Welcome back to our bi-weekly NBA power rankings, where we sort the league’s 30 teams in so perfect an order you cannot quibble with your team’s placement. It is written in stone until two weeks from now.
This time, the Suns, Raptors and Heat have all climbed into the top 10, their success too palpable to ignore. The question is whether, with ceilings set below championship contention, they can hold on to these rankings. We have our doubts, but thus far all three teams have done enough to prove us wrong.
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
The same cannot be said about the Bucks, Clippers and Mavericks, three teams we figured for some success this season. Milwaukee is without Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Clips have largely been without Kawhi Leonard. And Dallas is without Anthony Davis. Hard to compete if your best guys are unavailable.
Unless, of course, you are the Thunder, who continue to roll without All-Star wing Jalen Williams. Or the Pistons, who have won 13 straight whether or not Cade Cunningham, their MVP candidate, is in the lineup.
Let’s get to it. One month into the NBA season, your latest and greatest power rankings …
Previous rank: 29
The Wizards have already reached a point where they are asking existential questions. “Look at yourself in the mirror and answer the deeper questions,” said Kyshawn George. “It’s more than basketball. What do you really want in life? What do you want to build? What do we want to do here as an organization?”
Previous rank: 28
Rick Carlisle is trying to find motivation for his injury-riddled Pacers: “With this kind of adversity comes opportunity. We got to find the opportunity. Our fans have been great. They’ve given us great support even though it’s been difficult. We’re going to continue to have to lean on them and lean on each other.”
Previous rank: 27
As Pelicans president of basketball operations Joe Dumars, who recently fired coach Willie Green, said, “We have to establish who we want to be here in New Orleans going forward, and I just wasn’t seeing that happening. I didn’t see us establishing anything as far as who we’re gonna be.” Your turn, James Borrego.
Previous rank: 30
“We don’t know quite how to finish games,” said Noah Clowney. “Older teams that have been together, they kind of know where they want to get to at the end of the game. Where we’re almost timid, like we don’t know what we want to do. We’re just not good at executing it yet. I think that will come with time.”
Previous rank: 26
The Jazz are good for about 24 minutes. “It’s … getting old for everybody,” said Lauri Markkanen. “We’re definitely watching film and trying to figure it out. We were up at half. We can play some good basketball. We’ve got to keep focusing and keep following the game plan for as close to 48 minutes as we can.”
Previous rank: 24
Doug Christie’s coaching seat is hot if you listen even for a moment to Kings executive Scott Perry: “We wanted to be tough, and we wanted to become a better defensive team. Now, obviously, at this juncture, we’ve not been successful in that goal. So has that been disappointing? Yeah, that’s been disappointing.”
Previous rank: 25
LaMelo Ball is open to a trade, per Yahoo Sports’ Kelly Iko, and all Hornets coach Charles Lee could say was, “He understands what it’s going to take to try to win and who we need in the building and stuff. So I think that he is just committed to Charlotte.” Does he understand? Is he committed? A lot of questions.
Previous rank: 23
A sad reality for Cooper Flagg, courtesy of Mavs coach Jason Kidd: “This is the most he’s lost. How’s he handling it? Because he’s gonna be in this league for a long, long time. … Just understanding that losing is something you can turn into a positive. … That young man does that each time he takes the floor.”
Previous rank: 22
Klay Thompson checked Ja Morant: “We all want to see him out there and do his best, but he’s just been letting a lot of other stuff get in the way of that. We need that in the NBA. We need our best players to be out there, and when you’re a star it comes with a great responsibility. I hate to see that go to waste.”
Previous rank: 21
Orlando’s Jalen Suggs cooked the old and bad Clippers: “You got older guys and — no disrespect to the older guys — it’s just, the league is evolving at such a rapid pace. It’s being played so fast that it’s hard for those guys to keep up with it each and every night. Just with the demand on the body, on the energy.”
Previous rank: 9
Times are tough without an injured Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee. “You go through these bumps in the road throughout the season and nobody’s going to feel sorry for you — it’s the NBA,” Bobby Portis reminded his charges. “You gotta keep your head up, keep going, keep doing the things that got us here.”
Previous rank: 16
The Blazers are two buzzer-beating losses away from being above .500. But they believe. “Everybody knows the potential that we have,” said Portland’s Toumani Camara. “We spent a lot of time this summer together, so we know what we’re capable of. … You’ve just got to move forward.”
Previous rank: 19
Jaylen Brown knows the Celtics can’t afford letdowns like theirs against the Nets. “Come ready to play, or don’t play at all,” he said. “That’s my whole thing. We’ve gotta come ready to play. We just went through the motions … I don’t understand it. … We’ve got to be the harder playing team. That can’t be negotiable.”
