It's an NBA Power Rankings Tuesday!
I know Milwaukee just got throttled at home by Boston. The Committee (of One) simply couldn't have any other team atop the season's final rankings compilation when we think the Bucks are the best team
The NBA was closed Monday, ceding the basketball stage to the college kids to finish off the men’s Final Four. Now we proceed straight into the final six days of the regular season, followed by the play-in tournament and the fast-approaching start of the playoffs on April 15.
It’s thus the ideal time to publish our final batch of monthly(-ish) NBA Power Rankings from The Committee (of One), taking stock of the league with one more farewell 1-to-30 ladder before 10 of those teams move straight into their offseasons.
The motivation for a monthly(-ish) assemblage of rankings, as established in our maiden season on Substack, stems from a desire to take broader, periodic looks at the league as opposed to our old weekly pulse takes at ESPN. Yet the overall mission remains unchanged: Establish an order separate from the standings that measures big-picture potential and expectations alongside short-term results. Injuries and other off-court developments, positive and negative, are factored in as well … with a dash of Committee whim mixed in.
We ask, as always, that you register your quibbles or any other pertinent thoughts in the comments section below so we can respond and expound upon our thinking.
PS — Rankings posts, remember, are incredibly long. So click on the headline to get the web or app version instantly if it proves too unwieldy to consume as an email.
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1️⃣ Milwaukee Bucks
Why, exactly, isn't there more MVP buzz surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo when the Bucks are on course to clinch the league's best record and after injury limited Khris Middleton to 32 games so far this season? Good questions. The Bucks, though, will have to overcome some daunting history to win their second championship in three seasons. Milwaukee has sustained two losses by at least 40 points this season, including one as recently as Thursday at home to Boston. My fellow history-loving Substacker Justin Kubatko notes that no team with two such losses in the same season has ever won it all — and that only three teams (Boston in 1959-60 and 1965-66 and Golden State in 2017-18) have managed to win a championship after just one defeat by 40 points or more. As stated beneath the main headline, however, I couldn’t put the Celtics ahead of the Bucks no matter how lopsided their most recent meeting was, because I would still pick Milwaukee in a seven-game series.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 3
2️⃣ Boston Celtics
The Celtics are the league’s only team in the top five in both offensive (No. 2) and defensive (No. 4) efficiency. They take a 3-0 record against the 76ers, their likely second-round foe, into Tuesday’s finale of the season series at Philly. They also just won at Milwaukee last week by those 41 points, giving Boston a real case to be No. 1. What cost the Celts: A so-so record (12-7) since the All-Star break that includes some funky losses to Brooklyn (in which they blew a 28-point lead), at Houston and to an undermanned Wizards team. Of greater concern: Can Robert Williams hold up health-wise for an entire postseason? This is a different team with Williams inside.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 1
3️⃣ Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets are just 11-8 since the All-Star break and rank 14th leaguewide in defensive efficiency. Are we seeing a team that took its foot off the gas because it has had the West’s No. 1 overall seed wrapped up for seemingly months … or is this a team already feeling the immense pressure that will be heaped upon it in the postseason because of Nikola Jokić’s modest career playoff résumé? The wide-open nature of the West that you hear so many analysts reference, fair or not, stems in large part from a lack of trust in Jokić and Co. Whether they can quiet the naysayers is as significant a storyline as we’ll see between now and June.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 2
4️⃣ Philadelphia 76ers
Joel Embiid has a lead over Luka Dončić in his bid for a second consecutive scoring title with 2,110 points in 64 games (32.98 PPG) to Dončić’s 2,096 points in 64 games (32.75 PPG). The scoring crown, mind you, is clearly a way-down-the-list concern for Embiid, who is seeking his first MVP award (after consecutive second-place finishes) and, of greater importance, trying to lead the 76ers past the second round of the playoffs for the first time since Allen Iverson, Larry Brown and Co. reached the NBA Finals in 2001. Embiid has essentially said that the pressure should all fall on Jokić, as the two-time reigning MVP, and his Nuggets. Rest assured that he and James Harden and Doc Rivers are feeling plenty given how much is riding on the Sixers’ postseason.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 5
5️⃣ Cleveland Cavaliers
Best Cavaliers team in franchise history that did not feature LeBron James? That might be overstating it given how good Cleveland was in the early ‘90s with Brad Daugherty, Larry Nance and Mark Price, but this group sporting the NBA’s top-ranked defense can make an argument as it sits on the brink of 50-win territory and with Donovan Mitchell assembling such a stellar debut season in Northeast Ohio. Of course, to now win the franchise's first playoff series without LeBron since 1993, these Cavs will most likely have to beat New York in Round 1. The same Knicks they outbid to win the Mitchell trade sweepstakes last summer.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 4
