25/30 rankers reporting this week. /R/NBA's Power Rankings are published every two weeks which is a bit different from most rankings. Other than that we rank the teams the same way as our competition. If write ups are left blank the team rep decided not to submit. We encourage any user to fill in the blanks in the comment section.
| # | Team | Δ | Record | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Celtics | — | 57-14 | The Celtics are on a 9 game win streak, are 11 games up on 2nd place in the East, and only have 11 games left on the season until the playoffs. The Celtics injury list will likely include multiple players out for each game remaining, as players rest and recover from minor injuries in time for the playoffs. They're 57-14, needing to go 8-3 down the stretch to hit 65 wins. What at one point seemed extremely unlikely now looks like a legitimate possibility depending on rest. The next two weeks the Celtics have matchups against the Hawks back-to-back, the Pelicans, Hornets, Thunder, Kings, and Trailblazers. Following that they finish the season against the Bucks, Knicks, Hornets, and Wizards. With teams either still fighting for playoff spots or slightly better draft odds, the end of the season is near impossible to guess. AKA the Wizards will 100% beat the Celtics at the end of the season cause they rest or pull everyone and Bagley or Kuzma will go off for 30+. |
| 2 | Nuggets | +1 | 50-21 | The Nuggets have continued rolling since the break, leading the league with a 14-2 record and pulling ahead of OKC for the top seed in the West. There haven't been many blowout victories, and 3rd quarters have continued to be a struggle, but this team consistently shows up in the 4th quarter and puts teams away with solid defense and efficient shooting. With just 11 games left, the Nuggets are primed for another deep playoff run and a chance to win back-to-back championships. |
| 3 | Thunder | -1 | 49-21 | 31 man strikes again. |
| 4 | TWolves | +1 | 49-22 | Injury set backs have not set back the Wolves. Injured and undermanned the Wolves keep finding ways to win. Major reason is Anthony Edwards and Naz Reid has stepped up in the absence of KAT. Wolves have a great chance at finishing the season with homecourt in the 1st round for the first time in 20 years. |
| 5 | Bucks | -1 | 46-25 | Khris Middleton had his 2nd career triple-double last night in a blowout win over an excellent OKC team. He's been back from injury for 3 games now and looks to be at 100%. With this win against OKC, Giannis now has a signature win over all the other top MVP candidates. If the team can catch up to Denver's record, perhaps the voters will actually consider him this year. |
| 6 | Pelicans | +2 | 44-27 | Fans were nervous when Brandon Ingram hyperextended his left knee against Orlando, but the Pelicans appear to be lucky enough for him to have only come away with a bone bruise. He is expected to be ready for the playoffs. Despite being 18-6 in their last 24 games, they are getting in line amongst a crowded Western Conference. The Pelicans are just a half game behind the Clippers for the fourth seed, and with 12 games remaining the two appear on a collision course in the first round of the playoffs. Avoiding the play-in should happen at this point. Can New Orleans reach the next goals of winning a round or more? |
| 7 | Knicks | +4 | 42-28 | The Deuce is Loose |
| 8 | Clippers | -2 | 44-26 | The Clippers are looking ROUGH heading towards the last stretch of the season. All 5 losses in this period were close games that turned into routs as we always seem to run out of legs at some point during a game. Notable lowlights include getting embarassed by both the Wolves and Pels on national TV, as well as losing to Atlanta and the Sixers (Nic Batum we miss u bb) without their respective star players. Offensively they play as if they despise having momentum, as the whole team turns to chucking up contested threes until the lead is all but gone. We have been somehow even worse defensively, our 3rd-worst 120.8 team DRTG only tells half the story of how bad we have been as a defensive unit since the all-star break. We are back to looking unserious, and unless this team finds that December magic again, our playoff seeding might slip even lower. |
