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Mark Braster started out as an apprentice for Ms. Denise at D&M Apparel in Fort Wayne, Indiana (while also delivering the mail for two years) and now he’s being appointed to design merch lines for some major stars including 21 Savage, SZA, Kanye West, Young Thug, and Lil Wayne. His most recent collaboration is with The Recording Academy to celebrate the 65th Grammy Awards with a capsule collection modeled by rising artists JEELEL! and Bktherula.

The theme: “When The Stars Align.” Perhaps a message for those who still haven’t won a gilded gramophone? Either way, the collection is super clean. It includes uniquely designed sweats, hoodies, and t-shirts with a cosmic vibe that is both nostalgic and modern.

I spoke with the Brast Studios owner about how the stars aligned for him to create the collection for The Recording Academy, how the stars aligned for him to connect with the late Virgil Abloh, and how the stars aligned for him to work with Kanye West. He also gave me his Grammy speech.

How did you get on board with the Grammys to do their merch?

Long story short, I was referred. I found out last minute. I know that they wanted to try something different. At the end of the day, the power is in the youth. Everything is based on if the youth gravitates toward it or not. It makes or breaks the situation. They’re highlighting hip-hop this year, which is another huge thing. I thought that it was going to be myself and other designers but when I found that it was just me, it was surreal.

Tell me about the “when the stars align” theme.

It’s a concept that The Recording Academy wanted to go with. The initial theme was supposed to be love and music. My initial capsule that I presented was more Valentine’s Day driven. But I could also see why they wanted to switch it to “when the stars align.” At the end of the day, we were able to create those vibrant pieces that are pretty much cohesive with the Grammys branding this year.

Tell me a little bit about the pieces you worked on for it.

The first initial design was the long sleeve, which has a gradient on the sleeve, super vibrant. On the back of the shirt, there is an astronaut sitting on top of the world holding a Grammy. And then the upper left shoulder is a quote, which is a quote from Pharrell. Then all the movie posters from back in the day.

Hip-hop has this love-hate relationship with the Grammys and with this line and you being a Black designer, how do you feel about that?

It was not just the Grammys. It’s corporate brands overall. At some point, people just have to realize things have to change in order to grow. Change has to happen. A post on Twitter said, as much as they don’t want to believe corporate brands need people like us, we’re the ones with the creativity. We have fresh ideas to keep it relevant, which is 100% true. A lot of these brands are starting to collaborate with artists because they see the powers within the culture. I feel like someone (at the Recording Academy) really was like we need to make this change and I’m sure it wasn’t easy. Overall, it’s been a great experience. Unfortunately, we have to be the bigger person and be less emotionally driven to get the point across that we are powerful and we influence a majority of the world.

How did you get into the fashion field?

So, there’s a leather store here in Fort Wayne run by a lady named Ms. Denise. I would go to the leather shop and just watch her sew. I had ideas. I was putting pieces together but I just didn’t know how to do it myself. At some point, she was like, hey, I’m not doing this. You got to do it. I want you to learn. That was how I learned how to sew. She gave me my first industrial sewing machine. I actually got to rebrand the store. She paid me for the logo and it was one of the first times I got paid.

How much?

She gave me $500. She gave me a leather jacket because it was a leather jacket that I saw that I wanted. It was a Harley-Davidson leather jacket. So, she gave me $500, the leather jacket, and then the sewing machine.

Did you start making clothes to sell online after that?

I started selling clothes online out of high school. I had college scholarships for track but I ended up not taking a scholarship because fashion is what I wanted to do. I’ve always been artistic, so I ended up working at UPS as a delivery driver assistant. That’s when I first started teaching myself how to design for about a year. Then I wanted to try to do my own brand, so of course, I quit. I began doing custom pieces and that’s kind of how I started networking with celebrities.

Tell me what it was like working Virgil Abloh and Kanye West, which I am sure was a dream.

