NBA Opening Week Power Rankings

The banner goes up tonight, and so does the target. New York won 13 straight playoff games to claim its first title since 1973, and the championship core returns. The only cloud is Karl-Anthony Towns' tabled extension talks — champions open first until somebody knocks them off.

The league's best record last season (64-18) and a Western Conference finals run, with Cason Wallace now locked up for five years and $139 million. The Thunder don't rebuild — they reload in place.

62-20 and a West finals run built around Victor Wembanyama. San Antonio's window isn't coming — it's open, and tonight's finals rematch with Oklahoma City is the season's first argument about it.

The summer's biggest swing: a fired GM, Jaylen Brown pried out of Boston, and LeBron James signed in July — around Maxey, Edgecombe and Embiid, with USA Today projecting 62-20. The wager: Embiid has played 96 of a possible 246 games since 2023. Ceiling: the Finals. Floor: the play-in. Nobody owns a wider range.

Denver closed last season on a 12-game winning streak and still employs Nikola Jokić. Momentum plus the world's best player is a fine place to start a season.

Sixty wins and the East's top seed — and the sixth spot here, because the banner hangs in New York, not Detroit. The Pistons own the league's biggest regular-season résumé and something left to prove when the games turn single-elimination.

52-30 and a top-four East seed — plus a front office that watched Mike Gansey leave to run Philadelphia's rebuild. The Cavaliers' core keeps them a tier below the loudest teams and ahead of everyone else.

Boston won 56 games, then traded Jaylen Brown to Philadelphia in the summer's stealthiest blockbuster — Paul George came back the other way, and Jayson Tatum, active through the preseason, is the unquestioned centerpiece now. A 56-win team that chose a new identity.

Forty-three wins — and then Giannis Antetokounmpo arrived. His preseason debut in a Heat uniform is the single biggest roster change in the league, and it moved Miami's ceiling more than anyone's.

Life after LeBron begins with Luka Dončić as the undisputed centerpiece of a 53-win team, Collin Sexton added to the backcourt. The Lakers didn't rebuild this summer — they handed over the keys.

52-30, young, deep and ahead of schedule. Houston's problem is geography: the three teams at the top of the West all live in its half of the bracket.

Anthony Edwards and a 49-win team that keeps knocking on the door of the West's top tier. Too good to ignore, one leap from terrifying.

46-36 and a playoff seed, built without a single summer headline. Toronto's quiet competence is a feature — until the spring asks for a star.

The same 46-36 as Toronto and the same tier: the East's firmest resident of the middle, which is either stability or a ceiling. This season decides which.

45-37 with one of the East's youngest cores. Orlando's defense travels; the offense decides whether this is the year they stop being a nice story.

45 wins and the West's last playoff seed. Top-heavy and dangerous in any given week — and one bad month from the play-in line.

Charlotte just made Brandon Miller the highest-paid Hornet ever — five years, $209 million — after a 44-38 season. The Hornets are done being a punchline. Now they have to be a problem.

A winning record and a playoff seed from one of the league's youngest rotations. Portland's arrow points up, even if this spring arrives early.

The same 42-40 as Portland, the opposite direction of travel: a veteran team whose window narrows every month it doesn't win big.

37-45 says the era is a memory. Stephen Curry — a full participant in Monday's practice and expected to play Wednesday against the Lakers after an ankle scare — says not so fast. While he plays, the Warriors stay dangerous on any given night.

The Giannis era is over, ended by a trade to Miami after a 32-50 season. Milwaukee starts over from the league's lower third.

31-51, and no summer swing changed the story. The Bulls remain the league's longest-running argument about the difference between competing and contending.

26-56. New Orleans has spent years collecting talent that rarely shares the floor; a new season is another chance to learn whether this is finally the year.

The post-Dončić reality is 26-56 and a long climb back. Dallas opens in the West's bottom tier with more questions than rotation spots.

25-57 — but Cameron Boozer, the No. 3 pick in June's draft, is now a Grizzly. Memphis opens low with the league's most interesting reason to watch a rebuild.

22-60, and no top-of-the-draft rescue arrived this summer. Sacramento's reset is lagging the rest of the West's rebuilds.

The same 22-60 as Sacramento — and then Utah landed Darryn Peterson, the No. 2 pick. The Jazz are rebuilding on purpose and are suddenly fascinating.

20-62. Brooklyn's rebuild is measured in future assets rather than current wins, and opening night is too early to grade it — but somebody has to rank 28th.

19-63, the East's second-worst record. Indiana opens the season with a roster — and a fan base — both waiting to hear the plan.

The league's worst record (17-65) now employs its most-watched rookie: AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 pick. Washington ranks last on results — and first in reasons to check back in January.