2026-27 NBA Power Rankings: Knicks Open at No. 1 as New Season Begins

Sacramento won only 22 games last season and has since moved on from DeMar DeRozan while continuing to transition toward a younger direction. Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine provide recognizable talent, but this roster does not yet offer enough defensive reliability or long-term clarity to escape the bottom spot. The Kings begin the year with considerably more questions than answers.

Trading Giannis Antetokounmpo officially closed the most successful era of modern Bucks basketball. Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kel'el Ware give Milwaukee some worthwhile pieces, but replacing a franchise-defining superstar is not something accomplished in one summer. The Bucks may eventually turn their return into the foundation of something interesting; right now, they are rebuilding.

Brooklyn should be better after adding Julius Randle, Keon Ellis and Moritz Wagner, and there are enough young players here to make the season productive. That doesn't make the Nets good yet. They won 20 games last season and still lack the kind of foundational star capable of changing every matchup. Improvement is realistic. Contention is not.

There is legitimate intrigue here. Nic Claxton provides the defensive anchor Chicago has lacked, while Norman Powell and Buddy Hield add shooting and veteran scoring. The Bulls also have young players worth developing, but after a 31-win season, there is still a considerable distance between interesting and dangerous. They need the young core to accelerate the timeline.

The Pelicans are largely betting on internal improvement after a 26-win season. Bennedict Mathurin gives them another scorer, and the roster contains enough young talent to become annoying quickly if health cooperates. But New Orleans has spent too many seasons operating in the land of theoretical upside. At some point, possibility has to become production.

This is a completely different organization than the one that entered last season. Kawhi Leonard is gone. Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, Rui Hachimura and Max Strus are among the incoming pieces, but the Clippers are also dealing with the organizational fallout from the Leonard investigation and the loss of significant future draft capital. There is enough veteran talent to compete. There is not enough stability to rank them much higher.

As long as Stephen Curry is playing basketball, putting Golden State this low feels uncomfortable. The concern is everything around him. The Warriors won only 37 games last season, and an aging roster has increasingly narrow margins for injury and decline. Kristaps Porziņģis and Al Horford provide size and experience, but both add to the availability questions rather than solving them. Curry can still make us look foolish. The roster makes it difficult to bet on him doing so for six months.

The Ja Morant era is over. Memphis responded by adding Jerami Grant, Isaiah Stewart and additional depth around a young group that now has an opportunity to establish a different identity. The frontcourt could eventually become excellent. The immediate concern is shot creation. Without Morant, there is no obvious answer when an opponent forces Memphis to manufacture offense late in the clock.

Charlotte's 44-win breakthrough would normally justify considerable optimism. Then the Hornets traded LaMelo Ball. Naz Reid, Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale and additional veteran depth provide a more balanced roster, while Brandon Miller and Kon Knueppel remain important pieces. But losing the engine of what had become one of basketball's better offenses creates an enormous unknown. Charlotte's floor may remain respectable. Its ceiling became much harder to identify.

No team near the bottom is more interesting. Washington has accelerated aggressively after winning only 17 games, bringing established talent into a roster that also contains some of the league's most intriguing young players. The Wizards should no longer be an automatic win. Whether that translates into meaningful postseason contention immediately is a different question.

Year 2 of Cooper Flagg should be considerably different from Year 1. Kyrie Irving is back, Zaccharie Risacher adds another major young piece and Dallas has accumulated enough skill to make a Play-In push realistic. The defense and frontcourt health remain concerns, particularly with Dereck Lively II working his way back. Dallas has upside. It also has too many variables to rank higher yet.

Utah still finished near the bottom of the West last season, but Jaren Jackson Jr., Lauri Markkanen, Keyonte George, Ace Bailey and Darryn Peterson create a collection of talent that should no longer be treated like a traditional rebuilding roster. The Jazz need to defend better and move the basketball more consistently. But the talent is beginning to demand results.

Damian Lillard and Ja Morant together sounds like something somebody built on a video game. Now Portland has to make it work. The Blazers already won 42 games last season, Deni Avdija has developed into a major offensive piece, and the roster has legitimate rim protection. Morant raises the ceiling dramatically if he and Lillard can coexist defensively and offensively. This could look brilliant. It could also become one of the league's strangest experiments.

Phoenix quietly won 45 games last season and now has to prove it wasn't a one-year surprise. Devin Booker remains the foundation, while Miles Bridges and Luke Kennard add more offense around him. The Suns have enough talent to return to the postseason, but the West provides very few nights where merely being competent is enough. Phoenix belongs in the middle until it proves otherwise.

The Hawks may be much more difficult to score against. Jalen Johnson emerged as the franchise centerpiece last season, and Atlanta added Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Dorian Finney-Smith to a group that already has Dyson Daniels. That is a serious collection of perimeter defense. The question is whether the offense has enough creation when games slow down. If it does, No. 16 will be temporary.

