Nobody in the Southeast was over .500 last year. All 5 teams expect to be better this season

The Southeast Division set records last season. They weren’t good records.

Orlando won the division at 41-41. That means the other Southeast teams — Atlanta, Miami, Charlotte and Washington — were, obviously, under the .500 mark. Combined, the winning percentage of the five teams was .378.

Since the league began splitting up teams by both conferences and divisions in 1970, there’s never been a division with a worse combined record than the Southeast last year. (The Central Division in 1970-71 held the record for more than a half-century, after combining for a .384 winning percentage that season.)

The Southeast teams were outscored by a combined 1,824 points — another record. Washington alone was outscored by 909 points in games against teams from the other five divisions — also a record. Charlotte won 19 games, Washington won 18, and that made the Southeast the first division in a decade to have two teams fail to win at least 20 games.

“We want to be better than that,” Charlotte coach Charles Lee said. “I want to be better than that.”

That seems to be the credo in Orlando, Miami, Atlanta and Washington as well.

This is not a new thing. The Southeast hasn’t exactly been teeming with great records for about a decade now.

There has been only one Southeast team in the last 10 years — Miami in 2021-22 — to win more than 50 games (or in the years where the schedule was shortened by COVID-19, to finish on pace to win 50 games in the traditional 82-game slate). The Atlantic, Central, Northwest and Pacific divisions all had multiple 50-win teams last season alone, while the Southwest Division had a 52-win Houston team and a 48-win Memphis club atop its standings.

The division races don’t mean a great deal anymore; it’s been years since a division champion was assured of perks like home-court advantage in Round 1 of the playoffs, with all that hinging now on standing within a conference.

But it is notable that last season Orlando became the NBA’s first division champion to not finish above .500 since Milwaukee won what was then the Western Conference’s Midwest Division with a 38-44 mark in 1975-76.

The Magic are considered the favorites, which makes sense given their young core of talent — Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner leading that group — and how injuries derailed much of Orlando’s season a year ago.

“When I think about the landscape of a conference or a division, I don’t look at year to year. I look at the long-range prospects of where each team is heading, what they’re trying to build,” Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said. “And I think the East is really strong. I think that there are a lot of teams that are about to pop — and hopefully we’re one of them.”

A look at the Southeast, in predicted order of finish:

Orlando Magic

The Magic enter the season with high expectations after bolstering a talented roster by adding Desmond Bane to join star players like Banchero and Wagner. Injuries hampered the Magic last season, though they still won the division but were bounced out of the playoffs by Boston in the first round. The goal is a deep playoff run and coach Jamahl Mosley has offensive balance, elite defense and depth needed to accomplish that.

Atlanta Hawks

Coach Quin Snyder understands the expectation for the Atlanta Hawks to end their four-year run of play-in tournament appearances. The Hawks had a strong offseason, adding Kristaps Porzingis, the versatile Nickeil Alexander-Walker and shooter Luke Kennard. Trae Young, the reigning NBA assists leader, and Dyson Daniels, last season’s most improved player and runner-up as top defensive player, return in the backcourt.

Miami Heat

The Jimmy Butler trade happened last season, but the Heat never really got on track after that move. Andrew Wiggins — the centerpiece of the haul Miami got when the Butler deal was executed — was in and out of the lineup because of injuries, and the Heat were dismantled by Cleveland in Round 1 of the playoffs. Tyler Herro is dealing with offseason surgery, but the Heat still have Bam Adebayo to anchor the defense and added Norman Powell for scoring.

Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets need LaMelo Ball to stay on the court if they’re to have a chance to reach the playoffs for the first time in a decade. The talented, but injury-prone point guard has missed 53% of Charlotte’s games over the past three seasons. The good news for the Hornets is shooting guard Brandon Miller is back from wrist surgery, giving the team another scoring option alongside Ball and Miles Bridges. Center continues to be an area of need.

Washington Wizards

The Wizards have won 33 games over the past two seasons, but after landing Alex Sarr with the No. 2 pick in the 2024, the lottery bumped them down to sixth this year in what was considered a more talent-rich draft. There is certainly plenty of youth on the roster, with Sarr (20 years old), Bub Carrington (20), Bilal Coulibaly (21) and Kyshawn George (21) having made a combined 221 starts last season.

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AP Sports Writers Rob Maaddi in Orlando, Florida, Charles Odum in Atlanta, Steve Reed in Charlotte, North Carolina and Noah Trister in Washington contributed.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA