Welcome back to the world’s most accurate power rankings, where we have sorted all 30 NBA teams into so perfect an order that you could not possibly quibble with the list, for fear of being mocked yourselves.
The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder, who started the season on pace to break the league’s all-time record for wins in a regular season, have played .500 basketball for almost a sixth of the season. Fortunately for them, their biggest challengers in the Western Conference — the Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets — are all on shaky ground, battling injuries to their All-Star centers.
(Taylar Sievert/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
We have reached the season’s doldrums, when injuries compound and a general malaise threatens to sort the contenders from the pretenders. Survival to the All-Star break is paramount. Don’t let go of the rope.
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The Detroit Pistons certainly have not. They remain atop the East, handing the New York Knicks — yet another contender on thin ice — a fourth straight loss. The Boston Celtics (18-5 since mid-November) are coming, and their superstar, Jayson Tatum, will presumably provide a bit of reinforcement at some point.
However you see it, our championship view is increasingly becoming a landscape, rather than a portrait of the mighty Thunder, even if they remain the heavy betting favorites to win. Let’s get to the rankings.
Previous rank: 28
Coach Rick Carlisle’s message to Bennedict Mathurin is a message to all of his Pacers: “There’s great opportunity here. And we have to work at helping him adjust to his level of responsibility. This is a lot. … It’s work. You don’t just show up and get your numbers every night. Teams are ultra-prepared. Everyone’s got the same information. And it’s tough.”
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Previous rank: 29
Coach Doug Christie is trying to hold his team to a high standard, only they are playing to a low one. What gives? “What you can do is you can say, ‘This is the standard of Sacramento Kings basketball,’” said Christie, “and you continue to play to that standard until you get a locker room full of guys that play the right way.” So, we’re in “coach throws everyone under the bus” territory.
Previous rank: 27
“We’ve been in this place before,” coach James Borrego said of his last-place Pelicans, who have lost seven straight since a five-game win streak. “We found our way out of it. You’ve just got to keep plugging away. Keep chopping. Keep working. The No. 1 thing is: Stay together. Keep our heads up. Keep spirits up and keep fighting. This group has not dropped the sword.”
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Previous rank: 23
Jordi Fernández has given his young Nets some tough love this season, and Nolan Traoré is the latest of their five first-round draft picks to feel the brunt of his coach’s expectations: “And if you keep shooting and missing, then sometimes, if you keep doing the same thing and seeing the same results, that’s the definition of insanity.” Yup, we have reached this part of the season.
Previous rank: 30
The Wizards are 6-5 since mid-December! “Thankfully over the course of the last 15 games or so, we’ve proven this isn’t who we are,” Wizards wing Corey Kispert said of another poor performance, against Minnesota. “So it feels like more of fluke than a bad trend, so we’re really optimistic, and we’re excited to get back out there and change the narrative and flip the script.”
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Previous rank: 22
By net rating, the Jazz (-6.8) are almost as close to the third-place Lakers (-0.2) as they are the last-place Kings (-11.5). They better pick a direction, since they owe their first-round draft pick (top-eight protected) to the Thunder, but the players are not on board with a tank job. As Walter Clayton Jr. conceded after a recent victory over the Spurs, “I think guys are just tired of losing.”
Previous rank: 24
“That just shows growth,” Miles Bridges said of his team’s effort not to give up easy baskets, as had been a problem for much of the season. “Earlier in the year we wouldn’t have been able to do that. But we are learning as we go. We’ve got guys that want to win, and when you’ve got guys that want to win, it’s easy to compete.” Except when LaMelo Ball is one of those guys?
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Previous rank: 18
Anthony Davis is back. Kyrie Irving is, presumably, coming back at some point. But the Mavericks have still been bit by the injury bug. “It’s just tough because of the simple fact that we don’t have the guys to be on the floor at the same time. Injuries have been our Achilles heel, but we’re managing,” said Daniel Gafford. “It’s just something we’re trying to figure out on the fly.”