| 9 | Suns | — | 42-29 | "The Suns' projected playoff rotation has been healthy for 5 games in a row (7th time since acquiring Royce O'Neale at the deadline), and have gone 5-2 over the last two weeks. However, their two losses against Boston and Milwaukee showcased this team's abysmal 3pt defense. The Bucks made 24 threes despite missing Giannis and the Suns being fully healthy. Becoming a point of emphasis for the team, they have now won 3 straight against injured or non-playoff teams. Bradley Beal has stepped up as ""point guard"" on offense as well as a point-of-attack defender. He held Tyrese Maxey to 6 points on 3/13 shooting in 29 minutes, and has averaged 9.3 assists over the last 3 games." |
| 10 | Magic | — | 42-29 | Another 5 game winning streak helped the Magic get their highest win total since 2019 and lock in at worst a play-in spot, with them currently in the 5th seed and only 1 game behind the 3rd seed. In the month of March, All-Star Paolo Banchero is averaging 21.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game on 52/41/77 splits as well as an 8-3 record. Even though it was a heartbreaking loss with some questionable refereeing, the Kings game gave us Jonathan Isaac's best game in years, posting 25 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in only 22 minutes. The Magic look to close out the season strong and make some noise in the playoffs, but to do so Franz Wagner needs to fix his 3pt shooting woes, the bench needs to continue to be one of the league's best and the team has to make their FTs. |
| 11 | Mavericks | +2 | 41-29 | Dallas has picked it up over the last couple of weeks, taking advantage of a soft part of the schedule. While Luka's 30 point triple double streak has come to an end, the team is clicking on all cylinders and the lob threat of this team is beginning to rival Lob City. On top of the lobs, the team's defensive effort has been noticeably better, leading to the third best defense over the last 2 weeks. If this is a real flash, teams should be scared of playoff Luka + Kyrie with a good defense. |
| 12 | Cavaliers | -5 | 43-28 | The Cavs hit rock bottom last night with a terrible 121-84 loss to the Heat, and have gone 5-9 since Max Strus bailed us out with an insane 60 foot game winner. Without Mitchell, teams have a simple strategy, swarm Darius Garland and make anyone else beat you, and living with him trying to navigate heavy attention. I wrote the same exact thing here in the 20-21 season. I wrote the same exact thing here in the 21-22 season. When defenses swarm our primary ball handler, we can never make anything happen. It’s been year after year. The Knicks killed us in the playoffs by swarming the ball. Swarm this offense and you have a good chance. Why can’t JB figure out a way to punish? As much as it may be an offensive skill issue, it is equally as likely that it’s a coaching skill issue. The good news is that with litany of ball handlers and 3p shooters, our healthy roster shouldn’t have this massively glaring issue that has plagued us for years. With such a weird season, being in 3rd for the moment despite not having a healthy starting 5 almost all season and having insane highs like a 17-1 streak despite the injuries, there’s a weird aura in the Cavs fan base. Luckily for us, regardless of how this campaign goes, all indications is that Donovan is happy in Cleveland and will re-sign, and we have control of our FRP this year. The urgency from the Cavs fanbase is predicated by the idea that we went all-in on the Mitchell trade, but if he re-signs, the true all-in moment can occur in is the 2026 season when we have another stockpile of picks to attach to anyone to complete the core. |
| 13 | Kings | -1 | 41-29 | Every game is a must win for the Kings to stay out of the 7/8 bubble.. Every loss to a bad team has now come full circle for a Kings team that has played to their competion boasting one of the best records in the league against .500 opponents Kings fans are greatful that in the playoffs there are no bad teams left to lose to. |