I actually spoke with Virgil way before anything with Kanye. Right after he started Off-White in 2013. He did the initial launch with Shane Gonzales from Midnight Studios and I took some photos for that shoot. I tagged him on Twitter and he reshared it. Then, he started following me on Twitter. Around 2015, I was more on Instagram where I would share stuff because I feel like that was the best way to get it out there, be creative, network, and show I was serious. I didn’t want a handout. I didn’t end up being like an employee for him or anything like that but just having Virgil acknowledge my work and my work was actually featured in an article of his.

What did acknowledgment do for you from that point on?

Money-wise, it didn’t really do anything, but I’d say I’ve always had high self-esteem. I know I’m good. Whatever I put my mind to, I’m good at it. I’ll be great. But just knowing that someone like that, of that caliber, makes me feel like I’m on the right track. I got a lot of work to do, but I’m on the right track.

How did Kanye connection happen?

The Donda thing was actually random. A friend of mine had just started working with Ye. I think he met him at Diddy’s house because he used to work for Diddy and then he met Ye at a party and Ye kind of just stole him from Diddy or whatever. A couple of weeks in, he hit me to work on the Donda stuff with him. He was like, the pay isn’t crazy, but I think you would be perfect or you will fit in. The first thing that we did was the New Year’s party flyer for him and Future. From there we kind of took on the Donda Sports and stuff, which led to the Slam Magazine cover placement.

Did you interact with Kanye much at all?

Just as a team. I did get to meet him in Chicago at a Donda game. Ye, Justin Laboy, and Antonio Brown. That whole era was crazy. Like the energy – I’ve never seen anything like it. When he came into a room, you could just feel it. It was wild. I’m not going to lie, it was almost intimidating for a quick second. It was a ton of people around. I got to say a few things.

What’s something you learned working with Ye that you take with you today?

Growing up, Ye was one of my idols. He and Pharrell. Those are the guys I looked up to fashion-wise; their whole demeanor and how they carry themselves. So you fast forward and I end up working with them. The biggest thing I took from this, it’s a couple of things was this was my first time actually working with an actual team. I’ve always done everything on my own. I’ve never had backup. I’ve worked with some people, but it wasn’t like this.

What’s the difference?

This is like an actual team effort. Everybody played their part and it was almost like a seamless situation. I will say it was like a ton of revision, but having that team aspect made it a lot easier to get clarity. As far as Ye’s vision, that’s one thing. Him as a creative, seeing how he works, it made me realize that it’s okay to be inspired. I feel like I was so hellbent on doing everything original or I can’t take inspiration from this or that. Whereas he’s inspired by everything around all of us. He doesn’t hide it at all. If he likes something, he’s going to let you know.

He had us watch this George Lucus film called THX 1138 and it’s like a futuristic film. I feel like the way he was dressing at that time, the boots and all of that, it just all made sense.

What was the deal with the boots, did you ask?

I don’t know. I wanted to ask. I literally felt like I feel like he’s in character. I feel like he took inspiration from THX 1138 as far as the boots and just how he wore his clothes and that George Lucas film played a part in the Donda Slam cover. If you look at the text, the way the names are at the bottom, it’s literally just like Star Wars. The intro where it’s angled was his vision. I loved it because I grew up watching Star Wars and Star Trek with my grandpa. That’s a huge thing. So seeing that it’s one of his favorite films and whatever, I was like, this is where I was supposed to be. Overall, it just helped with my confidence and just trusting other people, because working with other people, is a hard thing. And as a creative, it’s very hard. At the end of the day, there’s a purpose and the finished piece is like a masterpiece.

Give me your Grammy speech. Who do you want to thank?

I just like to thank everyone that has believed in me over the years. It’s too many people to name, but 100%, outside of me being talented, I wouldn’t be here without those people giving me a chance and just allowing me to show them that I’m a genuine person and I’m here to work. I specifically want to thank Barry (Hefner) from Since The 80s, because he’s the one that brought this opportunity to me. I’m still in disbelief. When he first asked me, I was like, bro, are you joking right now? And he’s like, nah. Like, I’m dead serious. I want to thank Barry.

