NBA Power Rankings: Separating all 30 teams into six tiers

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Yaron Weitzman

FOX Sports NBA Writer

The NBA is back!

The 2024-25 campaign tips off on Tuesday, Oct. 22, and we here at FOX Sports know that getting reacquainted with the league can be overwhelming.

To help with that, we’ve put together a preview that will basically tell you everything you need to know by dividing the 30 teams into six categories:

The Favorites
So You’re Saying There’s A Chance?
Playoffs or Play-In
A Tier of Their Own
Yawn
Cooper Flagg Watch

Does your team have a realistic shot at competing this season? Let’s take a look:

The Favorites

Teams will be disappointed with anything short of a championship. Either they know they have enough talent to win, or they know they’re on their last legs and need to take advantage of this championship window.

The Celtics are the defending champs, coming off a dominant run and bringing back their entire core. No, it’s not ideal that Kristaps Porzingis will miss a chunk of the season with a leg injury, but as long as he’s back for the playoffs the Celtics will be fine.

The Nuggets are probably the weakest of this group. They’ve lost a lot of talent over the past two years, like Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and seem to be banking on some of their young players breaking out, which is always an iffy proposition. Also, bringing in Russell Westbrook was a strange move. But they still have Nikola Jokic, and as long as they do, they have a shot.

The Thunder are loaded. They were awesome last year, and adding Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein to the mix, puts them on a plane with the Celtics. OKC has everything: Shooting and size and athleticism and multiple scorers and lockdown wing defenders and a great coach, of course, a bonafide MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Experience is the only thing this team doesn’t have. I don’t think it’s going to matter.

The Sixers, with Paul George in the mix, might have the best Big Three in the NBA, and good depth around that group, and the assets to go out and bolster the roster before the trade deadline. The only thing that will hold this team back is health. If George and Embiid are on the floor come playoff time, the Sixers can match up with everyone

So You’re Saying There’s A Chance?

Are any of these teams likely to win the title? No. That said, it wouldn’t be shocking if one did.

The Mavericks have Luka Doncic, and as long as they do they’re a contender. Adding Klay Thompson will bolster the offense, and Derrick Lively should be even better in Year Two. The question is who on this team is going to defend opposing guards?

Last season might not have gone well for them, but it’s not yet time to write off the Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo remains an MVP candidate, Damian Lillard should be better in his second year in Milwaukee, and Gary Trent Jr. was a nice addition that should bolster their depth. If healthy, this Bucks team can beat anyone. But will they ever get healthy, or has that ship sailed?

The Timberwolves are the best team among this group. Turning Karl-Anthony Towns into Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo will help their depth, and DiVincenzo in particular should fit snugly alongside Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert. And between Randle and Naz Reid, the Wolves should have no problem replacing Towns. If Edwards makes another mini leap, this team can end up in the finals.

The Knicks had the most fascinating offseason of any team in the NBA, and have gone all in on a Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Jalen Brunson core. Brunson is the driving force of this group, and the one the Knicks are betting on. The offense will be awesome, but can a team with Brunson and Towns at the 1 and the 5 defend at a high enough level to win a title, and do the Knicks have enough depth to make it through the season?

You know about the Big Three here, but don’t sleep on the addition of Mike Budenholzer, and getting Tyus Jones to come in and play point guard. Budenholzer has his flaws, but his teams always rack up wins during the regular season, and they always defend. Combine that with the talent of Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, and you have something interesting.

Playoffs or Play-In

These teams are all good. Some are really good. They’re just not quite good enough to win a title, though, and, since there aren’t enough spots to go around, some of them are going to find themselves battling for their seasons in the play-in.

The Cavaliers have a new coach in Kenny Atkinson, and lots of talent, but still that clunky-fitting Core Four featuring two point guards (Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland) and two bigs (Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley). This will likely be the group’s last shot to prove that they can make it work.

Golden State lost Klay Thompson, but replaced him with a mix of veterans like Buddy Hield and De’Anthony Melton who, all together, probably make the team better. We know what Steph Curry is. If Draymond Green can stay on the court, and if Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski continue to develop, this team can be interesting. But that’s a lot of “if”s.

The Rockets are deep and interesting. But, because of that, they have a lot to figure out. How are they going to work out the big man rotation with Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson? What are they going to do with Jalen Green? How does No. 3 pick Reed Sheppard fit into all of this? These are good problems to have, but problems nonetheless. This team still feels a year away from knowing what it is.

The Pacers are bringing back the core of the group that made the improbable run to the Eastern Conference finals last year. That makes sense, and if Tyrese Haliburton is healthy, this is a good team. But the top of the East got better, and the Pacers could be the odds ones looking in.

