NBA Power Rankings: Thunder rolling + Pulse check on stars

Welcome back to another installment of HoopsHype’s power rankings. Last time, we looked at a reason for hope for every squad, and before that, we looked at each team’s most promising young player.

But this is a superstar-driven league, so this time, I thought we’d take a quick pulse check on a star for each squad. Note: I’m still ordering teams based on a proprietary mix of past performance, forward projection, herbs, and spices; it’s more art than science, although now that we’re at the 25-game mark, the portion of science in it is steadily growing larger.

1. Oklahoma City

Pulse Check: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

It’s all groovy for SGA, having his third-straight 30-point season and seemingly destined for another Top 5 MVP finish (and he won’t be four or five). The most interesting change is that Gilgeous-Alexander has nearly doubled his three-point volume from last year (from 3.6 to 6.2 attempts per game), and while he is only shooting 34 percent on the year, it’s a weapon he’s become more comfortable using.

That’s bad news for the rest of the league because the Thunder already rolled with an arsenal befitting a Mad Max movie. They have a historically terrifying defense and a Top 10 offense, and they’re favorites to win the NBA Cup. The vibes in OKC are sublime.

2. Boston

Pulse Check: Jayson Tatum

The Celtics haven’t looked quite like the invincible juggernauts they were last season, but no one can blame Tatum. He’s increased his points, rebounds, assists, and steals from last season, and he’s both drawing more free throw attempts and shooting more threes, a paradoxical equation.

Boston has nothing left to prove in the regular season, so it’s encouraging to see Tatum, at least, still take it seriously.

3. Cleveland

Pulse Check: Donovan Mitchell

There’s been plenty of talk about Mitchell having a bit of a down year, but he’s playing exceptionally well for the team with the NBA’s best record. His counting stats are slightly depreciated by playing fewer minutes (32.0) than every player above him on the points-per-game list.

Mitchell’s defense is rock-solid, and he’s over 40 percent from deep for the first time in his career. Darius Garland’s resurgence and Evan Mobley’s emergence have taken some of the load off Mitchell’s shoulders. I have no complaints about his performance, and I bet the Cavs don’t, either.

4. Memphis

Pulse Check: Ja Morant

Morant has shown a little rust after missing nearly all last season and big chunks of this year with injury. While he’s struggled to find a shooting rhythm, the athleticism, burst, and skill that make him such a unique player still pop off the screen like he’s in an IMAX theater (even if he’s “not trying to dunk” anymore).

The team is barely better with Morant on the floor than off, but don’t take that as a knock on Morant. Instead, it’s a testament to coach Taylor Jenkins’ staff and their ability to create an offensive system that excels regardless of who is on the floor.

Morant’s season has been a roller-coaster, but the Grizz are, inevitably, second in the West. That’s a promising sign.

5. Dallas

Pulse Check: Luka Doncic

Doncic has quietly had a rather interesting year. The Mavericks are 16-9 and playing well, but Doncic hasn’t quite hit his stride yet. After a career year last year, Doncic’s efficiency has fallen everywhere. His three-pointer is below league average (34 percent), his free throw attempts are down nearly two per game from last season, and his two-point finishing is down nearly five points (albeit still quite good). He’s even averaging nearly two fewer assists per game than last season!

But that reduced offensive load has translated to better (if still sporadic) defensive effort, and Doncic is averaging more than two steals per game, which would be by far a career-high. Like Morant in Memphis, Dallas’s success despite a relatively down year from Doncic feels more promising than anything.

Doncic has looked sharper after a break for an injured wrist, and he’s rounding into game shape after missing the preseason. He dropped 45 points last night against the Warriors. I suspect he’ll be just fine.

6. Houston

Pulse Check: Alperen Sengun

Sengun has mostly righted himself after an ice-cold start that even led to some fourth-quarter benchings. Although the scoring remains inconsistent thanks to the Rockets’ immense depth, his rebounding and defense have never been better.

As detailed at The F5, Sengun has spent as much time defending guards as centers this season. When matched up with a non-shooter, Sengun can roam in the paint and stymie opponents’ rim attempts –  foes are shooting below 60 percent at the rim with Sengun on the floor, an elite mark.

7. New York

Pulse Check: Jalen Brunson

Brunson has tweaked his game to complement new teammates Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, and it has paid dividends for the Knicks as a whole.

Brunson is setting a career-high in assists (7.7 per game) and three-point percentage (43 percent), and he’s utilizing all the extra space on the court to attack the basket more than in his previous Knicks seasons. Although the raw scoring is down, it’s fair to say Brunson might be having a better overall season than last year, when he came in fifth in MVP voting.

