NBA Power Rankings: Where All 30 Teams Stand Ahead of 2023 All-Star Weekend – Bleacher Report

It took about two-thirds of the season to get here, but the NBA’s All-Star break has finally arrived.
And it’s starting to feel like a number of contenders are separating themselves from a jam-packed middle of the league.
The Denver Nuggets remain red-hot in the West, but the Phoenix Suns are going to add Kevin Durant at some point after the break. The Memphis Grizzlies are still lingering as well.
Out East, the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks look poised to represent the East in the conference finals, but don’t count out the Philadelphia 76ers and Cleveland Cavaliers.
To sort through those and the league’s other teams, we’ll use the same criteria we’ve deployed all year: championship chances, numbers, recent performance and a healthy helping of subjectivity.

Previous Rank: 30
Net Rating: -10.1
During Jakob Poeltl’s four-plus seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, they were plus-1.3 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor and minus-4.6 with him off.
Well, he’s gone. And by the early looks of things, San Antonio could be a significant underdog in every game the rest of the season.
The Spurs are 1-19 in their last 20 games. Since the trade deadline, they’re 0-4 with losses to the also-rebuilding Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets.
The only thing to look forward to is the shot to land Victor Wembanyama.

Previous Rank: 29
Net Rating: -8.6
The San Antonio Spurs may have the NBA’s worst net rating, but that’s not how lottery odds are determined. And the Houston Rockets are entering the All-Star break with the worst record in the NBA.
And shipping Eric Gordon out ahead of the trade deadline should help keep them there (Gordon had a positive impact on the team’s plus/minus this season).
It’s officially the Jalen Green show now (and to a lesser extent, the Kevin Porter Jr. and Alperen Şengün show), and Houston has a .214 winning percentage when he uses at least a quarter of the Rockets’ possessions (compared to .308 in all other games).

Previous Rank: 28
Net Rating: -7.3
The trade deadline came and went without a Bojan Bogdanović deal, but at least they added James Wiseman to a rotation that includes Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart and Marvin Bagley III (once he returns from a hand injury).
The addition of more size (and subtraction of Saddiq Bey’s theoretical shooting) means Bogdanović might be even more taxed than he was before, but the early returns have been solid.
In three games since the deadline, Bogdanović is averaging 31.0 points, despite shooting just 23.5 percent from deep.

Previous Rank: 27
Net Rating: -6.3
The Charlotte Hornets are still firmly in the hunt for excellent odds in this summer’s draft lottery, but they closed out the pre-All-Star portion of the schedule with two straight wins.
More encouraging than that, LaMelo Ball is starting to look like an All-Star again.
Over his last four games, Ball is averaging 25.0 points, 11.8 assists, 9.0 rebounds and 4.0 threes while shooting 44.6 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from three.
That level isn’t sustainable, but LaMelo’s being near there and playing alongside a top pick from the 2023 draft could soon make the Hornets competitive again.

Previous Rank: 24
Net Rating: -0.3
The Chicago Bulls were 26-28 and looking about as rudderless as a team can heading into a trade deadline they simply passed on.
The team could’ve justified being buyers or sellers, but instead, it did nothing. And now, it has lost six straight heading into the All-Star break.
There’s some buzz about the team landing Russell Westbrook, and while it does feel like the Bulls need to do something, they might have to draw the line ahead of signing Russ.
The Bulls are 24th, 28th and 15th in points per 100 possessions, threes per 100 possessions and three-point percentage, and adding Westbrook to lineups that already have DeMar DeRozan could make an already cramped offense feel like it’s operating in a phone booth.

Previous Rank: 26
Net Rating: -2.8
Despite a win Wednesday over the DeMar DeRozan-less Chicago Bulls, the Indiana Pacers are on a free fall toward improved lottery odds.
Since beating the Charlotte Hornets on Jan. 8, Indiana has lost 16 of 19, and the decision to hang on to both Myles Turner and Buddy Hield is starting to feel curious.
Still, both are under contract for 2023-24. And if they maintain their level of play for the rest of this season (Hield is averaging 17.5 points and 3.8 threes while shooting 42.6 percent from deep, while Turner is at 17.5 points, 2.3 blocks and 1.6 threes), they should have value on the trade market this summer.

