Charles Barkley is back on television, and he wasted little time before dishing out a hot take. Barkley claimed on Inside the NBA that only two teams can win the championship in this 2025-26 NBA season.
“In my opinion, there’s two teams [that] can win the championship,” Barkley said. “… I look at the Denver Nuggets and the OKC Thunder as the two teams that have separated themselves.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets were viewed as two of the serious title contenders coming into this season, and they have lived up to the billing.
The Thunder stumbled a bit after a ridiculous 24-1 start, but still have the best record in the NBA at 37-9. The Nuggets, meanwhile, are third in the West with a 31-15 record. Both teams have had key players miss significant amounts of time due to injuries, but have still posted impressive records.
The Nuggets, in particular, seemed in deep trouble when Nikola Jokic went down with a knee injury in late December. They are surprisingly 9-5 without him, and it’s important to point out that the likes of Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Christian Braun haven’t played in all those games either. This is perhaps the deepest team the Nuggets have had in the Jokic era.
As for the Thunder, Jalen Williams has only played 24 games this season. The likes of Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso have missed a fair bit of time, too, but they’re still rolling.
We saw the Thunder and the Nuggets go to war in the playoffs last season in the Western Conference Semifinals. The series went the distance, with OKC ultimately advancing and going on to win the championship. It won’t be a surprise if they meet again in the playoffs this time, and the winner wins it all.
There are a few teams, though, that you would give a chance at taking down these two juggernauts. The first ones that come to mind would be the 32-11 Detroit Pistons and the 31-14 San Antonio Spurs. Neither was viewed as a contender coming into the season, and they have surpassed expectations.
The Spurs are notably 3-1 against the Thunder this season and have given them all sorts of problems thanks to Victor Wembanyama. They are 1-0 against the Nuggets as well. The issue, though, is the lack of playoff experience. The likes of Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, and Devin Vassell have never played a playoff game. You don’t see teams just go all the way the very first time they get into the postseason.
The Pistons, meanwhile, are yet to face either of these teams, but they deserve respect for being atop the standings in the East. Like the Spurs, though, they aren’t very experienced. The Pistons just ended a five-year playoff drought last season, but lost in the first round to the New York Knicks. Can they go from that to title winners? Seems unlikely.
Speaking of the Knicks, they were viewed as the favorites to come out of the East, but have disappointed lately (4-8 in January 2026). They are third in the East with a 27-18 record, but they sure don’t look like title contenders.
The Houston Rockets were another team that was thrown in the mix with the Thunder and the Nuggets before the season, but then lost Fred VanVleet to an ACL tear. The Rockets are still fourth in the West with a 27-16 record, and they have had stretches of excellent play. They don’t look to be on the same level as those two teams, though.
Lastly, we get to the Los Angeles Lakers, who were being talked about as contenders when they were 15-4 after 19 games. The Lakers haven’t been able to keep up that pace and are now fifth in the West with a 27-17 record. They and the Rockets will need to make some moves before this Feb. 5 trade deadline if they are to challenge the Thunder and the Nuggets in the postseason.