The Knicks are one of the East’s top teams and boast an attack that trades places with the Boston Celtics nightly for the title of best offense. Brunson’s adjustment and snug fit next to Towns, in particular, are the driving reasons why.

8. Milwaukee

Pulse Check: Giannis Antetokounmpo

Nikola Jokic’s outrageous season and the Bucks’ early struggles have overshadowed the immense excellence Antetokounmpo has shown this year. He’s leading the league in scoring while shooting a career-best 61.4 percent from the field. He’s nearly entirely traded in his broken three-pointer for midrange jumpers, which he’s canning at DeMar DeRozan levels (46 percent!). And while the defense isn’t DPOY-worthy anymore, he’s still a well-above-average guardsman who can bring it when it matters.

The Bucks’ romp through the NBA Cup might be an inflection point. The team is 10-2 in their last 12, and they finally resemble the contender most expected them to be.

9. Minnesota

Pulse Check: Anthony Edwards

Another team that came into the season with high expectations, started slow, and picked it up of late, the Wolves have won six of their last seven. Edwards is carpet-bombing from deep, nailing 42 percent of his 10.3 triples per game on the season – of note, that’s both higher accuracy and higher volume than Steph Curry (until you adjust for minutes played, but it’s still a pretty wild comparison!).

Edwards had to adjust to the more cramped spacing with Julius Randle on the floor instead of Karl-Anthony Towns, and he’s finishing at career-worst levels, but he’s been so good from deep that his overall efficiency is still up.

10. Denver

Pulse Check: Nikola Jokic

At this point, what is there left to say? Think about how wild it is that Jokic is having the best season of his career after already winning three MVPs. His outrageous individual numbers and the Nuggets’ relative lack of team success will make MVP voters’ heads explode.

Jokic has an outside chance at the never-before-done NBA triple crown (leading the league in points, rebounds, and assists) while shooting more than 50 percent from long range. At this point, he has no offensive flaws. He’s even setting a career-high in steals and a career-low in fouls!

Yet again, Jokic is doing stuff we’ve never seen before. It’s up to the supporting cast and Denver’s front office to get him more help.

11. Phoenix

Pulse Check: Kevin Durant

LeBron’s incredible aging curve has overshadowed the fact that Durant has suffered multiple monstrous injuries in his career and is nearly the exact same player he was in his mid-20s. The Suns are 13-2 with Durant, including his return in last night’s win over the Jazz, and 1-9 without him.

He’s still an above-average defender and weakside rim protector. He’s still a lights-out shooter from everywhere (he’s just a hot free throw streak away from 50/40/90 yet again) and an unstoppable isolation scorer. He still takes one or two too many midranges at the expense of the three-point shot. Durant is Durant; Durant is eternal.

(Except for when he’s hurt.)

12. Miami

Pulse check: Jimmy Butler

For all the negative publicity the Heat have garnered after an inconsistent and ugly start, and for all the trade rumors that Butler’s camp may or may not be starting, the veteran forward is quietly having the second-most efficient season of his prosperous career.

As detailed at Simply Ballin, Butler has slowly but steadily become more of a hybrid on/off-ball player, and his usage rate is the lowest it’s been in a decade.

Thanks to a cupcake schedule, improved play, and the weakness of the East, Miami miraculously finds itself in fifth place and with some momentum. If Butler continues to thrive and the team keeps winning, don’t expect Miami to trade him just for fun.

13. Atlanta

Pulse Check: Trae Young

Young’s surface-level stats are confusing. He’s setting a career high with a league-leading 12.1 assists per game, but he’s also scoring at the lowest level since his rookie year (just 21.5 points nightly). His three-point shooting has never been worse, yet the Hawks themselves are better and more exciting than they’ve been since their 2021 Cinderella run through the Eastern Conference.

It feels like Atlanta is playing well because of Trae Young, but despite Young’s scoring woes. The Hawks might be a legitimate dark horse if he can find his scoring touch once more.

Regardless, watching Young do his thing is electrifying, particularly when he’s rolling dice on opponents’ floors. The league needs characters; whether you like him or not, Young is overflowing with personality and swagger.

14. Golden State

Pulse Check: Stephen Curry

Age is slowly catching up with Curry, who’s averaging his fewest points per game and possession in a decade (excluding his five-game 2019-2020 season).

He’s lacing 41 percent of his three-pointers on extremely high volume (although it is down a tick) and diming up teammates at a very high rate (6.7 assists per game). He still bends defenses like psychics bend spoons. But Curry needs help; there’s a reason the Warriors have been invoked in trade talks for every high-profile player of note.

15. Orlando

Pulse Check: Obliques

First, Paolo Banchero tore his oblique after an exceedingly promising five-game start. Then, Franz Wagner tore his oblique after stepping up to the plate and carrying the offensive burden for a rabid group of defensive-minded Magicians.

