Wembanyama's Spurs are the team to beat in the Southwest, but don't forget about Durant and Irving

Victor Wembanyama's ejection in the playoffs might have shifted public opinion a bit for the San Antonio superstar, and that was before the Spurs' stunning Game 4 collapse in the NBA Finals set the stage for the feel-good story that was the New York Knicks .

Whether it's “villain” or some other description in the Southwest Division he shares with Houston's Kevin Durant and Dallas' Kyrie Irving — who is returning from a long injury absence — Wembanyama embraces everything that comes with being one of the teams to beat in the Western Conference.

“I don’t know the word, but it feels like going through something of great magnitude and feels like (the) destiny of anybody,” said the 7-foot-4 Frenchman, who helped the Spurs end a six-year playoff drought by reaching the championship round, something San Antonio did six times while winning five titles in 22 consecutive postseason appearances before the hiatus.

“We’re fighting for the top spot of the mountain and we’re going to have to move people in our way,” said Wembanyama, who was ejected for elbowing Minnesota's Naz Reid in the throat in the West finals. “That’s just the way it is. So I take it as a great sign, a great sign of respect as well.”

Durant is eager to see what a full season with healthy point guard Fred VanVleet will look like for the Rockets after the 16-time All-Star's Houston debut ended with the club's second consecutive 52-win season and first-round playoff exit.

Ime Udoka, who has won at least 50 games in three of his four seasons as a coach, used the platform of media day to say it was time for the Rockets to “make some real noise.”

“We don’t ever talk like that in the locker room,” said Durant, who won back-to-back titles with Golden State in 2017-18. “It’s never to talk about expectations. It's just about putting in that work every day and showing up to work. And we’ll let the chips fall where they may. We understand the talent we have in this group.”

Irving, who hasn't played a regular-season game in 19 1/2 months since tearing the ALC in his left knee in March 2025, will be paired for the first time with Cooper Flagg, last year's No. 1 overall pick and now the reigning Rookie of the Year.

Dallas' coach is NBA newcomer Dusty May, who was hired by new team president Masai Ujiri to replace the fired Jason Kidd after leading Michigan to the NCAA championship.

“The energy’s been really high-level,” Flagg said. “Different is definitely a word I would use to describe it. We’ve had a really unique culture so far with the new staff and everybody.”

Here’s a look at each Southwest Division team in a predicted order of finish:

The Spurs won't be catching anyone off guard, especially with Wembanyama coming off his first Defensive Player of the Year award while finishing third in MVP voting. Led by Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper and De’Aaron Fox, San Antonio returns its entire 10-man rotation and added veteran Tobias Harris and rookie Tarris Reed Jr. at forward. This roster lacked playoff experience a year ago. Not anymore. The Spurs played 23 postseason games, and will be fueled by giving away double-digit leads in all four losses of the five-game series with the Knicks. “I think we learned a lot,” Julian Champagnie said.

The return of the 32-year-old VanVleet, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, should be most beneficial to emerging star Amen Thompson. The small forward had to play out of position last season filling in for VanVleet. Durant was limited to one playoff game by an ankle injury last season. He recently turned 38 but isn't shown any sign of slowing down. He logged the second-most minutes in the NBA last season behind Thompson. Houston also could get a boost with a full season from center Steven Adams, who was limited to 32 games last season by an ankle injury that required surgery. The Rockets need to be better closing out games. They had double-digit leads in 18 of their 30 regular-season losses.

Irving scored an efficient 17 points in his first action since the injury in a preseason game in China. Flagg was a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy season that started with the firing of general manager Nico Harrison, the engineer of the ill-fated Luka Doncic trade. It didn't take Ujiri long to decide to move on from Kidd, who led the Mavs on two deep playoff runs but was part of three other mostly dysfunctional seasons. May's upbeat personality and success at Michigan and Florida Atlantic could be a good fit with a mostly younger roster. Flagg starts another season as a teenager (he turns 20 in December), and there could be as many as five other rotation players 23 or younger. Morez Johnson Jr., the No. 9 overall pick who played for May at Michigan, is among them.

Zion Williamson appears committed, perhaps like never before, to do his part to improve the fortunes of the Pelicans, who have yet to win a playoff series in seven largely disappointing seasons with the 2019 No. 1 overall pick. Williamson has missed 278 career games because of a series of injuries and struggles with fitness. When he has played, he has averaged nearly 24 points. Jamahl Mosley will be Williamson's fifth coach. Mosley spent the past five seasons in Orlando, making the playoffs the past three years but losing in the first round each time. New Orleans did little in free agency beyond adding high-scoring wing Bennedict Mathurin. The Pelicans are counting on the health of Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III and Dejounte Murray. All three labored through injuries last season.

The Grizzlies enter the season banking on a youthful roster featuring rookie No. 3 overall draft pick Cameron Boozer. Gone are the days of All-Stars Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., along with Desmond Bane. Memphis moved on from those three building blocks at various times over the past 16 months, the last being Morant’s trade to Portland during the summer. Boozer joins a pair of promising young players in Jaylen Wells and Cedric Coward. Both were all-rookie selections. A key factor will be the health of Zach Edey. The 7-foot-4, 300-pound center played just 11 games before a season-ending ankle injury. Memphis is probably a year or two away from being a playoff contender.

AP Staff Writer Kristie Rieken and AP freelance writers Raul Dominguez and Clay Bailey contributed to this report.

See AP’s full NBA coverage here