Previous Rank: 25
Net Rating: -2.6
Who doesn’t love a good NBA brothers story?
When the Orlando Magic have Franz Wagner and his older brother Moritz on the floor, they’re plus-4.1 points per 100 possessions.
And while Franz has gotten plenty of attention this season, Mo’s contributions have flown a bit under the radar. Over his last 10 games, he’s putting up 13.0 points in 19.2 minutes.

Previous Rank: 23
Net Rating: +0.3
The Washington Wizards are entering the break with a below-.500 record, but things seem to be headed in the right direction.
Washington is 4-1 in its last five games, has a 2.5-game cushion between itself and 11th place (the first team out of the play-in tournament) and has a top three that’s thoroughly outperforming the team’s record.
When Bradley Beal, Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porziņģis are on the floor, the Wizards are plus-7.9 points per 100 possessions (91st percentile).

Previous Rank: 22
Net Rating: +0.6
Trading three rotation players (Mike Conley, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt) for someone who’ll never play for the Utah Jazz (Russell Westbrook is already in contract talks with the Los Angeles Clippers, per Shams Charania and Law Murray of The Athletic) might not be enough to put the team in the hunt for top lottery odds this summer.
Even after that deal, Lauri Markkanen had a positive plus/minus in each of the three games he played this past week. Wednesday, he sat with knee soreness, and Utah still kept a game against the Memphis Grizzlies within single digits.
If the Jazz really want to add pingpong balls, they might have to be very conservative with the timeline for Markkanen’s knee.

Previous Rank: 19
Net Rating: -0.3
At 32 years old, Damian Lillard may be having the best season of his top-75-all-time career.
His offensive box plus/minus is tied with the career high he set in 2018-19, but that number is relative to league average. And with so many bonkers individual stat lines around the NBA, it’s a little tougher to distance yourself from 0.0 (an exactly average mark).
Game score (“a rough measure of a player’s productivity for a single game”) is a catch-all without that caveat, and Lillard is unsurprisingly averaging a career-high 24.4 there. That number is the product of Lillard’s absurd season-long marks of 31.4 points, 7.3 assists and 4.2 threes.
The thing is, even with Lillard producing like this, the surrounding talent hasn’t been good enough to make Portland anything near a contender. In his last 20 games, Lillard is averaging 37.1 points, but the Blazers are 9-11 in those games.

Previous Rank: 17
Net Rating: -0.5
After losing to the New York Knicks on Wednesday, the Atlanta Hawks fell to 5-8 in their last 13 and slipped into the bottom 10 of the net-rating leaderboard.
And while it might be tempting to point to the big offseason acquisition of Dejounte Murray as the culprit for mediocrity, Atlanta’s starting five is actually quite strong.
The Hawks are plus-12.6 points per 100 possessions (97th percentile) when Trae Young, Murray, De’Andre Hunter, John Collins and Clint Capela are on the floor.
They get into serious trouble when the bench starts filtering in. When at least one of those starters is off the floor, the net rating plummets to minus-3.2.

Previous Rank: 21
Net Rating: +0.8
The Toronto Raptors did their darnedest to embrace positionless basketball.
Their most used starting five in each of the last two seasons includes Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., O.G. Anunoby, Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam.
Though that group had a positive point differential since the start of 2021-22, it wasn’t by much. And the acquisition of Jakob Poeltl at the trade deadline felt like the raising of a white flag on the philosophy.
Poeltl, of course, is a more traditional 5 who can protect the rim and help on the glass (particularly the offensive glass). He’s also an underrated creator.
Joakim Noah is the only player in league history who matches or exceeds both of Poeltl’s career marks for offensive rebounds (4.5) and assists (2.8) per 75 possessions.
In just his second start for this Raptors squad, he had 30 points, six blocks, five offensive boards and two dimes. He was plus-18 in a 10-point win.
With him in the rotation, it feels like Toronto’s record could finally catch up with its net rating.

