The NBA season begins on Tuesday night, and as a result, you’re going to see plenty of people do power rankings. They’re an easy way to get a glimpse of where teams stand as they enter the league, and they’re super easy to both understand and update, too, which makes them a tool to add a bit of context to things throughout the season.
We decided to do something a little different here at DIME and take advantage of one of our favorite websites, TierMaker. Here, we wanted to group teams together, as many of them enter the 2024-25 campaign with similar questions, concerns, or strengths.
S Tier: The favorites
This one is pretty simple. Boston are the defending champions and are, essentially, running it back. The Thunder were the best team in the West last year and bolstered their young and incredibly talented roster by addressing needs at center (Isaiah Hartenstein as a free agent) and in the backcourt (turning Josh Giddey into Alex Caruso). Anything can happen, but there’s a reason these are the two teams everyone is picking to win their respective conferences.
A Tier: Biggest threats
New York and Philly might’ve been the second and third best teams in the East last year, but Joel Embiid’s injury during the regular season meant they faced off in the first round, while a number of injuries piled up for the Knicks in their conference semifinal loss to Indiana. They’ve both added reinforcements — Paul George and a few other rotation players in Philly, Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges in New York — designed to challenge Boston, and believe they have the pieces in place to do it.
Dallas is here on the heels of an NBA Finals run. Between further development for Dereck Lively, their two big midseason acquisitions last year (PJ Washington and Daniel Gafford) getting further embedded in the team, and an offseason where they emphasized getting better on the wing, we think they deserve to be considered a major threat in the West. And while Denver lost a crucial building block in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope this summer, they still have Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Aaron Gordon. Their depth is a huge question, but unless Murray’s injury woes are impossible to shake, betting on Jokic and co. to be a contender in the West is a safe bet.
B Tier: Potential threats
All of these teams could very easily make it to the conference finals, but heading into the year, it’s hard to trust them for one reason or another. Are the Bucks too old, and can they finally have the Giannis and Dame duo kick into high gear in Year 2 together? Can Cleveland take a leap just by running it back with a new coach in Kenny Atkinson? What does Minnesota look like now that Karl-Anthony Towns is no longer there? Can the Grizzlies bounce back from their absolutely wretched injury luck last year, and will Zach Edey hit the ground running? Can the Suns stay healthy and do they have enough depth? All of these teams should win a bunch of games and all of them have a championship ceiling, but they need at least one major thing to go right if they’re going to go on a run this postseason.
C Tier: Contenders if they can add more
The Pacers could use another center, the Magic could use someone who can get their own shot efficiently, the Heat could use backcourt reinforcements, the Pelicans could REALLY use a center, the Lakers could use someone other than LeBron or AD who can consistently impact winning on both ends of the floor, the Warriors could use another All-Star running made alongside Steph Curry, and the Kings could use someone who can bolster their perimeter defense without taking too much away on the other end. All of these teams are a piece away from moving up a tier. For some, perhaps they can find the answers on their rosters right now by way of internal development, but if they can’t, can they find a way to make that happen in a trade?
D Tier: Play-In Teams
Atlanta should be able to get there off of Trae Young and a step forward for Jalen Johnson (along with a few other promising young dudes), but it’s really hard to see them finishing any higher than seventh in the East — and if Young misses time, things can go off the rails quickly. The Rockets have started paying guys and have a few veterans who should raise their floor, and while they’re a year or two away from really competing in the West, they can challenge for the Play-In this time around. The Clippers need Kawhi Leonard to get healthy, plain and simple, but they’re a veteran roster with a good coach and are very motivated to win this year. Their ceiling, especially without Kawhi, is pretty low, but their floor should be high.
F Tier: Lottery Bound
None of these teams are going to be all that good, but unlike the bottom two teams on this list, they will probably at least try to compete for a bit and just struggle to win games — although, one of these teams in the East will make the Play-In, it’s just hard to figure out which one. There are plenty of talented players in this tier, whether they’re building blocks (Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham, LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Lauri Markkanen, Shaedon Sharpe, Victor Wembanyama, etc.) or guys who are potential trade candidates (Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen again, Anfernee Simons, etc.). At the very least, we expect all of these teams to be frisky for a bit before they start making decisions motivated by ping polls balls.
F- Tier: Super Duper Lottery Bound
The Nets basically have to stink, as they went out of their way to get their own pick back this year in the Mikal Bridges trade. The Wizards’ general manager flat out said the team is in the “deconstruction phase,” so our hunch is they will be wheeling and dealing with an eye on the future — and, honestly, they might not need to do all that much to still be really bad this year. Cooper Flagg, if you are reading this, maybe have someone in your life start looking at real estate in Brooklyn or D.C.