Previous rank: 14
The Sixers are forever waiting on Joel Embiid and Paul George to stay healthy. “Who is in and out of the lineup is out of our control,” said Andre Drummond. “The guys who do play, we play to the best of our ability. … It’s hard to find a rhythm when we are not knowing who we are playing with on a nightly basis.”
Previous rank: 13
As his Bulls celebrated a win over the Wizards, Nikola Vučević insisted, “We were very soft. We gave no resistance. We didn’t do anything that we talked about. … We just didn’t play up to NBA standards. … I don’t think we understand that it’s just not sustainable to play this way.” Then, they lost to the Pelicans.
Previous rank: 11
Jimmy Butler is not satisfied. “We’re just not guarding nobody,” he said. “That’s from what I can tell. I haven’t been here long, but that’s never been the formula here, not to win a championship. You’ve got to take each and every matchup personal. … We’ve got to do way better guarding on that side of the ball.”
Previous rank: 20
“They’ve been playing good basketball,” Paolo Banchero said, as his Magic right a ship with him sidelined. “The team’s been really together, locking in on defense. That was something that we emphasized after the rough start, was that we just needed to get back to sitting down and just guarding everybody how we have in the past.”
Previous rank: 17
As the Hawks have improved to 9-4 in the absence of Trae Young, knocking on the door of a top-10 defense, Kristaps Porziņģis relayed, “Overall, I can see this group is trying, and we’re working hard, and we want to be a great team.” Great is a stretch, but good in Young’s absence is an interesting development.
Previous rank: 10
The Wolves are 0-6 against teams with a .500 record or better and 10-1 against losing teams. Are the two-time returning Western Conference finalists good? “You can see the glass empty or half full,” said Rudy Gobert. “It’s good that we’re taking care of business, but we [need to] try to beat the good teams.”
Previous rank: 7
The Knicks own the NBA’s 17th-rated defense. “I’m confident we can be where we need to defensively,” said coach Mike Brown. “We played well in some instances and we haven’t played well. That’s what you go through, especially during this part of the year. So I do think we can be a really good defensive team.”
Previous rank: 12
Tyler Herro couldn’t help but enjoy returning to a Heat team that is playing a fast and unique brand of basketball. “Playing with a pace like this, you love to see everybody collectively having fun, everybody getting to touch the ball,” said Bam Adebayo. “You can’t really scout plays for us. There are no plays.”
Previous rank: 18
The Raptors are the first to punch a ticket to the NBA Cup quarterfinals. “It’s great that we’re winning games, but keep staying humble, keep staying hungry,” said Scottie Barnes. “It’s only the beginning of the season. But we’re really good. We’re really talented. People are going to keep continuing to see that.”
Previous rank: 3
The Spurs are holding down the Alamo without Victor Wembanyama. “We’re playing lineups that we hadn’t even gone through training camp with,” said De’Aaron Fox. “You try to jell together as quickly as possible, and it’s great winning games while you’re doing it. … We definitely feel like there’s something special.”
Previous rank: 15
“We’re just trying to prove ourselves,” Jordan Goodwin said of the hard-playing Suns. “I feel like the league kind of disrespecting us a little bit. I don’t think we’re getting the kind of respect we should get. We’re just trying to take it.” Well, here’s your respect: A No. 7 spot on these rankings. Can you hold it?
Previous rank: 8
“Is there anybody, any guard, playing as well as him in the league?” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson asked of fringe MVP candidate Donovan Mitchell. “He’s just in a great place. Great, great demeanor. He’s got great control of the game. He’s in this money spot in his career. He’s just kind of got control of everything.”
Previous rank: 6
LeBron James was defiant about his reintegration to the Lakers, who are 2-0 since his return from sciatica, albeit a pair of wins against the Jazz. “I can fit in with anybody,” he insisted. “I don’t even understand why that was a question. What’s wrong with these people? I can ride with anybody.”
Previous rank: 5
“I play with a lot of specialists as big men, guys that do a great job of screening, rebounding, being physical — but nobody that can score quite like that,” Kevin Durant said of Alperen Şengün. “And no disrespect to the players I played with, but I’m sure they all feel the same way. That’s how good Alpi is.”
Previous rank: 2
Nikola Jokić is demanding more from his increasingly injured team. “I think 12-4, it’s not the real picture,” he said. “I think we are not that good. We need to be much better if we want to do something big. Yes, we’ve played better. We look better. But I think we need to be consistent, every night, every possession.”
Previous rank: 4
“The togetherness that this team brings to every possession. If we continue to do that, I believe we can go really far,” said Jaden Ivey. “I just see guys who are connected, playing together and making the right reads. Defensively, we are executing. Regardless of who is out there, we all bring something to the table.”
Previous rank: 1
“They’re unbelievably connected,” said coach Mark Daigneault. “So we try to give them a lot of space when it comes to the locker room, and letting this be theirs. We give them a lot of ownership. … They’ve got an unbelievable thing collectively, and I try not to overmanage that, because it’s pretty special.”
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