We’ll see if Orlando can pull another trick by cobbling together enough offense to survive without their two stars. The good news: At 17-10 and on the third rung in the East, the Magic might still be a Top 6 seed by the time Banchero returns (hopefully within the next few weeks), but they have to eke out at least a couple of victories during a tough upcoming schedule stretch.

16. LA Clippers

Pulse Check: James Harden

As expected, it’s been a pretty weird year for Harden! Not many players in the league have as large a disconnect between the advanced stats, which place him as an All-Star force, and the raw numbers, which show someone with near-league-worst FG% (38 percent!) and turnovers (4.6 per game).

But he’s back to drawing loads of free throws, dropping perfect pocket passes in the pick-and-roll, and playing surprisingly effective D (even if his strategy mostly consists of lumbering around and slapping at people) for the bulldog Clippers, who are currently in the thick of the playoff race in a crowded Western Conference.

Harden is simultaneously overperforming and overtaxed. But at the very least, he’s helped make the Clippers one of the most sneaky-fun League Pass teams for NBA sickos.

17. LA Lakers

Pulse Check: Anthony Davis

Like nearly everyone else on the Lakers, Davis had been in a slump since a blistering start. The team had been 3-7 in its last 10, and he was averaging just 21 points on 46 percent shooting from the field. But a monster win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday night, featuring a 40-burger for Davis, put this team back on the right path.

Davis is having an All-NBA season, and the Lakers need every ounce of his talent. At the beginning of the year, we saw that Davis still has it; last night suggests he patted his coat pockets and discovered where he left it.

18. San Antonio

Pulse Check: Victor Wembanyama

Wembanyama’s perimeter-focused game this season has drawn its fair share of criticism but sort of misses the point. The 20-year-old is sharpening his skills in a trial by fire. Even if his offensive role is suboptimal for the current moment, San Antonio is laser-focused on the long game. On the other end, Wemby is the deserving frontrunner for Defensive Player of the Year, even as fans can see him still growing on that end in real-time.

At 13-13 in a brutal Western Conference, the Spurs are already outperforming expectations and may make the play-in this season.

19. Sacramento

Pulse Check: DeMar DeRozan

DeRozan is doing what he does every year: scoring with efficiency, canning midrangers, and faking younger players out of their Christmas-colored shoes. The Kings are better with him on the floor, particularly on offense, where they sport the league’s seventh-ranked rating.

At 13-13, though, the Kings rank as a mild disappointment. This is more or less precisely what critics of the DeRozan trade feared would happen. Sacramento went from one of the three-point-happiest teams in the league to one of the saddest. The defense is worse with DeRozan on the floor, and directly or not, his presence seems to be negatively impacting promising youngster Keegan Murray.

The Kings haven’t been bad, exactly. They’ve just felt like a team with a very low ceiling, which is exactly the opposite of what they hoped for when trading for DeRozan. It’s hard to say he’s the culprit given the Kings’ meh-ness last season, too, but at the least, he hasn’t been a needle-budger.

20. Indiana

Pulse Check: Tyrese Haliburton

Haliburton had a truly horrific start to the season, but he may have found his rhythm. In his last 10 games, he’s averaging 22 points and shooting 41 percent from deep, even sprinkling in a couple of excellent performances on the road, where he’d been terrible to begin the year.

Haliburton has been hampered by back and leg ailments, but if he’s found his rhythm, it’s only a matter of time before Indiana starts charging up the East standings.

21. Chicago

Pulse Check: Zach LaVine

Trade season has officially opened, and LaVine’s name will certainly be floating around the aether. The oft-injured Bulls wing has decisively answered questions about his health to this point, as he’s averaging nearly 22 points per game on silly 50/43/80 percent shooting splits.

Who knows if the Bulls actually will pull the trigger on dealing the 29-year-old, but LaVine’s done the best he can to rebuild some trade value.

22. Charlotte

Pulse Check: LaMelo Ball

Ball was having a breakout season until a calf strain – he’s hoping to return as soon as today.

Ball is third in the league in scoring with 31.1 points per game, and he’s launching an absurd number of three-pointers. 13.1 per game is two more than second place, his teammate Brandon Miller. They aren’t your typical threes, either. LaMelo will shoot them running off one leg, with feet and elbows pointing in different directions like gnarled tree branches.

The Hornets’ backcourt duo hasn’t reached the Splash Brothers’ accuracy yet, but they’re putting up unprecedented volume. Something interesting is brewing in Charlotte; if Ball could just stay healthy, the Hornets might start surprising teams.

