NBA Power Rankings: Celtics, 76ers and the biggest riser and fallers after the first week of free agency

Ah, my beloved NBA Power Rankings. Ever fluctuating like temperature of my room in the summer, the glow of my faulty lightbulb, the reliability of my friend Jeff to bring snacks to the watch party. You think you're safe with your number 13 rankings and then WHAM! All the way down to 24.

That doesn't mean that there isn't nuance, though, nuance I have taken steps to explain. Yes, the Los Angeles Clippers fell 11 spots, but I also think they're in a better long term position than they were with Kawhi Leonard. We have had major action in the NBA since our last installment, with superstars flying around like bottle rockets and free agent overpays becoming a form of high art. There's something for everyone in these here Power Rankings, and to make sure everyone is caught up, we've included the most significant moves each team has made since they were last ranked. Some moves were not mentioned for brevity, if you were wondering why the Ariel Hukporti 76ers deal was not explicitly mentioned. Let's rock!

1. Oklahoma City Thunder (previous rank: 1)

• Biggest moves: drafted Aday Mara, re-signed Isaiah Hartenstein
• How do we feel about those moves?: Solid stuff

The Thunder are going to have to do flips — backflips and frontflips, maybe even some sideways flips — to keep the most competitive version of this team out there as everyone gets expensive all at once. Some timely trades to maximize roster spots and some big-man insurance is never a bad idea.

2. San Antonio Spurs (previous rank: 3)

• Biggest moves: signed Tobias Harris, re-signed Julain Champagnie
• How do we feel about those moves?: Some more solid stuff

How did I get here? I’m a Tobias Harris believer now? Really? The Spurs have an excellent team that just got more excellent at the wing, and Harris the role player beats the heck out of Harris the second-option, which was a disaster in Philadelphia.

3. New York Knicks (previous rank: 2)

• Biggest moves: lost Mitchell Robinson in free agency, drafted Jayden Quintance
• How do we feel about those moves?: Tough beat but necessary

Owner James Dolan apparently mandated that the Knicks stay under the second apron, which is cool and all but it is eventually going to cost you valuable pieces. Plain and simple, New York could not pay Robinson and is now looking at the Andre Drummond backup center experience. There are worse experiences, but it’s a major downgrade.

4. Minnesota Timberwolves (previous rank: 5)

• Biggest moves: traded Naz Reid and picks for LaMelo Ball, traded Julius Randle, extended Ayo Dosunmu
• How do we feel about those moves?: I mean, they got better … but at what cost?

I’m already on the record as despising this trade for Minnesota: it nukes their optionality and ties them to a player who has hardly proven his reliability and still makes maddening decisions on offense. They also lost a ton of size in the two trades and now have three guards of their best four players. It’s a major risk, but talent in vs. talent out? They got better.

5. Los Angeles Lakers (previous rank: 6)

• Biggest moves: traded four firsts/swaps for Walker Kessler, re-signed Austin Reaves, lost LeBron James in free agency
• How do we feel about those moves?: They got better … but at what—wait, WHAT cost?

As far as 35-minute rebuilds go, this is the American Express version. Don’t think about how much it costs, just tap the card, don’t worry about it, we’re all good. Quentin Grimes and Sandro Mamukelashveli got serious guaranteed money for not a lot of guaranteed buckets, and I simply cannot believe they gave up that much for Kessler, who played (get this) five games last year. But they got younger and they got better. In a power rankings environment, later picks aren’t as important.

6. Boston Celtics (previous rank: 4)

• Biggest moves: traded Jaylen Brown for Paul George and picks, extended Neemias Queta, signed Mitchell Robinson
• How do we feel about those moves?: (brace for impact) On balance, good

Boston set the internet (and my Celtics fan group chats) ablaze with this trade, but after parsing the parameters for a few days it doesn’t look as bad as it felt on impact. Brown is almost certainly an overrated player among the public, and Boston canvassed the league for offers — this was the best they could have done for a player they had already decided was not in their long term plans. Along with a great big man pickup and a decent deal on Queta, this offseason might feel bad, but it’s not necessarily going that bad.

7. Philadelphia 76ers (previous rank: 18)

• Biggest moves: traded for Jaylen Brown (see above), signed Anfernee Simons and Dean Wade
• How do we feel about those moves?: They jumped 11 spots what do you want me to say?

If not now, when? Philadelphia traded their 2028 Clippers pick in the deal, their most valuable single draft asset, and have managed, somehow someway, to get more expensive despite my previous writings on how gosh dang expensive they were. If Brown really is a colossally overpaid star-but-not-superstar like the Celtics are betting, it is going to hit Philly like a ton of bricks. In the second-apron era, this is more of a gamble than it may seem.

8. Toronto Raptors (previous rank: 12)

• Biggest move: traded Brandon Ingram, picks for Kawhi Leonard
• How do we feel about this move?: Money in the bank

If you get a call offering to massively upgrade your team with one of the most efficient and analytically effective (Jaylen Brown reference potentially intended) players in league history with Leonard coming off the best season of his career, call it in. I know he’s old and injury prone, but it’s not like Brandon Ingram was going to be a part of this team long term, and the Raptors surrendered exactly zero important young players in the deal. Leonard joins a defensive-minded team that is going to be such a pain to play against. 