| 14 | Pacers | — | 40-32 | As we push towards the playoffs, Indiana is starting to get a little of its mojo back. Tyrese Haliburton has shown promising signs of working his way out of a shooting slump as of late, although it doesn't look like his 3-point percentage will be anywhere near its blistering start. Pascal Siakam, meanwhile, continues to be worth every pick sent and every future dollar spent. Siakam has averaged 21 points and 8 rebounds on over 55% shooting since coming to Indiana, and – considering the limitations on Haliburton – looks to be Indiana's primary scoring option as the postseason approaches. |
| 15 | Lakers | — | 39-32 | |
| 16 | Heat | — | 39-32 | The Heat are mainintaing pace in the East as we heard towards the play-in. Although there's still time left, it looks like we won't have enough to strength to get a seed outside of the play-in. The injuries have started to add up with Jaquez Jr, Herro, and Robinson missing time. All three will be big to any playoff chances and hopefully they'll be alright before the play-in starts. The fact we've kept pace despite the injuries to key players is impressive. Rozier, Butler and Adebayo have been a big part of this and fill the void of the others admirably. Adebayo even hit a game winning 3 which is crazy considering he's only taken 21 total 3s so far this season. |
| 17 | Rockets | +3 | 35-35 | The Rockets weren't very active at the trade deadline, but two new additions in the form of Draya Michele and baby Green Jr have been just enough to replace the absences of Whitmore and Sengun. But it's not just Jalen that's seen a boost in performance. Jock Landale looks like a completely different player. Thompson has locked in. The Warriors' play-in spot is now within reaching distance, and if we do get there, perhaps a healthy Sengun awaits to put some icing on the cake (don't let anybody tell you that we are weaker with him). |
| 18 | 76ers | -1 | 39-32 | The Sixers have finally let out a single morsel of information and hope regarding an Embiid return in early April. However, with that best case, there is still a very short time for Embiid to be able to ramp up and get back into full form. This is especially important to remember as we come to the realization that the Sixers will be a play-in team this year. While I don't doubt the Sixers will most likely win one of those games to get into the playoffs (with Embiid or not), there is still a lot of trepidation regarding if they have any chance at being one of those upsets. Will we get the Hield we were promised when Embiid returns? |
| 19 | Warriors | -1 | 36-34 | Same Warriors different week. Another blown lead and losing to teams they should probably beat if they want to avoid the play in. While Steph is still coming off the injury it was pretty shocking to see him benched for 5 minutes of the 4th and only play 29 total last night. With Houston playing hot even the last play in is not guaranteed. |
| 20 | Bulls | -1 | 34-37 | |
| 21 | Hawks | — | 31-39 | We've gotten to the point in the season where it often takes an hour for PGTs to be posted in here. The fanbase has checked out at this point, and frankly I don't blame them. Injuries to Trae, Jalen Johnson (rip the MIP campaign), Onyeka Okongwu, Saddiq Bey, AJ Griffin, and our entire rookie class makes it hard to get much out of watching these games. There have been some bright spots recently. Vit Krejci has shown huge leaps as a PoA defender and connective piece on offence, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's played himself into a rotation role on Atlanta (or another team) next season. Bruno Fernando scored a career high 25 points against Charlotte, including an absolutely nasty dunk over Grant Williams. We also beat Charlotte for the first time in over 400 days! I'm not sure if that's something exactly worth celebrating, but dammit I need something right now. The crazy thing is, even with all of the injuries and the middling play Basketball Reference gives Atlanta a 97.6% chance of making the play-ins. Man, the east is bad. |
| 22 | Jazz | +1 | 29-42 | Rebuilds aren’t fun. They're especially not fun when your team goes on a big winning run (12-3 in Across Mid Dec to Mid Jan) and then trades key guys at the trade deadline… in consecutive seasons… and then your first round pick is outside the top 5. Team and fan morale isn't great around the Jazz and in the midst of losing 17/20 games pretty much every casual fan has already checked out. Anyone got any draftboards to have a look at? |