Previous Rank: 18
Net Rating: -0.9
It is way too early for sweeping takeaways after LeBron James’ first game with new teammates D’Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt, but Wednesday’s win over the New Orleans Pelicans offered a glimpse of the Los Angeles Lakers’ path forward.
All three of the additions started alongside LeBron and Anthony Davis. The two guards looked comfortable spacing the floor around the incumbent offensive hubs. And Vanderbilt’s willingness to do all the dirty work should spare AD a lot of that responsibility.
With a middle-of-the-road strength of schedule from now to the end of the season and L.A. only two games back of a spot in the play-in tournament, there’s still a chance the Lakers will make the playoffs.

Previous Rank: 20
Net Rating: +1.5
The Oklahoma City Thunder absolutely smashed pre-All-Star expectations.
Their preseason over/under was set at 23.5 wins. They cleared that mark in January, and their leading scorer, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, would almost certainly be All-NBA if the season ended today.
You likely know about his 30.8 points per game, but what may come as a bit of a surprise is how he gets them.
SGA leads the league in points per game out of drives and has a two-point cushion over Ja Morant. His 16.9 driving points would rank 61st on the NBA’s points-per-game leaderboard by themselves.

Previous Rank: 16
Net Rating: +0.2
The Minnesota Timberwolves are 1-2 since acquiring Mike Conley, but one of the apparent goals of that deal seems within reach.
In the three contests since being reunited with his Utah Jazz teammate, Rudy Gobert is averaging 15.3 points, 14.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks while shooting 67.9 percent from the field.
In the absence of D’Angelo Russell, Anthony Edwards’ usage percentage is slightly up too. And if Karl-Anthony Towns returns to the lineup at some point after the All-Star break, a lower-usage point guard like Conley should also benefit him.

Previous Rank: 15
Net Rating: +2.0
The Brooklyn Nets aren’t going to fade away quietly after trading Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
Those deals made way for a haul of three-and-D wings (including Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith) and one of the league’s most interesting defense-first rosters.
Finding consistent sources of offense is perhaps a concern, but Bridges put some of that to rest Wednesday, when he dropped 45 in a win over the Miami Heat’s top-five defense.

Previous Rank: 13
Net Rating: +1.4
Brandon Ingram has averaged 25.1 points over his last nine appearances, and he deserves credit for keeping the New Orleans Pelicans in the hunt.
But a 1-2 week that ended with a loss to the revamped Los Angeles Lakers served as a reminder that New Orleans will remain in deep trouble as long as Zion Williamson is out.
On Sunday, The Athletic and Stadium’s Shams Charania reported that Zion reaggravated his hamstring injury and will remain out for at least a few weeks after the break. The Pelicans have a point differential around that of a 36-win team when Williamson is off the floor (compared to one around that of a 59-win team with him).

Previous Rank: 14
Net Rating: +0.1
After losing to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday, the Golden State Warriors are entering the All-Star break about as close to average as a team can get.
Warriors will enter the All-Star break with a profile very representative of their play this season.<br><br>-Record: 29-29<br>-Points scored: 6,878<br>-Points against: 6,873<br>-Offensive ranking: 14th<br>-Defensive ranking: 15th<br>-Seed: 9th
Considering the fact that Stephen Curry has missed 20 of the team’s 58 games (or just over a third of the season), being .500 actually feels like a success. The All-Star break giving him some extra recovery time is a plus too.
But there’s no real timeline for his return. The latest update has him being reevaluated for his leg injury after the break, which means the other Warriors might have to scrape and claw for wins for a while longer.
With 26.6 points, 6.0 threes and a 44.1 three-point percentage over his last five games, Klay Thompson seems up to the task, but Golden State has been outscored during his minutes in this stretch.
It might officially be time to start worrying about the defending champions’ play-in spot (the Portland Trail Blazers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers are all within striking distance).

Previous Rank: 12
Net Rating: -0.1
The Miami Heat closed out the pre-All-Star portion of their schedule with back-to-back losses to the Denver Nuggets and Brooklyn Nets, but they were without their starting backcourt (Kyle Lowry and Tyler Herro) for both of those contests.
If the All-Star break gives them enough rest to be back at full strength in a week, Miami could be a team to keep an eye on down the stretch.
When Lowry, Herro, Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo are all on the floor, Miami is plus-4.4 points per 100 possessions, with a 95th-percentile defense.

