The NBA All-Star Break this season was unusually late, with most teams left with just a quarter of their games to play after the break. Rather than happening at the halfway point, the All-Star Break is now at the 3/4 point of the season.
For teams that made changes at the NBA Trade Deadline, that is precious little time to gain chemistry, especially with many players traded dealing with injuries or rust. For many of the teams in the league, we won’t have a good sense of their mettle until late in the season or beyond.
The final stretch will also be wild because of the tight standings. There will be plenty of competition for the Play-In Tournament in the East, while in the West 3.5 games separate 4th and 13th. Who will make the playoffs, who gets a shot in the Play-In, and who will be staying at home? It’s essentially a new season for those West teams to try and fight for the best seeding.
Power Ranking the entire NBA to try and sort through the league for the home stretch
Who is the best team in the league? How do we sort through the bloated middle of the standings? Let’s walk through every team in the league, from 30th to first, and in doing so put together the definitive post All-Star Break NBA Power Rankings. We begin at the bottom, with a quartet jockeying for the worst record in the league.
The San Antonio Spurs have won a game more than the Houston Rockets, but they have undeniably been the worst team in the league this season. They have the league’s worst defense by far, the 28th-ranked offense, and their -10.4 net rating is last in the league with a bullet. Then, of course, they traded away Jakob Poeltl and Josh Richardson at the NBA Trade Deadline. The Spurs are doing a great job of “being trembly for Wemby”.
The Houston Rockets are a disaster of a franchise right now. They have plenty of talent but absolutely no leadership and their two young guards are actively hurting them. Alperen Sengun has been a revelation at center, but every player on their team is immature and plays just one side of the court. Losing Eric Gordon took the one adult out of the room, so the Rockets should be losing the rest of the way to secure a top pick.
Some people collect Pokemon cards, or old coins, or muscle cars. The Detroit Pistons like to collect highly-drafted centers. After drafting Isaiah Stewart and Jalen Duren, they have also added Marvin Bagley III and now James Wiseman, both non-shooting centers. The result has been a lovely combination of bad offense and bad defense, and the Pistons are the worst team in the East, full stop.
There are four teams at the bottom of the standings, and of those four the Charlotte Hornets have shown the most signs of life recently. That hasn’t meant much, however, and they are clearly heading for a top pick in the NBA Draft. To their credit, they saw the writing on the wall and traded a few players at the deadline, including Mason Plumlee and Jaden McDaniels.
On January 8th the Indiana Pacers were 23-18, right in the mix of the Eastern Conference playoff mix. Since, they have gone 4-17, completely falling apart and falling below a half-dozen teams in the East. Theoretically, this team should be better, with Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner as the centerpieces, but they have been unable to hang on in a number of games and now have the league’s sixth-worst net rating.
The Orlando Magic were relatively quiet at the NBA Trade Deadline, merely sending out Mo Bamba, but they didn’t need to be anything more. They have a positive record and point differential over their past 15 games, and their future couldn’t be brighter. Markelle Fultz is having the best season of his career, Jonathan Isaac is back as a defensive tornado, and they are in line to add another two lottery picks this June.
You can write the next four teams on slips of paper, place them in a hat, and pull them out in any order. Barring an unexpectedly hot run from the Pacers or Magic, three of these teams will make the Play-In Tournament and one will be left in the cold. The Bulls are currently in 11th and have been wildly inconsistent all season, so they land at the bottom of “Meh East Roulette.”
The Atlanta Hawks are undergoing an overhaul this season, getting a new front office earlier in the season and a new head coach this weekend. Quin Snyder has a long and impressive track record as a coach, and the Hawks will need him to figure out how to maximize Trae Young. The Hawks are 2-0 since firing former head coach Nate McMillan.
The Washington Wizards have been one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference since the start of 2023, although their 20-point drubbing at the hands of the Bulls last night didn’t help matters. They seem headed for a summer of overpaying players to keep their mediocre core together, which is basically the most “Wizards” thing they could do.
Of all of these teams fighting for the East Play-In Tournament, the Toronto Raptors made the biggest move at the NBA Trade Deadline. Long without a reliable center, they traded for Jakob Poeltl, returning the big man to the team that drafted him. He has played really well for the Raptors since arriving, and they are 3-2 with Poeltl thus far. They are the most likely team to sneak into the playoffs with the eighth seed.
The Portland Trail Blazers acted something like a seller at the Trade Deadline, sending out veterans like Josh Hart and Gary Payton II for draft capital and fliers. What they didn’t send out was Damian Lillard, who might just will them to the Play-In Tournament himself. He just dropped 71 points on Sunday in an evisceration of the Houston Rockets.
The Los Angeles Lakers made a massive move at the NBA Trade Deadline, turning Russell Westbrook and a first-round pick into three quality rotation players. The Lakers have a legitimate NBA rotation now, and LeBron James is locked in and determined not to miss the postseason. After a huge comeback win in Dallas on Sunday, the Lakers could rise up this list in the coming days.
The Brooklyn Nets are packed with players who deserve to be 3-6 in the rotation on a contending team. They reshaped their team more than any other at the NBA Trade Deadline, moving Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving for a collection of solid role players. They are competitive in every game, Mikal Bridges continues to impress, and Cam Thomas is a revelation as a scoring guard. This team doesn’t have the shot creation to make any postseason noise, but they have a great foundation for the future.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have righted the ship after a shaky start, largely without Karl-Anthony Towns, but they are certainly not the caliber of team they hoped to be in trading for Rudy Gobert. Anthony Edwards has taken a step, but he also has inexplicably bad games where he looks out of it (12 points on 19 shots in their most recent loss). Adding Mike Conley at the deadline gives them a solid vet who fits with anyone, hopefully enough to let the Wolves finally find their footing.
