, the best interior defender and the most versatile defender. None of that comes as a surprise.

Dylan Harper was another Spurs player to get his flowers in the survey. After starring during his team’s playoff run, Harper was tabbed as the player most likely to have a “breakout season,” receiving 27% of the available votes. He finished above Cooper Flagg, Collin Murray-Boyles, Amen Thompson and Cason Wallace for the honor.

Lastly, NBA GMs really loved the free agent signing of Tobias Harris. The move was praised as the “most underrated player acquisition,” beating out the Celtics signing Mitchell Robinson and the Hornets landing Naz Reid. Harris is a great fit for the San Antonio roster on the surface, and there are lofty expectations for what the veteran forward can bring to a young roster.

Other fun results from the annual NBA GM survey

There were some fun non-Spurs results from this year’s survey.

• Mike Conley was the runaway winner for the active player who will make the best head coach one day.
• Amen Thompson was deemed the best athlete in the league, earning 63% of all votes after earning 58% the previous season. Most importantly for him (I’d assume as a brother myself), he got way more votes than Ausar Thompson.
• And after winning an NBA title on the back of a 45-point superstar performance, Jalen Brunson earned the “best leader” superlative with 53% of the votes.

Now we just need the games to start. Five more days, folks.

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