6️⃣ Phoenix Suns
The six teams Phoenix has vanquished with Kevin Durant in uniform — Hornets, Bulls, Mavericks, Wolves, Nuggets, Thunder — don't represent the toughest competition in the world. But Durant's teams, when you add in his final stretch as a Net, are 23-2 in the last 25 games he's played. The Suns' 6-0 mark with No. 35 in uniform, in other words, is no accident — Durant remains as dangerous an individual entity as #thisleague features. Which is why the Suns, for all of the depth questions surrounding this team since its blockbuster trade in February, appear to have as good a shot to come out of the wide-open West as any other team you wish to nominate.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 6
7️⃣ Memphis Grizzlies
Maybe it's not quite as glittery as last season's 20-5 mark in games Ja Morant has missed, but Memphis' 11-8 record in Ja-less games was good enough to keep this team in a top-two slot out West. And thanks to a 5-2 record since Morant's return from suspension, we should soon have a second 50-win team in the West when it looked for some time like we were going to have only one. This is the 19th season that the NBA has had 30 teams; we saw an average of 5.3 50-win teams in the West across the first 18 seasons. Less certain, by contrast, is how the Grizzlies will cope in the playoffs without a lost-for-the-season Brandon Clarke. Or how much they can count on from a still-sidelined Steven Adams.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 7
8️⃣ Sacramento Kings
I realize that I've promoted it a bunch, but I think the podcast that Turner Sports' Chris Haynes and I recorded with Kings coach Mike Brown on the day after Sacramento clinched its first playoff berth in 17 seasons was that good. So please check it out if you didn’t already. Now to see if the Kings, who sport the league’s No. 1 offense, can overcome their 25th-ranked defense and lack of playoff experience as a group to make some noise in the postseason, thereby hushing those who have suggested that the Kings’ unexpected regular-season success stems as much from their superior health compared to the rest of the West as anything.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 11
9️⃣ Golden State Warriors
It's one of the standout stats of a bonkers (and bizarre) season in the West: Golden State has the league's third-ranked defense in home games ... and the 28th-ranked defense in road games. The defending champions, in related news, are 32-8 at home and 9-30 on the road. But they appear poised to get Andrew Wiggins back this week after a 22-game personal leave and, don’t forget, have won a road game in a league-record 27 consecutive playoff series in a row. If you want to count Stephen Curry and Co. out after last season's title run … go for it. You can see here that The Committee refuses to if we’re keeping the Warriors in the top 10 after such an uninspiring regular season.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 12
🔟 New York Knicks
Late in a season in which so much has gone right for the Knicks — from Jalen Brunson’s emergence as the lead guard they’ve coveted for years in Gotham to Immanuel Quickley’s unexpected Sixth Man Award candidacy to the instant impact of trade acquisition Josh Hart (New York is 16-6 with Hart) — All-Star forward Julius Randle sustained an ankle sprain that might not be healed in time for the start of the playoffs. Beating Cleveland without a full-speed Randle in Round 1 would be a tall order for Tom Thibodeau, who has now posted two winning records in his three seasons in New York after the franchise enjoyed just three winning records across the previous 19 seasons.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 10
1️⃣1️⃣ New Orleans Pelicans
Although it took a while, New Orleans has begun to look like last season’s Pelicans … which is to say a dangerous team meshing at the right time even without Zion Williamson. The Pelicans, despite last having Williamson in uniform on Jan. 2, have climbed to No. 6 in the league defensively and are just two wins shy of clinching their first winning season since 2017-18 thanks to a 7-1 surge — with Brandon Ingram in the midst of the hottest offensive stretch of his career. Is there still time for this team to barge into the West top’s six? Is there still time for Williamson to rejoin them this season after his stubborn hamstring injury is reevaluated this week? Few teams are posing more interesting questions these days than the Pels.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 15
1️⃣2️⃣ Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers are 15-7 since the Feb. 9 trade deadline even though LeBron James recently missed 13 games thanks to ongoing foot trouble. They’re also 5-0 when LeBron, Anthony Davis and D'Angelo Russell are in uniform, reveling in the contributions of a better-than-ever Austin Reaves and have started to generate as much You Don't Want To Play Them In The Playoffs buzz as any lower seed. They're doing it with defense as much as anything — L.A. ranks No. 1 in the league on D since the deadline — but do you believe that James and Davis can stay healthy? Doesn’t it seem to you, as it does to us, that too many pundits have been saying lately that they think the Lakers can win the West?