After spending her first two years in Congress quickly becoming a pariah and being stripped of her committees for spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, Marjorie Taylor Greene has somehow become a rising star in the Republican Party. The Georgia congresswoman threw her support behind Kevin McCarthy during the contentious Speaker of the House vote, and she could be seen acting as a messenger for former president Donald Trump during the proceedings.

Greene has since been appointed to new House committees, including a controversial subcommittee investigating the pandemic, and if Steve Bannon is to believed, she might be on her way to being Trump’s running mate in 2024. The former president reportedly wants a female candidate on the ticket this time around, and Greene thinks she could be the one. Via NBC News:

“This is no shrinking violet, she’s ambitious — she’s not shy about that, nor should she be,” said Steve Bannon, the former top Trump aide who hosts the War Room podcast, where Greene has been a guest.

“She sees herself on the short list for Trump’s VP. Paraphrasing Cokie Roberts, when MTG looks in the mirror she sees a potential president smiling back,” he added, referencing Roberts, the late political reporter who worked for NPR, ABC News and other outlets.

A second source also told NBC News that Greene’s “whole vision is to be vice president.” However, Greene only needs to take a look at Nikki Haley (and countless others) to see how fickle Trump’s loyalty can be. Haley was a faithful defender of his administration, and for her loyalty, Trump reportedly refused to appoint her to Cabinet positions or even consider her as a potential replacement for Mike Pence because Haley has a “blotchy” complexion. So, you know, good luck with that.

(Via NBC News)

In the Best Picture-snubbed, Hollywood-on-cocaine epic Babylon, Margot Robbie plays an actress who gets discovered when another woman, who is described as “the girl with the tits,” fails to show up to set. This scene must have felt familiar to Robbie, who appeared in a Hooters commercial before she became a two-time Oscar nominee.

“I was in a Hooters commercial, not as a Hooters girl but as someone eating at Hooters,” Robbie told NME. “At the end of the day, they offered me a job and I was like, I think this is where my career is going and I’m going to end up working at Hooters.” She was 16 years old at the time. There’s nothing wrong with working at Hooters, of course, but there is something wrong with enjoying the mediocre wings at Hooters.

Sadly (although luckily for Robbie), her Hooters commercial isn’t on YouTube. There also aren’t any videos of her in the pit at a Slipknot show. “I remember going to the Slipknot concert at the time I was on Neighbours. I have never had more people come up to me ever than at a Slipknot concert,” she recently recalled to a mystified Cate Blanchett, who I’m guessing has never been to Hooters. Maybe if it was renamed Hootárs.

(Via NME)

Last year, the world was introduced to Anna Delvey via Inventing Anna, the dramatized Netflix retelling of the heiress who scammed all of her friends and various New York City socialist out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Delvey served four years in prison and was released from ICE custody at the end of last year, and she is already jumping right into another project which may or may involve some scamming antics. It’s unclear if she has really learned her lesson.

After curating some art shows and getting into NFTs (a very 2022 thing to do, what a time) Delvey’s latest endeavor will be a new talk show with the working title of Delvey’s Dinner Club. The show will feature the fake heiress inviting famous friends, actors, musicians, and journalists over to her house for a nice, intimate meal. Because she is still under house arrest, after all.

Delvey is teaming up with Wheelhouse and Butternut, the new lifestyle production company from former Food Network boss Courtney White. The series will use fly-on-the-wall footage as well as interviews with Delvey and her guests while she finishes out her house arrest sentence.

In a statement, Delvey said, “There’s nothing like the experience of bringing together a curated group of friends to share life stories and enjoy a great culinary experience. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with Wheelhouse and Butternut to bring my vision to a wider audience and share a glimpse of the real Anna Delvey.” Her name, by the way, is not really Anna Delvey, but yeah! Let’s see how this goes.