23. Detroit

Pulse Check: Cade Cunningham

I was legitimately worried about Cade Cunningham after his first three seasons, but it turns out that a healthy offseason and a real, dedicated coach make a world of difference (who could have guessed?). His shooting has improved both on the catch (an excellent 42 percent) and off the dribble, and he’s dramatically improved his defense and rebounding while dishing 9.3 assists per game.

For more Pistons coverage, I just wrote a monster profile on Cunningham and how he can bridge the gap between star and superstar.

24. Brooklyn

Pulse Check: Cam Thomas

Thomas was one of the more polarizing players in the league last year (at least, for those watching what happened in Brooklyn). But before a hamstring injury paused his season, Thomas had leveled up. Despite taking some of the more difficult shots in the league, Thomas had become a legitimately efficient scoring engine (and also averaged a respectable 3.4 assists per game; there’s room for improvement there, but he’s trending the right way). 39 percent on 7.4 triples per game proves he’s more than just a midrange chucker.

It’s hard to know what to make of the Nets when we don’t even know who will be on the team in a few months (sayonara, Dennis Schroeder!), but Thomas, at least, has continued to improve, and he’s been a big part of why the Nets have been so feisty despite themselves.

25. Toronto

Pulse Check: Scottie Barnes

Barnes continues to evolve as a playmaker. He currently has the 11th-highest assist rate in the entire league, per Cleaning the Glass, and Ben Simmons, LeBron James, and Nikola Jokic are the only non-guards above him.

Barnes is also having the best two-point shooting season of his career, thanks to a big jump in efficiency from floater range. Although he’s struggled to stay on the court (Barnes rolled his ankle a week ago and will miss a couple more weeks), he has shown incremental improvement in his time on the court.

There are a lot of interesting pieces in Toronto; it would be great if we could see them on the court together at some point.

26. Philadelphia

Pulse Check: Sadness

Sadness, unfortunately, is flourishing in the city of Brotherly Love. Joel Embiid had finally returned to the court only to fracture his sinus, another blow in what’s truly been a historically unlucky run of facial injuries.

That and rookie sensation Jared McCain’s torn meniscus (an injury I just incurred playing ball as well; I literally feel McCain’s pain) have murdered whatever tiny breeze of hope was still flapping Philly’s sails.

It’s hard to see the team tanking on purpose to keep its top-five protected pick, but at this rate, they might not have to try to lose games to be in the running for Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, and Ace Bailey.

27. Portland

Pulse Check: Scoot Henderson

Last year’s No. 3 pick hasn’t had the sophomore campaign that Blazers loyalists yearned for.

There are glimmers of hope. His two-point finishing has improved from a ghastly 41.6 percent to a still-bad 46.7 percent, thanks to an eight-point improvement at the rim. The passing still pops. Turnovers are slightly down, and anecdotally, I’d like to say his defense has improved a little.

But man, I really wanted to see more from Henderson. He’s coming off the bench now and playing far more against backups, and he still can’t impose his will upon the game in any fashion. True, the ecosystem around him is bad, with very little shooting and questionable coaching, and he can’t legally buy a beer yet. No one is writing him off, but this is a pulse check; the pulse is faint.

28. Utah

Pulse Check: John Collins

Surprise! You probably expected Lauri Markkanen in this spot, but Collins has arguably been the team’s best player this season. Collins and Markkanen are averaging about the same number of points, but Collins is doing so as an unexpected member of the 50/40/90 club.

Collins is also averaging a career high in assists with 2.7 (players posting career-best marks under coach Will Hardy is a common trend).

With a player option for next year, Collins is putting forth his best effort to secure a longer-term commitment in the summer, whether from Utah or someone else.

29. New Orleans

Pulse Check: Brandon Ingram

To some extent, Ingram was doing what was asked of him. He’d been shooting far more threes (6.4 per game would be a career-high) and fewer midranges until a nasty ankle sprain sidelined him indefinitely.

The injury complicates Ingram's already muddled future. He recently fired his representation and hired Klutch Sports to (presumably) facilitate a trade to another team.

But any team taking on the injury-prone Ingram will need to commit big moolah to re-sign him, and right now, there don’t seem to be many takers. I can’t even fathom what a deal for Ingram, either transactional or financial, would look like right now.

30. Washington

Pulse Check: Jordan Poole

Don’t look now, but Poole is playing some of the best ball of his career. 20 points, 39 percent on eight attempts from downtown, and career-highs in steals and assists. He’s been Washington’s best player by a mile (a low bar, but still!).

Has it driven winning? Of course not. The Wizards routinely start multiple rookies and a second-year player; this team was built to lose. But after last season’s debacle, it’s a relief to see the return of Golden State Poole. 

For more from Mike Shearer, check out his best-selling Substack, Basketball Poetry, for leaguewide coverage twice a week. Do it!

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: NBA Power Rankings: Thunder rolling + Pulse check on stars