Previous Rank: 8
Net Rating: +0.3
All eyes figure to be on the Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving pairing after the All-Star break, but something peculiar is happening with Christian Wood in the meantime.
On the season, the Dallas Mavericks are plus-5.9 points per 100 possessions when Luka shares the floor with Wood, compared to plus-2.9 when Luka is without him.
So, why is Wood scrounging for minutes in a three-center rotation that includes JaVale McGee and Dwight Powell?
Christian Wood:<br><br>24.1 PTS, 10.8 REB, 2.4 AST, 2.4 3P, 1.6 BLK, 0.6 STL per 75 possessions, +5.4 rTS%, +0.4 EPM<br><br>Avg of Dwight Powell and JaVale McGee (with an adjustment for minutes):<br><br>14.2 PTS, 8.9 REB, 1.5 AST, 0.0 3P, 1.2 BLK, 1.1 STL per 75 possessions, +12.2 rTS%, -0.7 EPM
The cynical observer may wonder if Dallas (which infamously botched Jalen Brunson’s free agency) is worried about the kind of contract Wood might command this offseason.
The reality of the rest of 2022-23 may force the Mavs and coach Jason Kidd’s hand, though. Dallas is in play-in range, and if it wants to avoid that chaos, it might have to start playing Wood more consistently with Dončić and Kyrie.

Previous Rank: 10
Net Rating: +2.1
After a six-game winning streak in mid-January, the Sacramento Kings are below .500 over their last 13 games. And with a couple teams surging behind them (the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers), Sacramento’s third seed is now in jeopardy.
Wherever they finish, though, it feels like this season will be viewed as a rousing success (at least relative to the Kings’ history).
And unlike some of the aging rosters behind them in the standings, Sacramento’s is undoubtedly at the start of something.
Domantas Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter are 26, 25, 25 and 24, respectively. And 22-year-old rookie Keegan Murray is shooting a scorching 45.9 percent from deep since Dec. 1.

Previous Rank: 11
Net Rating: +2.0
Jalen Brunson may not be headed to Salt Lake City as an All-Star, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t played like one, especially recently.
Over his last 20 games, Brunson is putting up 29.6 points, 5.6 assists and 2.5 threes while shooting 46.2 percent from deep.
When he’s slotted alongside the right players, the New York Knicks look like a team that could make some real noise in the first round of the playoffs.
When Brunson shares the floor with RJ Barrett, the Knicks are minus-0.6 points per 100 possessions (45th percentile). They’re plus-11.2 (96th percentile) when Brunson plays with Immanuel Quickley.

Previous Rank: 9
Net Rating: +0.3
The Los Angeles Clippers were already starting to find a rhythm before acquiring Eric Gordon, Mason Plumlee and Bones Hyland ahead of the trade deadline, and all three have looked right at home in the rotation since then.
In Thursday’s win over the Phoenix Suns, Plumlee had six rebounds and three assists, Bones had nine points on 2-of-4 shooting and Gordon had 13 points, seven assists and two steals (including a swipe of Devin Booker late in the fourth that may have sealed the victory).
The extra scoring and playmaking from all three of those players should boost a second unit that’s been overtaxed for much of the season with all the time Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have missed.

Previous Rank: 7
Net Rating: +4.0
The Memphis Grizzlies are 3-1 in their last four and seem to be course-correcting a bit.
And even though Steven Adams has had a huge impact on the team’s plus/minus this season, it’s becoming clear that Jaren Jackson Jr. is the backbone of the league’s No. 2 defense.
Memphis allows 114.2 points per 100 possessions when JJJ is out of the game and just 104.9 when he’s in.

Previous Rank: 6
Net Rating: +5.8
The Cleveland Cavaliers lost a big matchup to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, but the vibes are trending up overall.
Prior to giving up some ground in the standings to Philly, Cleveland had won seven straight. It’s still second in the league in net rating.
While it took time to come together (Cleveland’s point differential is still better when Darius Garland is on the floor without Donovan Mitchell than it is when they’re together), the star backcourt appears to have found its rhythm heading into the All-Star break.
Cleveland is plus-6.9 points per 100 possessions when both play (compared to plus-7.2 with only Garland and plus-6.6 with only Mitchell), and they’re averaging a combined 49.0 points and 12.9 assists.

