We’re finally back, folks. The NBA season is nearly here once again. And that means it’s time to get some power rankings cooking again before all the action tips off.
There are so many teams who could win it all this season. Obviously, in the East, we’ve got the Bucks and the Celtics who made arguably the biggest moves of the offseason with their acquisitions at point guard. On the other side, we’ve got the Heat who completely botched everything.
The Western Conference looks absolutely stacked with talent from top to bottom behind the Nuggets. In particular, the Pacific division looks like it might be one of the strongest we’ve ever seen in league history.
Let’s sort through it all in our very first NBA power ranking of the season.
1
Denver Nuggets
It’s easy for folks to overlook the Nuggets as NBA champions. They didn’t make a splashy move this offseason to improve their team. They lost key pieces to their championship run, too, like Bruce Brown and Jeff Green. But Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world. And his unmistakable chemistry with Jamal Murray remains top-notch. This team is going should dominate in the West as long as it stays healthy.
2
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks get to pair Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo together on the same court. No other team in the NBA has a more formidable duo. They fit perfectly together and will easily carry Milwaukee to a top 5 offensive rating in the league. Defense is a bit of a question with the loss of Jrue Holiday, but talent is talent. And the Bucks have a ton of it.
3
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics’ big additions of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis give this team another couple of All-Star level talents to add to an already talented roster. Health is going to be a big question — especially for Porzingis — but there’s no doubt that this team should get back to the Eastern Conference Finals next season.
4
Phoenix Suns
Look. Say what you want about the Suns’ flaws. This is a team that doesn’t have a ton of size on the wing and is going to struggle a bit defensively when it comes to protecting the paint. But you’re just simply not going to find too many better trios when it comes to getting buckets than Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. That’s going to be hard to stop.
5
Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers have a roster filled with a ton of shot creation and defense on the wing and at guard. Austin Reaves looks like the real deal after a fairly productive summer with Team USA and his peers on the squad. If Anthony Davis and LeBron James manage to stay healthy, this team will be elite. Especially if Davis’ jumper is really back as Darvin Ham has told us it is.
6
Golden State Warriors
The addition of Chris Paul this offseason for the Warriors is a precarious one. It’s not easy to fit two small guards into one backcourt — even if one might end up playing a bench roll. But Paul and Curry are a perfect fit together as far as skillsets go. Paul gives the team an added element to their offense that I think will go a long way in improving Golden State as it moves forward.
7
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers are the biggest “if” in the NBA right now. If only this team’s top two players could just stay healthy, it’d easily be one of the best in the NBA. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are still two of the very best on both ends of the floor. They need to play. If they do, the Clippers will threaten the top of the West.
8
Philadelphia 76ers
It’s hard to know where to place the 76ers considering that this team could look completely different today than it might tomorrow. We have no clue when — or if, really — James Harden will finally be traded, and if we don’t know that, then we couldn’t possibly know what the 76ers might get in return for him. With that being said, this is still the team with last season’s MVP on its roster. They’re going to be good regardless.
9
Cleveland Cavaliers
It’s time for Evan Mobley to take that proverbial leap and join the NBA’s elite crop of big men.
This team has elite talent at the guard spot in Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, but it missed a bit of an offensive presence in the front court last season. It needs some scoring pop from Mobley and also a bit of added physicality. He worked on that this offseason. I think he — and the Cavs — will be better for it.
10
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are in the top 10, folks. This is probably a bit of a shocker and it’s understandable why. This is a team that couldn’t even crack the play-in last year. It’s young and mostly inexperienced.
But Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is one of the best 10 players in the NBA. The team will have an immense talent in Chet Holmgren who shakes things up on both ends of the court for OKC. They’ve got a lot of long, rangy wing players who bring a lot to both sides of the ball. This is going to be a team that pushes that 50-win mark this season. Mark my words.
11
Memphis Grizzlies
The No. 11 spot here feels a bit too kind for the Grizzlies. It’s really the benefit of the doubt for this team being so good over the last two seasons. But the fact of the matter is Memphis will be without its best player in Ja Morant for the first 25 games of the year. That will be hard to overcome and hard to adjust to once he returns — especially considering the new faces like Marcus Smart and Derrick Rose that have been added to the team.
12
Sacramento Kings
Don’t sleep on the Sacramento Kings. It’s easy to disregard them after they lost in the first round against the Warriors, but it took a performance of epic proportions for Steph Curry to dispatch this team.
It didn’t add any major pieces, but it kept its core of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis together. Keegan Murray will improve and step up. There’s still plenty of depth and shooting behind them. This team should still be very good.
13
New York Knicks
The Knicks are in a good space right now. This is a competitive team — one that was good enough to upset a top-four seed in the playoffs last year. But it still feels like they’re a star talent away from being one of the best teams in the conference.
Maybe it’s Donovan Mitchell. Maybe it’s James Harden. Maybe it’s someone else. But expect to Knicks to aggressively pursue a star player sometime soon.
14
Miami Heat
For a team that made the NBA Finals to be down this low in a power ranking feels a bit absurd, but just hear me out. Miami didn’t get any better this offseason. It waited around on Damian Lillard only for one of its biggest rivals to snatch Miami’s target up right under its nose.