| 23 | Grizzlies | +2 | 24-47 | |
| 24 | Nets | -2 | 26-45 | The Nets needed to rebuild and failed to realize that. Now Mikal Bridges has proven he is not a number 1 option type of player and his value has gone down since it was reported Houston offered our draft compensation back. It's unclear how many picks were offered back but it's clear we should have been aggressive in trying to recoup our own draft assets. Now the Nets are back gifting lottery picks to teams that are in a better position than them. Pain is a part of the journey for some, it is a staple for us |
| 25 | Trail Blazers | +1 | 19-52 | Injuries continue to be the story for Portland, whose interesting and exciting team never got a chance to show what they could do. Brogdon, Grant, and Williams seem done with 39, 54, and 6 games played, respectively. Sharpe may return, but has been out since January and has only played 32 games. Ayton, Simons, and Henderson are still periodically active, but they're all on pace to play between 53 and 59 games. The only bright spot is the injuries will give Portland a pretty good shot at a top pick, as they are only 1.5 games ahead of Charlotte for the 4th best odds at a top lotto selection. |
| 26 | Raptors | -2 | 23-48 | The last time the Raptor's lost 9 games in a row was the forgettable Tampa Raptor's season. I don't think anyone had a double digit losing streak in the books if you had asked them at the start of the season. One game this season, with all the players we had out. Our longest tenured player for that game was…. Gradey Dick. That's right, our drafted rookie. |
| 27 | Spurs | — | 15-56 | I'm not necessarily on the Wembanyama DPOY train, but I'm not not on it either. I'm glad the media discourse in recent weeks has picked up just how much better the Spurs' defense is with him on the court; obviously his on-off is affected wildly by the fact that the Spurs have no competent defensive big men behind him in the rotation, but the Spurs being the top defense in the league with him on the floor over the last ~20 games speaks volumes. Wemby already garners insane respect when in the area of an offensive play, he is having the second-best blocks/foul season of all time, and according to this Ringer article, the Spurs have recovered 68% of his blocks, the highest rate for any player with more than 60 blocks. These aren't empty defensive numbers, this guy genuinely makes All-Defensive impactful plays all night, every night. And he's a rookie on top of that–he still absolutely makes bad reads and dumb plays, but anyone trying to diminish what Wemby does for our defense simply doesn't watch him (I don't blame you, the Spurs have been tough to watch lately) and lazily uses narratives from other high-block players (@Hassan Whiteside) to try to discredit what Wemby is accomplishing. I don't think he should necessarily be DPOY, but I really hope he gets All-Defense 1st Team. The Spurs have PHO, @UTA, NYK, GSW, @DEN, NOP, PHI over the next two weeks. |
| 28 | Hornets | — | 17-53 | We were down 40 points in games to Orlando and Atlanta in the same week. 67-26 and 128-88. Yes, we are #30, and there we shall stay. |
| 29 | Wizards | — | 13-58 | DeMar DeRozan negligently pulled down Bilal Coulibaly after he was pumped faked out of his shoes — leading to Coulibaly fracturing his wrist and is now out for the season and likely missing Summer League (which is incredibly important for a guy who will be entering his sophomore season probably with a third head coach). No one is talking about it, no one even cares to have a conversation about it. This is the life of a franchise that is out of the public spotlight unless it is to make fun of them despite having not watched a single game of basketball. Also don't like the 2-1 record in the past week distract you from the fact that this team is still ass. |
| 30 | Pistons | — | 12-59 | It wasn't particularly shocking to learn Ausar has blood clots given our luck the past half decade. With all the injuries I stopped watching us. I mean who the fuck are most of these guys? |
11 comments
[deleted]
Suns ahead of us?
Bias Rankings. Who’s lovin? Who’s hatin?