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 17
1️⃣3️⃣ LA Clippers
The Clippers thought their season had bottomed out in late February during a turbulent and scary team flight that had numerous passengers on board fearing the worst. Yet they are dangerously close now to tumbling out of the West’s top six entering a massive LA derby Wednesday against the Lakers in which the Clippers will be trying to extend a 10-game winning streak against their Crypto.com Arena co-tenants. Although the knee sprain Paul George sustained March 21 did not require surgery, it will keep George sidelined when the postseason starts, sparking significant concern about the Clippers' ability to keep their season going long enough for PG-13 to come back and reunite with Kawhi Leonard. The duo went 24-14 this season in the mere 38 games they were able to play in together.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 8
1️⃣4️⃣ Miami Heat
Jimmy Butler was snubbed from the All-Star Game. Jimmy Butler is averaging 25.6 points per game on 60.3% shooting since the All-Star Game. Jimmy Butler, as a result, might end up on the All-NBA team after an All-Star snub for the second time in his career. Making projections about Butler's team, though, has been harder than anyone imagined. On one hand, with Jimmy and Defensive Player of the Year candidate Bam Adebayo, Miami should be the East's clear-cut Lower Seed No One Wants To See in the playoffs. Yet it's undeniably alarming that the Heat appear poised to fall short of knocking the Nets out of the No. 6 slot even after Brooklyn gave them every chance to snatch it away by trading away Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 9
1️⃣5️⃣ Brooklyn Nets
Mikal Bridges has three 40-point games, averages 27.6 points and boasts 49.7%/41.8%/90.6% shooting splits as a Net. He also has a new nickname — Brooklyn Bridges — that flows perfectly and poetically no matter how obvious it might be. Bridges represents yet another fascinating contestant in a Most Improved Player race already overflowing with top-tier talent (along with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lauri Markkanen and Jalen Brunson) and has his new team feeling better than it ever expected about the future so soon after the implosion of the KD/Kyrie Era … even though, in actuality, they’re only 10-13 in the Brooklyn Bridges Era.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 18
1️⃣6️⃣ Toronto Raptors
The first few months of the season north of the border were dominated by trade speculation involving nearly all of the Raptors’ top players. The closing dribbles of the regular season will be focused on the sideline amid rising speculation about the potential exit of championship-winning coach Nick Nurse at season’s end. Yet it must be pointed out that Toronto is a promising 16-9 since a dreadful 23-30 start and has clearly benefited from the curveball they uncorked at an entire league at the trade deadline by acquiring Jakob Poeltl from San Antonio without dealing away any of the established Raptors. Instinct tells The Committee this will be one of the East’s two survivors in the play-in round.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 19
1️⃣7️⃣ Chicago Bulls
The Bulls are as confounding as ever. They’re 12-7 since signing Chicago native Patrick Beverley. They’re 3-0 against Miami this season, which is a handy stat to file away in case those teams meet in the East play-in tournament. And they rank fifth leaguewide in defensive rating while also ranking as one of just three teams (along with Cleveland and Miami) that can claim multiple victories this season over both Milwaukee and Boston. While none of that sounds like the profile of a sub-.500 team, Chicago is just 38-40 and safely ensconced at No. 10 in the East largely because the competition from No. 11-through-15 is so weak. The silver lining amid all the conflicting signals: Zach LaVine had an absolutely monster March (28.4 PPG on 53.0%/43.6%/87.1% shooting splits) as part of his strong finish to Year 1 of a five-year, $215 million contract.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 26
1️⃣8️⃣ Oklahoma City Thunder
Since the Dallas Mavericks' inaugural season in 1980-81, there hasn't been a single NBA campaign without at least one playoff team from Texas. The Thunder are as responsible as any team out there for the historic 0-for-3 facing the Lone Star State as A) the team Dallas must leapfrog this week just to have a last-chance shot at the playoffs via the play-in round and B) Oklahoma City's comeback from 16 points down with less than four minutes to go on Oct. 29 to deliver one of the Mavericks' most damaging defeats in a season frankly filled with them. Leaguewide admiration for what the Thunder are building, meanwhile, seems to only grow, with the latest praise coming from OKC alumnus Kevin Durant, who said Sunday: “They've got three or four guys 6-7, 6-8 that can handle the ball. I wish I would've had that.”