9. Detroit Pistons (previous rank: 7)

• Biggest moves: signed John Collins, traded for Isaiah Joe, lost Tobias Harris in free agency
• How do we feel about those moves?: Do not like
  

Society has progressed past the need for thinking John Collins is a difference maker. After a decent season in Utah in 2025, Collins regressed massively back to earth, and I’d much rather have just re-signed Harris. The Joe deal is easy money, though, since the Thunder had to do that and Detroit basically got him for free.

10. Cleveland Cavaliers (previous rank: 9)

• Biggest moves: erm … like, working on a James Harden extension? Might sign LeBron James?
• How do we feel about this lack of moves?: Bad

Cleveland not even being the favorite to sign James is a huge issue for a team that just flamed out spectacularly in the Eastern Conference Finals and whose solution appears to be “run it back but this time without Dean Wade.” That would not be my strategy, personally.

11. Denver Nuggets (previous rank: 8)

• Biggest moves: uh …
• How do we feel about this lack of moves?: Also bad

Denver’s plan, apparently, is to potentially re-sign Peyton Watson and then just go digging around for scraps since they don’t have any cash to splash. But they also might just do effectively nothing, lose some rotation players and just burn another year of Nikola Jokic’s career. That might be a little dramatic.  

12. Miami Heat (previous rank: 23)

• Biggest moves: traded Tyler Herro, many more things for Giannis Antetokounmpo, re-signed Andrew Wiggins
• How do we feel about those moves?: 11 spot jump is as good as you’re going to get 

This team, minus Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo and Wiggins, is basically not an NBA-level roster. And when “Adebayo” and “Wiggins” make up two spots on your team-gutting big three, going from 23 to 12 on the list is about as glowing an endorsement as I can give you. They got Giannis, turning a messed-up, rudderless situation into a win. Don’t hate, appreciate.

13. Charlotte Hornets (previous rank: 16)

• Biggest moves: traded LaMelo Ball for Naz Reid and picks, traded Miles Bridges for Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale
• How do we feel about those moves?: Excellently

Charlotte now has arguably the best single cache of assets in the entire Eastern Conference, and they offloaded a star player for a steep price to a desperate team. Usually, when you’re trading with the desperate team, you come out looking pretty good. The question, now, is how long until the Hornets flip the switch? They have assets, young players and a trajectory. So when do we click launch?

14. Houston Rockets (previous rank: 10)

• Biggest moves: signed Marcus Smart, re-signed Tari Eason
• How do we feel about those moves?: Really? That’s it?

My opinion on this team during the playoffs pretty much became “trade everyone,” but I guess signing an aging Marcus Smart and giving Tari Eason a five-year deal also works. It was too obvious that Houston would just run it back with tweaks rather than blow it up, but unless we see major development out of their young players, we’ll be at the same table having the same conversations a year from now.

15. Portland Trail Blazers (previous rank: 15)

• Biggest moves: traded for Ja Morant, re-signed Robert Williams III
• How do we feel about those moves?: I’m ready for anything

The Grizzlies managing to trade Ja Morant without attaching a pick is a serious achievement, and the Trail Blazers are betting on talent with more baggage than the suitcase section of a T.J. Maxx. The Blazers also now have more point guards than even the most devoted point guard enthusiasts, so they will have to make some form of trade before this season gets going.

16. Atlanta Hawks (previous rank: 11)

• Biggest moves: traded for Aaron Wiggins, re-signed CJ McCollum
• How do we feel about those moves?: Not their fault they fell five spots

This is one of those “wait and see” teams that didn’t need a big splash. They kinda just got naturally passed by more aggressive teams while keeping their powder dry, and there’s plenty of room for improvement on a team I’ve been very clear about liking. They took two games off the champs. Anyone else take two games off the champs? 

17. Utah Jazz (previous rank: 20)

• Biggest moves: drafted Darryn Peterson, re-signed Yusuf Nurkic
• How do we feel about those moves?: #PetersonShouldHaveBeenNumberOne

This is a risky flag to plant, but I believe that Peterson was the best player in the draft and that Utah has a future superstar ready to take center stage. Peterson moves like the elite of the elite, and I generally sleep on narrative-based criticisms like “he’s not competitive enough” or “is he really a leader” until I have big league evidence that it’ll be a problem (see: Deandre Ayton).

18. Orlando Magic (previous rank: 14)

• Biggest moves: signed Nikola Vucevic? Does that even count?
• How do we feel about this relative lack of moves?: Terribly

I have to include Vucevic because he’s technically a former All-Star, but he took a major discount to come back home for what I can only presume is his retirement tour. He sucked on the Celtics at the end of last season, and it is looking so beyond over for Vuc as a real difference maker in this league. So that leaves … no other moves. Nothing.