We’re already talking about Kawhi Leonard’s knee, and the regular season hasn’t even started yet. And Paul George is no longer around to carry the weight. The Clippers are relying on Jmaes Harden to turn back the clock. Good luck to them.

The Lakers still have two top-20 players, in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. And JJ Redick seems like a natural coach who’s going to coax some more wins out of this group. But the depth on this team is a huge problem, and they still don’t have any two-way players in the backcourt.

The Grizzlies are one of the hardest teams to predict, just because we don’t know what to expect from Ja Morant. If he’s healthy and stops making dumb decisions, well, for two straight seasons that was an equation of a 50-win team. And we know that Desmond Bane is awesome. But we don’t know what Morant will look like and the Grizzlies, having whiffed on some recent draft picks, have some depth issues. They’re also relying a lot of Zach Edey. That’s a lot of question marks.

The Magic are on the cusp of something really interesting. Adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is going to make an already-elite defense even better, and give the Magic some much-needed shooting. If Paolo Banchero continues to develop and can become a little more efficient, this could be in the mix for home court advantage in the first round.

The Kings are good, they just feel like they’ve maxed out this version of themselves. With De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis as the hubs, they’re always going to score, but they’re also going to struggle to stop opponents. Adding DeMar DeRozan in the offseason is fun, but not a move that solves that issue.

A Tier of Their Own

When you have a once-in-a-generation talent, you stand alone.

San Antonio Spurs

Call this the Wemby Division. Victor Wembanyama is probably good enough already that, if the Spurs wanted to, they could give some of the teams listed above a run for their money. Especially with the addition of Chris Paul. But the Spurs, correctly, are building things slowly. Wembanyama isn’t going anywhere, and how he develops will be one of the most important stories to track throughout the season.

Yawn

Will these teams be trying to win games? Yes. Should you care? No.

Atlanta Hawks
Chicago Bulls
Detroit Pistons
Miami Heat
Toronto Raptors

After plateauing, The Hawks elected to keep Trae Young and deal Dejounte Murray, likely because there was no market for Young. By this point, we know what he is: An awesome offensive player who doesn’t play defense or do enough to impact winning.

The Chicago Bulls deserve credit for finally stopping to chase play-in spots, but this roster is still a mess. The young players aren’t good enough, and the majority of the team’s cap space is being devoted to overpaid vets like Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine.

Will a new chief executive (Trajan Langdon) and new head coach (JB Bickerstaff) change things in Detroit? Probably. It’s unlikely this group will challenge any records for most consecutive losses. And I guess it will be interesting to see what Jaden Ivy looks like in Year Three, and what kind of player lottery pick Ron Holland is. But this team is still a long way away from being interesting.

There are two ways to look at the Heat. One is that this is a team that was in the finals two years ago and has an all time clutch performer in Jimmy Butler along with an elite big man in Bam Adebayo. That’s the glass half-full version. The glass half-empty one? That the Heat have gone 90-74 over the past two regular seasons, a solid mark, but nothing spectacular. Which might be exactly what this group is.

The Raptors are all in on Scottie Barnes, which is understandable and fun. Being all in on RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley? Also understandable, but not quite as fun.

Cooper Flagg Watch

Next year’s draft features the most hyped prospect since Zion Williamson. And the teams in this group want nothing more than to increase their odds of landing him.

We’re a longggg way from the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving days. The Nets have a few decent veterans (Dennis Schroder, Dorian Finney-Smith), but they’ll likely be dealt away by the trade deadline. The second half of their season will become about seeing if Ben Simmons can salvage his career.

The Hornets have new ownership, a new front office led by a young GM in Jeff Peterson, and a new, young coach in Charles Lee. This is a group that is clearly embracing a rebuild. This remains the early stages.

If the Jazz wanted to chase a playoff spot, they could, especially with how good Lauri Markkanen has become. Alas, Danny Ainge, the team’s top executive, has made clear that he’s not ready to enter the next phase. Ainge has always been about the big swings, and going for big talent. Cooper Flagg is a big talent, and one Ainge is going to do everything he can to secure.

Portland has some talented players. But they’re all really raw and young. At some point, the Blazers are going to have to shift into trying to win games. But that’s still probably a year away.

Are Wizards fans ready for the Jordan Poole show? Because you can bet Washington, after spending a decade selling out to chase low playoff seeds, is. What better way to lag for Flagg?

Yaron Weitzman is an NBA writer for FOX Sports and the author of Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports. Follow him on Twitter @YaronWeitzman.

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