(Via Deadline)

It looks like Australia isn’t playing around in response to Kanye West‘s antisemitic rants last year. According to the Associated Press, West may be banned from setting foot into Australia, as he may not meet its character requirements.

During a spot on Nine Network television, Australia’s Education Minister Jason Clare responded to reports that West may come to Australia to meet the family of his reported wife, Bianca Censori, in Melbourne. While Clare did not know if West had applied for a visa, he noted that people who had previously expressed antisemitic views have had their visa applications rejected.

“I expect that if he does apply, he would have to go through the same process and answer the same questions,” Clare said.

While it seems West may be able to enter Australia if he passes a character assessment, several Jewish leaders and activists are pushing for the rapper/producer’s entry to be barred.

“We had a sympathetic hearing,” said Peter Wertheim, co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry on Sky News. “We’ve made the case that this particular individual does not meet the character test and that it would be in the national interest not to grant him a visa and we set out our reasons in some detail.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton added, “[West’s] antisemitic comments are disgraceful, his conduct and his behavior is appalling, and he’s not a person of good character.”

Drake’s two concerts at the Apollo Theater in New York turned out to be eventful and truly memorable for fans, but after the shows, some concerns were raised online as a video of an NYPD officer holding a camera circulated on Twitter.

Given… well… most of the news stories about the NYPD’s overreach over the past few years (decades?), this naturally worried fans that the footage the officer was obtaining could be used to nefarious ends.

However, fans can rest easy (I am being ridiculously sarcastic here, by the way) now that the NYPD has released a statement assuring citizens and visitors that the video is for a future Twitter post. “The officer depicted in the video is a Community Affairs officer involved with the 28th Precinct’s social media team,” it reads, via Rolling Stone. “The officer was taking a video for an upcoming Twitter post that will highlight local community events. The video will not be utilized for any other reason.”

That failed to reassure some privacy advocates, though, as Gothamist highlighted with a quote from Surveillance Technology Oversight Project communications director Will Owen.

“This is yet another example of NYPD’s racist use of surveillance technology, following the department’s long legacy of targeting rap concerts,” he said. “We’re deeply concerned facial recognition may have been involved, and demand the department destroy any footage it took. This is the latest proof that the city and state must ban its use at venues once and for all.”

The fact that facial recognition can and has already been put to use at entertainment venues and that the technology has already demonstrated huge drawbacks — especially when it comes to contributing to racially biased and inaccurate demographics data — should actually make anyone a little bit concerned by the possibility that the NYPD, social media or no, could have up to no good.

A video of Marjorie Taylor Greene giggling after the mention of people and children dying of COVID has resurfaced after she announced her appointment to a new House subcommittee that will investigate the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Due to to her loyalty to Kevin McCarthy during the contentious Speaker of the House vote, Greene has been rewarded with a number of committees and this latest appointment is not going over well.

“I’m honored to serve on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic,” Greene crowed on Twitter. “It’s time to reveal the truth on the origins of COVID, the authoritarian Democrat response, vaccines, and Fauci’s NIAID involvement in gain-of-function research.”

According to Politico, the pandemic subcommittee will basically be a feeding frenzy for anti-Fauci conspiracy theories:

The subcommittee is likely to be at the center of a multi-pronged, GOP-led effort to investigate coronavirus policies. That’s expected to include pandemic restrictions, the origins of the virus and decisions by high-profile health officials, including Anthony Fauci, who stepped down from his post as President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser last year.

Following Greene’s appointment to the right-wing subcommittee, people on Twitter dug up a video from July 2021 where Greene can be seen laughing at the mention of “skinny people” and “children” dying of COVID while a reporter attempts to confront the congresswoman with the real-life dangers of the pandemic. The quote tweets for the video have been filling up with people blasting McCarthy for expecting people to believe that Greene can be trusted to deliver the facts about the government’s pandemic response.