Orlando is one of the hardest teams on this list to place. Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner provide legitimate top-end talent, and Nikola Vučević gives the Magic another offensive option in the frontcourt. The defense should remain good enough to keep them competitive every night. The concern remains familiar: can Orlando consistently create efficient half-court offense against strong teams? Until the answer becomes yes, the Magic remain stuck near the middle.

Tyrese Haliburton changes everything. Indiana endured a disastrous 19-win season without him, but its franchise point guard returns to an organization that reached the NBA Finals only two seasons ago. Kelly Oubre Jr. and Larry Nance Jr. add useful veteran depth, and the Pacers should immediately become more functional offensively. The ranking is cautious because we need to see Haliburton handle a full workload again. The ceiling is much higher than 14th.

LeBron James is gone. Luka Dončić isn't. That distinction keeps Los Angeles firmly in the playoff conversation. Dončić won another scoring title last season, Austin Reaves has become a legitimate No. 2 option, and the Lakers rebuilt around them with Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, Matisse Thybulle and additional depth. The roster may ultimately fit Luka better. It also has to replace LeBron James. Both things can be true.

Kawhi Leonard is back in Toronto. That sentence alone changes expectations. The Raptors won 46 games before acquiring him, and Scottie Barnes gives Leonard the kind of versatile two-way partner capable of reducing his workload during the regular season. Toronto surrendered Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick, so this isn't simply an addition without cost. Everything depends on Leonard's availability. If he's healthy in April, nobody will want this matchup.

Minnesota made perhaps the most fascinating fit gamble of the summer. LaMelo Ball now joins Anthony Edwards in a backcourt overflowing with offensive creativity, while Jonathan Kuminga replaces some of the size lost when Julius Randle and Naz Reid departed. Ball could make Edwards' life significantly easier. The defensive cost of the overhaul is the reason Minnesota begins just outside the top 10.

Sixty wins deserve respect. Detroit posted the best record in the Eastern Conference last season and reinforced the roster with John Collins, Isaiah Joe and Taurean Prince. Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson remain young enough that simple internal improvement could make the Pistons even better. The skepticism comes from the postseason. Regular-season excellence has been established. Now Detroit has to prove its offense can withstand playoff pressure.

Nikola Jokić remains the easiest reason in basketball to believe in a team. Denver added DeMar DeRozan to a core still featuring Jokić, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon. That should provide another half-court scorer for the minutes when Denver's offense becomes too dependent on its three-time MVP. Depth remains the question. Jokić remains the answer to most others.

Cleveland won 52 games and reached the Eastern Conference Finals before being swept by New York. Donovan Mitchell and James Harden remain a formidable offensive pairing, while Peyton Watson gives the Cavaliers needed size and athleticism on the wing. The offseason cost them some depth, but this is still a team capable of producing one of the league's best offenses. The regular season isn't the test anymore. Cleveland needs playoff answers.

Trading Jaylen Brown would knock almost any team much further down this board. Boston is not almost any team. Jayson Tatum returns to reclaim undisputed ownership of the franchise, while Paul George, Mitchell Robinson and Mike Conley join a system that has ranked among the NBA's best on both ends for years. There are legitimate age and availability concerns. There is also too much infrastructure here to predict a collapse.

Houston already won 52 games. Now Fred VanVleet is back, Marcus Smart joins the backcourt and Kevin Durant, Amen Thompson and Alperen Şengün remain at the heart of a roster capable of overwhelming teams physically. The Rockets' first-round exit exposed offensive limitations. They spent the offseason attacking exactly that problem. This is a legitimate Western Conference contender.

Miami did not add another star. Miami added Giannis Antetokounmpo. That changes the scale of everything. Giannis joins Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson and Bobby Portis on a roster that should be enormous, physical and miserable to attack in the postseason. There are legitimate questions about perimeter creation and shooting. There are fewer questions about what happens when Giannis reaches the paint. Miami immediately belongs in the championship conversation.

There may not be a more fascinating roster in basketball. Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe are now joined by Jaylen Brown and LeBron James, with Anfernee Simons, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Dean Wade strengthening the rotation. If everyone is healthy, the Sixers can win the championship. The phrase if everyone is healthy is also why they aren't No. 1.

The Thunder won 64 games last season and remain built around reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. They did lose real depth. Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins are significant departures, particularly for a team whose identity has been built around waves of athletic defenders and shooting. But the core remains young, elite and championship-tested. The 2025 champions aren't going anywhere.

The Spurs came within four victories of a championship—and may be more dangerous now. Victor Wembanyama, De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper give San Antonio an absurd collection of size, creation and youth, while Tobias Harris adds another dependable veteran to a team that already won 62 games. The Finals loss looked less like an ending than an introduction.

The champions keep the crown until somebody takes it. New York did not finish first in the East during the regular season. It simply became almost unbeatable when the games mattered most, going 16-3 in the postseason and defeating San Antonio in five games to win its first championship since 1973. Jalen Brunson is now a Finals MVP. Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby and the rest of the championship core return. Until New York provides evidence that the championship run was temporary, the road to No. 1 still goes through Madison Square Garden.