Previous Rank: 5
Net Rating: +1.5
The Phoenix Suns closed out the week with a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, but they hang onto their top-five spot in the power rankings on the back of a 5-2 record over their last seven and the eventual return of Kevin Durant.
Of course, it’s difficult to confidently analyze this team until KD returns, but it feels safe to assume he’ll assimilate as easily as he did with the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
And if that’s the case, this team is a ready-made title contender that should be able to win a shootout against just about anyone.

Previous Rank: 4
Net Rating: +4.0
After losing back-to-back games to the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics last week, the Philadelphia 76ers enter the All-Star break on a four-game winning streak capped off by a statement victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
The matchup ran off the same script that has worked for Philly several times this season. James Harden created and dished his way to a double-figures assist total, and Joel Embiid bullied his way to a double-digit free-throw total.
When the Sixers check both of those boxes (10-plus assists for Harden and 10-plus free-throw attempts for Embiid), they’re 10-5 on the year.

Previous Rank: 3
Net Rating: +4.5
Despite the absence of Jamal Murray (knee) for the last six games (and Aaron Gordon for the last three because of a rib injury), Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets just keep marching toward what is starting to feel like an inevitability.
After Wednesday’s victory over the Dallas Mavericks, Basketball Reference gives the Nuggets a 91.8 percent chance to finish first in the West.
And lest we grow numb to the increasingly normal production by Jokić (at least by his standards), it’s worth mentioning that not only is he averaging a triple-double, his 70.3 true shooting percentage is the highest ever in a 20-points-per-game season. Stephen Curry’s 67.5 in 2017-18 is second on that list.

Previous Rank: 2
Net Rating: +3.1
Giannis Antetokounmpo left Thursday’s road victory over the Chicago Bulls early with a hand injury, but he’d been on a tear before then.
Prior to Thursday, he’d been back from his last extended absence for 11 games, and his averages in those contests were bonkers: 37.2 points, 13.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists while shooting 58.4 percent from the field.
For perhaps the biggest “duh” take of this week’s power rankings, the Milwaukee Bucks are a very real threat to the Boston Celtics with this version of Giannis in action.

Previous Rank: 1
Net Rating: +6.2
The Boston Celtics have had occasional lulls, but they’ve held on to the best record and net rating in the NBA for most of this season.
And they showcased their depth in a way few other teams can this week.
With Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford all sitting Tuesday, Boston took the full-strength Milwaukee Bucks to overtime.
The Celtics eventually lost, but the game was on the road, and to varying degrees, all of Malcolm Brogdon, Derrick White, Grant Williams, Sam Hauser and Mike Muscala showed they can be trusted in big moments.
This team has been the best in the league on the strength of its stars, but depth (and the versatility that depth offers) is what makes it so scary.

When the Jazz unloaded Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell this past summer, there was some worry that the team hosting the All-Star Game wouldn’t have a representative.
But Lauri Markkanen put that to rest with a unique scoring profile.
Markkanen is 14th in the league in total dunks and ninth in total threes. Unsurprisingly, that makes him the only player in the league in the top 15 of both categories.
And now he’s an All-Star starter in the ever-competitive Western Conference.

As it does every year, the MVP race should get plenty of attention over the last third of the season, even if it’s looking increasingly clear that Nikola Jokić is on track for his third straight (he’s first in Bleacher Report‘s MVP rankings, Basketball Reference‘s MVP Tracker, NBA.com‘s MVP Ladder, ESPN‘s MVP straw poll and FanDuel’s betting odds).
But that’s not the only award that will come into sharper focus over the next several weeks.
Rookie of the Year going to Paolo Banchero seems like a given (even if advanced numbers may favor someone like Walker Kessler).
Jaren Jackson Jr. for Defensive Player of the Year and Malcolm Brogdon for Sixth Man of the Year have become fairly significant betting favorites, as well.
That leaves Most Improved Player, which is a virtual toss-up between Lauri Markkanen and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
And while SGA’s jump from 24.5 points to 30.8 is significant, most of his other basic numbers are relatively similar to last year’s (though his box plus/minus has more than doubled).
Markkanen, on the other hand has taken off in numerous categories.
It’s still too early to call, of course. And SGA deserves a ton of credit for going from great to a top-10 to -15 player. But this award may also be decided with time to spare.

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