GMs Crown Spurs Title Favorites as Wembanyama Sweeps the Survey
San Antonio grabbed 50% of the title vote and Victor Wembanyama ran away with MVP, Defensive Player and more in the 2026-27 GM survey.
ROY buzz cooled but his 39.8 FPTS/G last season says the value's real.
- Spurs got 50% of title votes, Thunder 43%
- Wembanyama: 77% MVP, 97% best defender
- Dylan Harper: 27% breakout pick, No. 2 in 2025
- Cameron Boozer leads ROY vote at 50%
- Season tips Oct. 20 with Thunder at Spurs
The league's GMs have spoken, and they're betting big on San Antonio. The Spurs landed 50% of the vote as the favorite to win the 2026-27 NBA title in this year's GM survey, edging the Oklahoma City Thunder at 43% and leaving the reigning-champion Knicks and 76ers to split the leftovers. They also ran away with most promising young core (87%) and tied Minnesota as the most fun to watch (30%).
The engine behind all that optimism is Victor Wembanyama, who didn't just win categories — he carpet-bombed them. GMs tabbed him MVP (77%), best defensive player (97%), best interior defender (97%), most versatile player (57%) and the guy 93% of them would build a franchise around if they started from scratch. That's about as close to a unanimous referendum as this survey gets.
Where Wemby Didn't Win
Two blemishes: Giannis Antetokounmpo, now in Miami, took best power forward 70% to 23%, and Nikola Jokic held off Wemby for best center 63% to 37%. Elsewhere the point guard crown went to back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (67%), while Luka Doncic nipped Jayson Tatum for best small forward 37% to 33%. And when a game's on the line, half the room still wants Stephen Curry taking the shot.
The Spurs love wasn't confined to Wembanyama. Dylan Harper, the No. 2 pick in 2025 and an All-Rookie First Teamer, topped the breakout list at 27%, ahead of a cluster that included Cooper Flagg, Collin Murray-Boyles, Amen Thompson and Cason Wallace at 7% apiece. Tobias Harris, in on a two-year, $30.8 million deal, was voted the most underrated acquisition of the summer (20%).
The Fantasy Fallout
Interesting wrinkle in the rookie race: GMs picked Memphis' Cameron Boozer for Rookie of the Year (50%) over Chicago's Caleb Wilson (20%) and No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa (17%) — yet they flipped it for the five-year outlook, where Dybantsa and Wilson tied at 33%. For fantasy purposes, the name worth monitoring is Cooper Flagg, who the GMs cooled on in the breakout vote but who posted 21.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists for 39.8 fantasy points per game last season (2025-26, actual) as a rookie.
Flagg sits at our #34 overall (#13 at position) with a +3.8 fantasy-point bump over his last five games. If managers in your league overreact to the GMs snubbing him in the hype categories, pounce — a sophomore with that floor is a buy-low all day. The 2026-27 season tips Oct. 20, capped by the Thunder visiting the newly-anointed-favorite Spurs at 9:30 p.m. ET.