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 16
1️⃣9️⃣ Minnesota Timberwolves
Just when it seemed like things were finally coming together for the Wolves after a L-O-N-G season, with Karl-Anthony Towns back at last from a nearly a fourth-month injury absence and with a defense that has quietly moved into the league’s top 10, Minnesota has been hit anew with injury (losing Naz Reid to a broken wrist) and illness (losing its last three games as a stomach virus swept through the team). Such is the jumble that persists in the West from No. 5 through No. 10 that Minnesota will likely struggle to climb higher than its current No. 9, which means it will have to win two play-in games to make a second consecutive playoff appearance. It certainly doesn’t help that the Wolves, as noted this week by radio play-by-play man Alan Horton, are tied with Portland with a league-leading 18 losses in games in which it led by at least 10 points.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 14
2️⃣0️⃣ Atlanta Hawks
For years The Committee published a "human" edition of the Power Rankings every Monday for ESPN to complement (and counter) John Hollinger's automated and computerized version of the rankings. For the last batch of Power Rankings this season on this Substack, we're crediting Professor Hollinger with an assist on this Hawks comment, because his Sunday tweet about Atlanta's even-steven season to date was too good to resist. (The Hawks are also 8-9 since Quin Snyder took over as their new coach.)
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 21
2️⃣1️⃣ Dallas Mavericks
The women's Final Four was very likely the last dose of postseason basketball excitement at the American Airlines Center in Dallas until next season. The Mavericks have all but cemented their status as 2022-23's Most Disappointing Team by going 1-7 since the Maxi Kleber triple that toppled the Lakers in Los Angeles on March 17. It'll take a 3-0 finish — with Oklahoma City going 1-2 in the same span — just for Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving and Co. to claim the West's No. 10 seed and a spot in the play-in round. More here and more to come on the disintegration.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 13
2️⃣2️⃣ Orlando Magic
The Magic would need a 4-0 finish, while Chicago goes 0-4, to sneak into the East's play-in tournament. So, no, that's not going to happen. This will nonetheless go down as a productive season in Central Florida thanks to Paolo Banchero's season-long hold on the Rookie of the Year lead, his blossoming partnership with Franz Wagner, Orlando's more-than-passable record (29-28) with Markelle Fultz in the lineup and a more competitive team overall under second-year coach Jamahl Mosley that most pundits (and certainly Las Vegas) expected. Especially after the Magic got off to a 5-20 start.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 24
2️⃣3️⃣ Utah Jazz
The Committee's memory isn't what it once was, so I can't readily provide you with a comparison for the sort of season Utah just assembled. The Jazz proved to be more competitive, for months longer than anyone anticipated, after trading away Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert and find themselves with two legit building blocks for the future in Lauri Markkanen and Walker Kessler, who will take up just $20.1 million combined in salary-cap space next season. The Jazz are obviously unlikely (about 1-in-20) to land Victor Wembanyama since they sport only the league's ninth-worst record, but I'm guessing Jazz fans are pretty geeked to be where they are so quickly post-teardown.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 22
2️⃣4️⃣ Washington Wizards
The consistent word in circulation on the Wizards for months has been that they hope to re-sign Kyle Kuzma, their multitalented unrestricted free agent-to-be, while also hashing out a contract extension with Kristaps Porzingis. While the individual statistics amassed by Bradley Beal, Kuzma and especially Porzingis all look good, there's no escaping the fact that Washington was only 16-19 with all three in uniform and has reached the playoffs just once in the past five seasons. Is paying big bucks to keep this Big Three together the wisest course for the Wiz?