Team | Rank | Ranks Above Avg | Lover | Ranks Below Avg | Hater |
:– | :-: | :-: | :– | :-: | :– |
[](/ATL) Hawks | 21 | 2 | 2 Tied | -1 | 3 Tied |
[](/BOS) Celtics | 1 | 0 | 24 Tied | -1 | 2 Tied |
[](/BKN) Nets | 24 | 2 | 3 Tied | -4 | [](/SAC) /u/N1celyDunn |
[](/CHA) Hornets | 28 | 3 | 2 Tied | -2 | 7 Tied |
[](/CHI) Bulls | 20 | 1 | 5 Tied | -3 | [](/OKC) /u/AnkitPancakes |
[](/CLE) Cavaliers | 12 | 6 | 2 Tied | -5 | [](/GSW) /u/swollencornholio |
[](/DAL) Mavericks | 11 | 4 | 2 Tied | -3 | [](/LAC) /u/deepwebteddy |
[](/DEN) Nuggets | 2 | 1 | 2 Tied | -2 | 2 Tied |
[](/DET) Pistons | 30 | 4 | [](/SAC) /u/N1celyDunn | 0 | 9 Tied |
[](/GSW) Warriors | 19 | 6 | [](/CHA) /u/NotManyBuses | -2 | [](/SAC) /u/N1celyDunn |
[](/HOU) Rockets | 17 | 9 | 2 Tied | -5 | 2 Tied |
[](/IND) Pacers | 14 | 3 | 2 Tied | -4 | [](/OKC) /u/AnkitPancakes |
[](/LAC) Clippers | 8 | 4 | [](/WAS) /u/TopOfTheKey | -8 | [](/UTA) /u/NitroXYZ |
[](/LAL) Lakers | 15 | 2 | 2 Tied | -3 | 2 Tied |
[](/MEM) Grizzlies | 23 | 2 | 2 Tied | -5 | [](/CHA) /u/NotManyBuses |
[](/MIA) Heat | 16 | 5 | [](/MIN) /u/flyingscissor | -2 | [](/ORL) /u/albinorhino21 |
[](/MIL) Bucks | 5 | 3 | [](/MIL) /u/Short_Bus_ | -5 | 2 Tied |
[](/MIN) TWolves | 4 | 2 | [](/ATL) /u/not-a-potato-head | -3 | 2 Tied |
[](/NOP) Pelicans | 6 | 2 | 2 Tied | -5 | [](/OKC) /u/AnkitPancakes |
[](/NYK) Knicks | 7 | 3 | [](/NYK) /u/Bird_and_Dog | -5 | 2 Tied |
[](/OKC) Thunder | 3 | 1 | [](/MIA) /u/beefat99 | -2 | 2 Tied |
[](/ORL) Magic | 10 | 4 | 3 Tied | -7 | [](/OKC) /u/AnkitPancakes |
[](/PHI) 76ers | 18 | 8 | [](/MIA) /u/beefat99 | -3 | [](/UTA) /u/NitroXYZ |
[](/PHX) Suns | 9 | 2 | 2 Tied | -5 | [](/MIN) /u/flyingscissor |
[](/POR) Trail Blazers | 25 | 2 | 2 Tied | -4 | [](/GSW) /u/swollencornholio |
[](/SAC) Kings | 13 | 3 | 2 Tied | -1 | 3 Tied |
[](/SAS) Spurs | 27 | 3 | 3 Tied | -3 | [](/POR) /u/DrTom |
[](/TOR) Raptors | 26 | 4 | [](/OKC) /u/AnkitPancakes | -4 | 5 Tied |
[](/UTA) Jazz | 22 | 3 | [](/MIA) /u/beefat99 | -4 | 2 Tied |
[](/WAS) Wizards | 29 | 5 | 3 Tied | -1 | 4 Tied |
* Boring ranker of the week is [](/PHI) /u/JerKroSRL with a 0.4 standard deviation
* Crazy ranker of the week is [](/OKC) /u/AnkitPancakes with a 2.78 standard deviation
2 voters putting the Warriors above the Magic is just nasty work
The Deuce is Loose
Pelicans ranker here AMA
Pistons should not be ranked lower than the Wizards. Cmon now
Thunder ranker. Admittedly been busy these last 2 weeks, and I rushed to get my rankings in. So not my best work 🙁
Dallas guy had us lower than cavs and new york I’m crying
I don’t really understand the love for the Knicks
Im suprised we’re not last… we’re the worst team in the league with injuries