19. Washington Wizards (previous rank: 22)

• Biggest moves: extended Trae Young, drafted AJ Dybantsa
• How do we feel about those moves?: You can only hate for so long

Yeah, Trae Young got massively overpaid, yeah, we don’t know what’s what with Anthony Davis, yeah yeah yeah. But this team has serious talent and the ability to be something, anything more than what they have been for most of their team history: abjectly terrible. I am tempted to knock them down for just … being the Wizards, but they are running out of excuses.

20. Indiana Pacers (previous rank: 17)

• Biggest moves: signed Kelly Oubre Jr. 
• How do we feel about this move?: Life comes at your fast

The Pacers were the darling dark horse in the Eastern Conference; they executed a perfect gap year tank, looked poised to get a top pick and just slot them in with their recent NBA Finals team … and then they turned that pick into a coin-flip with the Clippers for Ivica Zubac. If there is a Pacers-hater island, I’m buying some property, because I refuse to believe a team that lost 63 games last season was just haha funny tanking lol. Unless Haliburton is Michael Jordan, I think there may be bigger problems. Kelly Oubre is not the fix.

21. Golden State Warriors (previous rank: 24)

• Biggest moves: drafted Yaxel Lendeborg, re-signed Kristaps Porzingis, might sign LeBron James
• How do we feel about those moves?: Well, if they sign LeBron James … good!

Operating on the assumption that they will sign LeBron, this will be a fun story. Operating on the inverse assumption, this will not be a fun story and instead a sad, Kobe-esque retirement tour where Stephen Curry plays four more years than he should have around horrendous supporting players. I’d like the former please. And a side of fries.

22. Dallas Mavericks (previous rank: 25)

• Biggest moves: drafted Morez Johnson Jr., traded for Santi Aldama
• How do we feel about those moves?: Fine, it’s fine

Dallas is in marathon-not-a-sprint mode, and Santi Aldama is a much better player than his reputation suggests. Whether new coach Dusty May and his hand-picked Michigan disciple can make an immediate impact remains to be seen.

23. Phoenix Suns (previous rank: 19)

• Biggest moves: extended Collin Gillespie, traded for Miles Bridges
• How do we feel about those moves?: (puzzled Tom from Tom and Jerry meme)

Does Miles Bridges make the Suns better? No. Does he give them improves cap flexibility? Not really. Does he improve their depth whatsoever? No. Collin Gillespie is a nice player though.

24. Los Angeles Clippers (previous rank: 13)

• Biggest moves: traded Kawhi Leonard, drafted Keaton Wagler
• How do we feel about those moves?: Great, really great direction

The best ever situation for a team that fell 11 spots in my rankings, this team will be worse next year on the court but is set up quite well for the future. Darius Garland, Wagler, some picks in their pocket; the Clippers are finally emerging from the Paul George-trade induced quagmire that has dominated their last seven seasons.

25. New Orleans Pelicans (previous rank: 21)

• Biggest moves: Nope
• How do we feel about this lack of moves?: What the heck are they doing?

Oh, sorry, they re-signed Deandre Jordan … my bad. This team was 26-56 and has apparently just decided to run it back, no notes, no changes, clearly we had it right the first time. Good luck!

26. Brooklyn Nets (previous rank: 26)

• Biggest moves: drafted Mikel Brown Jr., signed a bunch of dudes
• How do we feel about those moves?: The Nets are in the middle of a 4-6 year-long surgery

You know those really serious medical procedures that can take like 18 hours and make you wonder how the surgeons do it? That’s what happening to the Nets in NBA terms. When you go all-in twice in a decade and get nothing out of it, it takes some seriously invasive stuff to fix your internal organs. Everyone just relax and let it happen; don’t worry, they’re sedated.

27. Chicago Bulls (previous rank: 28)

• Biggest moves: drafted Caleb Wilson, drafted Dailyn Swain, signed Norman Powell
• How do we feel about those moves?: Thumbs up

Moves one, two and three out of 18 billion to get out of the hole they’ve dug themselves in. Swain and Wilson are great picks and nice complementary players, and Powell is a professional scorer whose defense isn’t going to offend anyone over in Chicagoland. Another invasive surgery in progress.

28. Memphis Grizzlies (previous rank: 27)

• Biggest moves: drafted Cam Boozer, traded Ja Morant
• How do we feel about those moves?: Nice, nice

Grit and grind is BACK baby, and not having to attach a first-round pick to offload Morant is a real achievement. A really nice setup for the future, a real identity. But man, this team is going to be really bad next year, though. 

29. Milwaukee Bucks (previous rank: 29)

• Biggest moves: traded Giannis Antetokounmpo, drafted Brayden Burries
• How do we feel about those moves?: Congrats bro

If you have escaped all 459 published articles in which I bash the Milwaukee Bucks for two years of Giannis-based incompetence, congrats! This is number 460, since I refuse to venerate a Giannis trade that was 200 percent worse than it would have been a year ago. They got a deal befitting of their situation: a terrible one. 

30. Sacramento Kings (previous rank: 30)

• Biggest moves: drafted Darius Acuff Jr.
• How do we feel about this move?: Cool, you’re still last though

Acuff = cool player. Everything else about the Sacramento Kings = not enough to get them above the Bucks. It’s a matter of principle

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