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 20
2️⃣5️⃣ Indiana Pacers
Our aforementioned historian pal Mr. Kubatko surprised me Monday by tweeting out a statistic I had forgotten: This will somehow go down as the 12th successive season in which Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has been unable to win a playoff series dating to Dallas' title run in 2011. The outlook in Indy is nonetheless upbeat given where Tyrese Haliburton and rookie Bennedict Mathurin are in their development, Myles Turner's strong campaign which also included signing a contract extension and the Pacers' promising first half (23-18) until Haliburton got hurt.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 25
2️⃣6️⃣ Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets now hold the NBA's longest active playoff drought — at six seasons and counting — after Sacramento finally brought a halt to its stunning 16-season absence. If this turns out to be Michael Jordan's final season as Hornets owner, His Airness will depart with just three trips to the playoffs in 14 seasons as the man in charge ... and with LaMelo Ball limited to 36 games in MJ's swansong due to injury. Yet I couldn't resist placing the Hornets above the Blazers after they beat Dallas twice in three days late last month with an injury-depleted roster to absolutely derail the Mavericks' season while Portland, which had playoff aspirations, was openly tanking for better draft position.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 28
2️⃣7️⃣ Portland Trail Blazers
Damian Lillard keeps telling everyone that he has zero desire to leave Portland. Outsiders keep ignoring what Lillard says and wonder why he doesn't try to force his way elsewhere after the Blazers fell out of playoff contention so early this season that Lillard has been shelved since March 22 in the midst of what ranks as his most impressive statistical season. Can the Blazers' new front office assemble the sort of supporting cast that can at least help Dame get back on a playoff stage after he made eight consecutive trips to the postseason before these past two woeful seasons mired in the NBA's bottom 10? There is much work to be done with Portland's defense ranking No. 27 leaguewide.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 23
2️⃣8️⃣ Houston Rockets
For all of the Rockets' young talent, from Jalen Green to Jabari Smith Jr. to Alperen Şengün to Kevin Porter Jr., they've been hard to watch. How hard? As pointed out by NBA.com's Power Rankings guru John Schuhmann, Houston landed in the bottom five in both offensive and defensive efficiency for the third season in a row — something that hasn't happened since Dallas had teams that went 22-60, 11-71 and 13-69 in the early 1990s. We'll soon learn if the long-running rumors about James Harden trying to work his way back to Clutch City via free agency have any merit ... after we first see how the Rockets do in the Wembanyama Sweepstakes.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 30
2️⃣9️⃣ San Antonio Spurs
Instinct tells me that Gregg Popovich, who turned 74 in January, will be back on the Spurs' bench in October for at least one more season. The Committee can state with even greater confidence that we expect Pop to wait and see how the Spurs fare in the Victor Wembanyama draft lottery on May 16 before deciding anything. Yet you have to wonder what sort of toll San Antonio's extreme rebuilding project is taking on a coach accustomed to contending for championships, given that these Spurs have sustained eight losses this season by 35 points or more, according to Basketball Reference. The previous single-season league record was six.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 29
3️⃣0️⃣ Detroit Pistons
After all the trade interest in Bojan Bogdanović, Detroit's in-demand sharpshooter was only healthy enough to appear in six games after the trade deadline due to an Achilles injury. Cade Cunningham, furthermore, was able to play in just 12 games this season before season-ending surgery to address a persistent issue with shin splints. The Pistons hope to be in next year’s playoff mix with a healthy Cunningham and Bogdanović, but that's difficult to picture in an ever-improving East. Let's see, though. With the league's worst record, Detroit is assured a pick that can't fall lower No. 5 in the June 22 NBA Draft. Per another gem from Schuhmann: The Pistons, after the midseason acquisition of James Wiseman, will thus convene for training camp with a top-five selection from each of the past four drafts on the roster.
Last ranking (Feb. 21): 27
Love the name LA Derby
Good piece. I agree overreacting to the 40pt win is silly, however it feels like the media in general flocks towards the “easy” pick with Giannis and the Bucks. This Celtics core has serious playoff experience, leads the league in Point Differential, best Net rating since the All Star Break (and this was the rough stretch of their season). I have great respect for the Bucks, but I’m excited for this C’s team to wake everyone up again come playoff time