The Utah Jazz didn’t trick themselves into buying at the Trade Deadline, instead moving multiple veterans at the deadline to add draft capital and try to slip down the standings. The problem is that they continue to be competitive, lead by All-Star Lauri Markkanen, and are at .500 with 20 games to go. The front office probably hopes they drop back a bit down the stretch.
The Oklahoma City Thunder made a minor bench move at the deadline, but otherwise are giving their young core plenty of valuable reps this year and still win despite their youth. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is an All-NBA candidate and Jalen Williams has been a revelation as a rookie. Better yet, as well as they have played they are still just one win above the sixth-worst team in the league, so it’s an easy path to lottery balls.
The Miami Heat were in the Eastern Conference Finals last season with nearly the same roster, but this year they are in seventh place with a negative point differential. Which team are they? Are they a contender who slipped up a bit, or are they the team their resume say they are?
It’s been a wobbly season for the Golden State Warriors, who have been without Stephen Curry for 23 games already and without Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson for plenty more. Their history of being a championship team with this core is enough for plenty of benefit of the doubt, but they certainly have some big defensive flaws and desperately need their star back in the lineup. Klay’s scoring explosions have become more frequent, which bodes well for the future, and when Gary Payton II is healthy he will shore up many of those defensive issues.
The New Orleans Pelicans wish they had added Zion Williamson at the deadline, but he continues to miss games due to injury. In his stead this team has plummeted down the standings, but despite sitting in 10th at 30-31 they have a positive net rating for the season. Without Zion, it will be a tough fight to make the Play-In; with him, they should be favored to win their way out of it into the playoff field proper.
The formula for the LA Clippers is simple: play games with both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. When both are available the Clippers play like a fringe contender; when they aren’t, this team has been below average despite all of their supposed depth. They made some big changes at the Trade Deadline, adding Eric Gordon, Mason Plumlee and Bones Hyland, plus signing Russell Westbrook off the buyout market and handing him a starting spot. Whether those changes propel them into contention is something to watch down the stretch.
Adding an All-Star Starter at the Trade Deadline seems like the sort of unequivocally positive move a team should celebrate, but that’s not quite the right emotion when discussing Kyrie Irving. Offensively, the Mavs have moments of brilliance with the Luka Doncic – Kyrie pairing, and other moments of growing pains. Defense is going to be the real question mark, and right now Dallas is 22nd in defensive rating, hardly the stuff of a contender.
De’Aaron Fox is having a remarkable season, thriving in the increased spacing the Sacramento Kings are offering him this year. The No. 1 offense in the league is thriving on spacing, motion and the creativity of Fox and Domantas Sabonis. The Kings’ double-overtime win over the LA Clippers the other night was the second-highest-scoring game in NBA history, which speaks to how fun and absolutely insane this team is this year. Sitting a comfortable third in the West, they have all but punched their ticket to the playoffs.
The New York Knicks have been known recently for overachieving, with more national spotlight than their record has earned and a better record than their true play deserves. That is not the case this year, as (1) the national media has been firmly fixed in nearby Brooklyn and far-flung Los Angeles, and (2) the Knicks have very strong metrics, good for seventh in the entire league. They are deep, and deadline acquisition Josh Hart is playing well for them.
The Memphis Grizzlies have had a very up-and-down season. Early on they were on fire offensively but shaky on defense; the return of Jaren Jackson Jr. righted the ship defensively, but their offense has slowly unraveled over the course of the year. They added the sharpshooting Luke Kennard at the deadline and hope to get Steven Adams and his offensive rebounding back soon.
The wait to see Kevin Durant in a Phoenix Suns uniform is nearly over. After adding Durant at the deadline, the Suns have continued to play well even without him; DeAndre Ayton has stepped up, and Devin Booker is finally looking healthy. Durant has a great chance to play in the Suns’ next game, and if everyone is healthy the Suns will be co-favorites in the West.
The Philadelphia 76ers have a 2.5 game cushion over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the East, but that’s the only metric that places them above Cleveland. Joel Embiid is having another elite season, and James Harden has been excellent settling into the No. 2 role. They also have struggled with top-tier competition and will face playoff doubts until they prove them wrong – if they do.
The one “young” team to crack the top 5, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been an excellent team this season. They have the league’s second-best point differential, are second in most team metrics (SRS, EPM, etc) and are dancing around with the Grizzlies and Bucks for the best defense in the league. The Cavs stood pat at the deadline but added three-time champion Danny Green on the buyout market to sprinkle in a little veteran experience.
The Milwaukee Bucks have been the best team in basketball over the past six weeks. They have won 14 games in a row, their defense has been smothering and Jrue Holiday has earned his All-Star selection. Multiple minor injuries to Antetokounmpo are worrisome, but the Bucks have won even without him in the lineup, and adding Jae Crowder at the deadline was a sharp move for a team that benefits from his combination of shooting and size.
The best team in the Western Conference, playing with the MVP favorite, the Denver Nuggets finally look like they have put a team around Nikola Jokic capable of winning it all. The triple-double machine continues to carve up opponents, and Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. look healthy as his running mates. They have added Thomas Bryant and Reggie Jackson in the last few weeks to shore up the bench, perhaps their only remaining weakness.
The Boston Celtics have been the best team in the league for nearly the entire season, and despite Milwaukee’s 14-game winning streak have clung to the top spot in the East. They have the league’s second-best offense and a proven defense, and it makes sense that they couldn’t find an upgrade to their rotation on the trade market as they are already quite deep. Deadline acquisition Mike Muscala gives them a stretch-big to toss into certain lineups, but when the chips are down this team has a top-8 that can’t be touched.
The final quarter of the season will be an exciting time as teams integrate new faces, push up the standings and try to solidify their spot before the playoffs begin.