The Heat also lost major key contributors to last year’s run in Gabe Vincent and Max Strus. It’s just hard for me to trust this team to get back to where it was when it hasn’t replaced any of the talent it lost.
15
Minnesota Timberwolves
Anthony Edwards had himself a run this summer with Team USA in the FIBA World Cup. Sure, the team didn’t win gold. But Edwards proved that, amongst some of his absolute peers, he outshines them in talent. The Wolves will look to show all of that talent off this year. This might be the year Edwards takes over as the team’s undisputed No. 1 option.
16
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are one of the popular dark horse teams in the Eastern Conference and for good reason. Tyrese Haliburton has proven himself to be one of the best point guards in the NBA. If Benn Mathurin takes another step forward on the wing, this offense could be extremely dangerous.
17
Dallas Mavericks
Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving feel like two of the most volatile players in the NBA. They’re supremely talented, obviously, and Doncic will always be an MVP candidate with the numbers he puts up. But you just never know what the combo is going to give you on a nightly basis. It’s hard to trust them at this point.
18
New Orleans Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans were first in the West at one point last season. Health is always going to be a big question for this team — particularly the health of Zion Williamson. When he’s right? He’s an MVP candidate pretty easily. And, remember, he’s only 23 years old. But he’s got to be right. Because, if he’s not? It’s clear New Orleans has a pretty low ceiling.
19
Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets are such a mixed bag. If Ben Simmons returns to form, this could be one of the best teams in the East. Simmons and Mikal Bridges together should be a formidable combo between the way Simmons passes the ball and how skilled Bridges is at moving without it. It should also be an elite defensive team.
But when you’re depending on Ben Simmons, you’re playing a dangerous game. That’s why Brooklyn isn’t in the top half of these power rankings.
20
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks have a solid shot at being the best team in the Southeast division this season and that means being better than the NBA Finalist Miami Heat. That’s a big step for a team that has been a middling operation since making the Eastern Conference Finals just a few years ago. Quin Snyder’s new offensive scheme has given Atlanta a bit more of a curveball moving Trae Young around off the ball, though, and should make this team tougher to guard.
21
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz’s season can go in so many directions. The Jazz stumbled upon a star in Lauri Markkanen last year and Utah will look for him to continue that production. The question is whether the team can surround Lauri with enough talent to compete in a deep West. That’s going to be tough.
22
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls are probably getting a bit too much credit here at 22. This team is too good to be one of the worst in the league, but it also doesn’t have enough top-end talent to compete at the top for anything serious — even in a weakened Eastern Conference. DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic are all really good players individually, but they have to coalesce that talent together to win games at an elite level. We’ll see if they can get it done this year.
23
Orlando Magic
It’s hard to know what to make of Orlando. There’s tons of talent on this team between Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner. That’s a front-court combo the Magic should be playing together for years to come. But there’s a log-jam in the guard slots that just make this such a weird outfit. How that works out will determine the shape of Orlando’s season.
24
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are going to be a solid team this season. Houston went out and spent this summer to make sure of that. The additions of Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet give the Rockets two veteran players who have been part of winning organizations before. That’s going to make this team better. How much better is the question? Houston should fall neatly into that play-in range; depending on how some of its younger talent develops, they could be even better.
25
San Antonio Spurs
Victor Wembanyama could change the trajectory of this team immediately. Maybe it’s just me buying into the preseason hype a little too much, but this dude changes the shape of the floor when he’s there. He’s going to be a major floor-raiser for the Spurs this season. I suspect San Antonio won’t be at the bottom for long.
26
Toronto Raptors
The vibes in Toronto are just bad right now. Darko Rajakovic is heading into his first season at the helm with the Raptors as head coach and he’s got his GM taking passive-aggressive shots at Pascal Siakam on media day. There’s just some weird stuff going on with the Raps right now that I just can’t quite put my finger on. That’s not a great sign for Toronto’s season.
27
Detroit Pistons
The Pistons actually feel a bit low here at 26 because there is so much talent on the roster. If they could manage to put things together, this could be a solid squad in the East — definitely a play-in level team at the very least. But health is a major concern. Cade Cunningham hasn’t managed to put together a completely healthy season yet and we just don’t know what he is as the best player on this team. That big question is why Detroit is this low.
28
Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets are absolute chaos right now and it’s such a shame because there’s certainly talent on the roster. LaMelo Ball is an All-Star-level talent. Period. But between this mess with Miles Bridges and what happened with Kai Jones, there seems to be a major culture problem in Charlotte that the team’s new ownership needs to take care of.
29
Washington Wizards
The vibes are high in Washington right now. Bilal Coulibaly seems like a supreme talent — particularly on the defensive end. Plus, Jordan Poole is yet another proven championship player who is getting a new start with a new team. Paired with Kyle Kuzma, the two should be a formidable scoring duo.
The talent on the rest of the roster just isn’t really there, though. Nor should it be — this team is in the early stages of a rebuild. Washington is meant to be bad.
30
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers are a strong candidate to be the worst team in the NBA.
That’s not a knock on the organization, but they did just remove arguably the best player in franchise history from the equation with the Damian Lillard trade. Scoot Henderson looks good and he’ll be exciting to watch alongside talent like Shaedon Sharpe and Deandre Ayton.
Will they be good enough to win some games? Sure. How many is the question, though.
