No. It's not too early to start talking about the Thunder as potentially one of the greatest teams of all time. They're 20-1 and parked at the top of our NBA Power Rankings again, and it's hard to imagine anyone knocking them out anytime soon. But the relentless greatness of SGA and company isn't the only storyline we're tracking.
We're a week away from the NBA Cup Final, some rookies who struggled last year are taking huge leaps in their second seasons, trade rumors are heating up and more. Here's how every team has moved in the past week, along with some detailed breakdowns on more of the league's key stories.
NBA Power Rankings, Week 6
TEAM | RECORD | LAST WEEK |
|---|---|---|
1. Oklahoma City Thunder | 20-1 | 1 |
2. Houston Rockets | 13-4 | 2 |
3. Detroit Pistons | 16-4 | 4 |
4. Denver Nuggets | 14-5 | 3 |
5. Los Angeles Lakers | 15-4 | 9 |
6. San Antonio Spurs | 13-6 | 7 |
7. New York Knicks | 13-6 | 10 |
8. Miami Heat | 13-7 | 5 |
9. Toronto Raptors | 14-7 | 12 |
10. Orlando Magic | 12-8 | 11 |
11. Minnesota Timberwolves | 12-8 | 8 |
12. Atlanta Hawks | 13-8 | 13 |
13. Cleveland Cavaliers | 12-9 | 6 |
14. Boston Celtics | 11-9 | 18 |
15. Phoenix Suns | 12-9 | 14 |
16. Golden State Warriors | 11-10 | 15 |
17. Philadelphia 76ers | 10-9 | 16 |
18. Milwaukee Bucks | 9-12 | 20 |
19. Chicago Bulls | 9-10 | 17 |
20. Portland Trail Blazers | 8-12 | 19 |
21. Memphis Grizzlies | 9-12 | 24 |
22. Charlotte Hornets | 6-14 | 23 |
23. Utah Jazz | 6-13 | 22 |
24. Dallas Mavericks | 6-15 | 25 |
25. Los Angeles Clippers | 5-15 | 21 |
26. Indiana Pacers | 4-16 | 28 |
27. Sacramento Kings | 5-16 | 27 |
28. Brooklyn Nets | 3-16 | 26 |
29. New Orleans Pelicans | 3-18 | 29 |
30. Washington Wizards | 2-16 | 30 |
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Thunder fans are loving the current NBA standings
The Thunder are off to a 20-1 start, chasing a slew of all-time records and firmly in the driver's seat as they look to defend last year's title. But they also have to be thrilled with the way the bottom of the standings are shaping up as well.
Thanks to a slew of trades — they hold the rights to the 2026 first-round picks of the Clippers (unprotected), Jazz (protected 1-8) and the 76ers (protected 1-4). They'll also get either their own or the Rockets pick, whichever is better. The Clippers have won just two of their last 15 games, sliding four more spots in this week's power rankings. Their pick currently has the sixth-best odds of going No. 1 (9 percent) and a 37.2 percent chance of going top-four.
As things currently sit, both the Jazz and 76ers' picks would land in the lottery and make their way to OKC. So while Thunder fans are rooting for their team to perhaps become the best of all time, they can also be rooting for the Clippers and 76ers to lose as many games as possible, and for the Jazz to stay in that No. 9 sweet spot, potentially giving them four first-round picks in what could be a historically talented draft.
Kon Knueppel is gunning for the rookie 3-point record
The Hornets are struggling in the standings, but their rookies are red-hot and Kon Knueppel is shooting at a historic pace. Through 20 games, he's made 69 3-pointers and hit at a 41.3 percent clip. The rookie record is 206, set by Keegan Murray of the Kings back in 2022-23. If Knueppel keeps up this pace, he'd finish with 283.
That wouldn't just shatter the rookie record, it would be the 17th-best 3-point shooting season of all-time. The only players in NBA history to make 283 or more 3-pointers in a season are Steph Curry, James Harden, Anthony Edwards, Malik Beasley, Klay Thompson, Paul George, Buddy Hield, Luka Dončić and Donte DiVincenzo.
Another sign of just how incredible that mark would be — Steph Curry, the all-time leader in made 3-pointers, made 317 3s in his first two seasons combined.
Knueppel still has a long way to go to catch Murray this season, or Curry all-time, but he's off to an incredible start.
The Lakers are about to get tested
The Lakers are 15-4 but ranked No. 5 this week and, honestly, even that feels like a stretch to me. They've played the third-easiest schedule so far and have an average margin of victory that's smaller than teams like the Heat, Magic, Timberwolves and Raptors. They're winning but often in unimpressive fashion and against some of the worst teams in the league.
But things are going to get a lot tougher in December. Their schedule this month includes four games against teams in the top-10 in our current power rankings (Raptors, Spurs, Rockets, Pistons) and just one against a team in the bottom five. Over the next few weeks, we'll find out if my Lakers' pessimism is on point, or on the nose.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might lose his stranglehold on this NBA stat
As of today, Deni Avdija is leading the NBA in drives per game, at 19.2. That's remarkable both in a personal context — he only averaged 10.6 last year. But also because it's not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the top spot. He has led the league in drives per game for the past five seasons running, usually by enormous margins. For example, in 2020-21, the difference between his drives per game and Luka Dončić in second place was roughly the same as the difference between Dončić and John Wall, who ranked 14th.
But this year, both Avdija and Cade Cunningham are ahead of him, and it's mostly because Gilgeous-Alexander is just driving a lot less. Over the past five years, he averaged about 3.8 drives for every pull-up 2-pointer he attempted. This season, that ratio is down to 2.4.
Every player evolves as they get older, and Gilgeous-Alexander certainly hasn't become less effective or efficient this season. But he might be undergoing the same evolution we saw with players like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, where success was less reliant on athletic advantages and more on footwork, precise execution and an unstoppable mid-range jumper.c