Previous rank: 26
Even after a win, it is difficult to draw much encouragement from Milwaukee’s season, as the Bucks nearly blew a 26-point lead to the eight-win Kings. “We should not be in that position,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo. “We should not be in that position. We’re up 26 points. We should not let them come back to three. Like, we have to do a better job of just putting the game away.”
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Previous rank: 19
If you had any concerns about how a 9-16 start would impact the Blazers, or whether they might tank, center Donovan Clingan is here to assuage them: “We’re really just sticking together. We’re figuring out what we have to do to win games, to play well. And we’re not going off script … we’re listening to coaches. Everyone’s playing for one another and that’s really important.”
Previous rank: 25
Following a horrendous start to the season, the Clippers are 7-1 since coach Tyronn Lue said they have to finish the season with a 35-20 record over their final 55 games to give themselves a chance at a playoff berth. “Yeah, we still got steps,” said Kawhi Leonard. “I mean, good teams are in the top eight or above. We’re not there. We’re below .500. So we’re working our way up.”
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Previous rank: 15
“Fire Iisalo” chants have apparently been audible in FedEx Forum, where the Grizzlies are scrapping for a play-in tournament berth and facing an existential question: Do they want their coach or their superstar, Ja Morant, for the future? Because it is becoming increasingly clear that Memphis cannot succeed at the level it needs to under the current leadership structure.
Previous rank: 17
“We love Trae and what he does for us,” insisted Hawks coach Quin Snyder, even amid reports to the contrary. The coach went on, though. “We’ve got some high-level defenders … which they’re consistent no matter who’s on the floor. But it’s been great to have Trae back. And I think our team will continue to meld.” Not exactly a surprise that Young is on the trading block, then!
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Previous rank: 21
Billy Donovan, a coach’s coach: ‘‘We don’t have the margins not to [do the little things]. The consistency part, the concentration part. The way we’re trying to play — and I don’t necessarily think that we’re different from other teams because the pace of the game is definitely sped up throughout the league — that’s what we’re fighting for. Can you come back and do it again?”
Previous rank: 20
Draymond Green was ejected twice in a seven-game span — in a pair of Warriors wins, which raised interesting questions around Golden State, where coach Steve Kerr … quelled concerns they may be better in his absence? “We’ve been a little jumbled this year,” he said. “We haven’t quite found a rhythm, but I do feel better about the way we’ve played the last couple weeks.”
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Previous rank: 14
Coach Kenny Atkinson’s confidence in his talented Cavaliers might, slowly, be paying off, even amid the losses. “I wish I could be up here and be like, ‘Yeah, we won this game,’ but you feel it as a coach,” he said. “I told the guys after: I couldn’t be more encouraged. Disappointed in kind of how we lost, but like I keep telling you: Buy the dip. I’ve got a ton of confidence in this group.”
Previous rank: 16
“We’re definitely not there yet,” Heat guard Norman Powell said of his team’s status, as it heads for the midseason turn on either an upswing or downswing, depending on how you look at it. “We’ve had stretches. You can see where we want to be, how we are, and the potential of the team. But good, great teams, it’s their identity every single night. And that’s what we’re building.”
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Previous rank: 11
A win over the Pacers was a microcosm of the season for the Magic. “Much better offensively, but we’ve still got to figure out how to string together some stops on the defensive end,” said Orlando’s Desmond Bane, who has been averaging a 22-5-5 on 47/37/94 shooting splits for a month-plus. “We got a few when it mattered, but we’re better than that on that end, for sure.”
Previous rank: 12
Of rookie Collin Murray-Boyles and sophomores Jamal Shead and Ja’Kobe Walter, Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said, “Those guys, they’re built of special cloth, of resiliency. They’re really putting in a lot of work. It doesn’t matter if we win, we lose. It doesn’t matter if we’re up, we’re down. It does not really matter what kind of mood we’re in. They keep going forward.”
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Previous rank: 10
The Sixers are, believe it or not, incorporating Joel Embiid and Paul George into Tyrese Maxey’s team, and it is … kind of working. “Everybody understands that it will be your time,” said Embiid. “But until then, just do your job. It’s not necessarily that everybody knows their role. We’re just playing basketball, and we like each other. No one cares about taking a step back for the other.”
Previous rank: 13
What did Suns star Devin Booker think when in a span of 17 seconds the Thunder erased a four-point deficit to tie Sunday’s thriller? “It’s our turn,” he said. Against all odds, it may be their turn very soon. The Suns play hard, and they have Booker. Dillon Brooks is enjoying a great season. Everyone has bought in behind them. And Jalen Green has barely even played yet.
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Previous rank: 7
Checking in on Lakers coach JJ Redick, who has had little patience for his 24th-rated defense (117.6 points allowed per 100 possessions): “Sometimes it’s not, ‘Hey, can we guard this action?’ Or, ‘Hey, how do we guard this one player?’ Sometimes it’s just a collective effort and a collective spirit to get back and guard.” OK, better than that “uncomfortable” practice, I guess.
Previous rank: 2
The Nuggets, one could argue, are a bottom-10 team without Nikola Jokić, as is the case right now. As coach David Adelman said, “We’re going to have to find a way to get to the fourth quarter.” But be real: Jokić will be back, and Denver will be fine. For now I put them here, on the bottom of our title tier, where every team on out, if all were to go right, could win the whole thing.
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Previous rank: 3
Yeah, they could still win it, despite their four-game losing streak, if they can solve their defensive issues. There is only so much Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson can do when Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns both need to be on the floor. Coach Mike Brown’s solution? “Our mindset is everybody just trying to bring a little bit more.”
Previous rank: 8
Something is missing from these Timberwolves, especially in the absence of Nickeil Alexander-Walker. “We have to have more internal voices,” said Minnesota’s coach, Chris Finch. “When things aren’t going well, our guys can be a little bit quiet in those moments. That’s just kind of been in our DNA the last couple of years.” Not sure Ja Morant would be that answer.
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Previous rank: 9
“Best 2 way player in the game,” Jaylen Brown posted on X (formerly Twitter), before he asked to defend two-time Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. “Smh,” Brown added when he was passed over for Eastern Conference Player of the Month honors in favor of Brunson, before he dropped 50 points on Leonard’s Clippers. Yes, he is a superstar. The dude is a bona fide MVP candidate.
Previous rank: 5
The Knicks came for the Pistons on Monday, and Detroit set the defending Eastern Conference finalists straight, reminding New York that last season’s playoff series was last season. “It was a playoff series from last year,” said Cade Cunningham, “but them being second and us being first [in the East], them being on our heels, we were not trying to allow that. It was a big game and we all came in locked in.”
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Previous rank: 6
What makes the Rockets a contender, even in the absence of their injured veteran point guard, Fred VanVleet, is pretty simple: “When teams double [Alperen Şengün] and Kevin [Durant], if we get to our space and get to our spots and are very decisive with our action behind it, we look good.” Yup, those two have been that good, and yup, the Rockets are that deep around them.
Previous rank: 4
Like the Nuggets, who are without Jokić (left knee hyperextension), and like the Rockets, without Şengün (right ankle sprain), the Spurs are playing in the absence of their injured All-Star center, Victor Wembanyama (left knee hyperextension). But he should be back this week. “He’s champing at the bit, and we’ll get him out there as soon as we can,” said coach Mitch Johnson.
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Previous rank: 1
After starting the season 24-1, the Thunder are 6-6 in their last 12 games, including consecutive losses to the Suns and Hornets, which counts as a serious slump for the defending champions. They remain heavy favorites, though. As coach Mark Daigneault said, “You can look at it as a threat, as a source of insecurity, or you can look at it as a challenge and, like I said, a privilege.”