You can see some of the reactions below:

(Via Politico, Acyn on Twitter)

There are, I think, two things that we need to talk about if we’re really going to discuss Poker Face, the new big-deal mystery-of-the-week Peacock series that stars Natasha Lyonne and comes from the brain of Knives Out creator Rian Johnson. One of the things is smaller, more targeted, and probably more relevant to you if you clicked on this to see if some guy you don’t know thinks the show is good and worth your time. The other is a bigger macro thing about, like, television in general, and the way we tell stories. Both are important. The second one is probably more interesting to me, just because I’m into that stuff. But let’s start with the first. That’s why you’re here. You’re not made of time.

Poker Face is fun. Natasha Lyonne plays Charlie, a woman with a mostly unexplained but 100 percent accurate ability to look at someone and know if the thing they just said to her was a lie. It’s not that she knows the truth all the time, or that she can tell why someone isn’t being honest, but she definitely knows when someone tries to yank her chain. This is a useful skill to have in your pocket, sometimes, but it turns out it can also get you in trouble. When we meet her in the first episode, she’s working as a hostess at a rinky-dink casino in Nevada because she used her gift in a way that a) kind of kneecapped her career options, and b) you can pretty easily guess by seeing the title of the show. It’s a whole thing. They explain it about a third of the way through the first episode. Adrien Brody is there when it happens, giving it the full Adrien Brody, which I mean in the best way possible.

Then… some things happen. For… reasons. There are spoilers here that I want to dance around a bit, in part so you get to experience them with fresh eyes and in part so that people on the internet do not yell at me. The point of it all is this: she needs to go on the run a little bit. And while she’s on the run, she stumbles into mysteries that could use solving. A murder here, a wrongly accused trucker there, justice needing to be done for any number of reasons. And she uses her gift to get that justice, often in — you will be shocked to hear, given the Natasha Lyonne of it all — quirky and/or eccentric ways. Again, it’s fun. A little dark sometimes. There are guest stars galore. John Ratzenberger shows up in one episode. I enjoyed that.

It’s a really great use of Natasha Lyonne, too. You know how sometimes you’ll see an actor or actress in a particular role and things snap together in your brain and you’ll be like “ohhhhh, right, this is what they should be doing”? That’s what we have here. She gets to use all of her tools: the fast-talking, the sideways glances, the thing where you — and the other characters on the show, especially the ones in this show — underestimate her a little bit at your own peril. Combine all of that with the gravelly voice and disheveled appearance and it’s almost impossible to avoid the Columbo comparisons here. Which is kind of the point. This brings us to the second thing.

At some point in the last 20-30 years, television started veering away from using episodes as little individual stories and started using them as little pieces of a larger puzzle. Not every show, sure, of course. There are dozens of shows with titles like NCIS and FBI and CSI and any other combinations of capital letters that still do this. But what happened is these shows started falling out of favor a bit. They didn’t win awards. People like me didn’t watch and recap them every week. You started hearing showrunners say things like “actually, this season is more like a 12-hour movie,” which is, in hindsight, a wild thing to use as a selling point. Who would ever want to see a 12-hour movie? Movies should be two hours or less. I’ll go as high as two and a half, tops, if it’s really necessary and a committee of sensible people from the Midwest watch it and agree. Anything longer is madness.

But it brought us some really good stuff. And then some less good stuff. Lots of things tried to become addictive binge watches in ways that hurt the quality of the show. You had a cool first episode and a cool finale with lots of… stuff… in between. It’s an exhausting way to tell a story if you do it wrong. And anyway, what’s so bad about entertaining people for an hour a week and then letting them get on with their lives? There’s something admirable about that, especially when there are an almost unreasonable amount of options out there.

And so, enter Poker Face. And Rian Johnson, himself no stranger to taking an old formula people liked and giving it a glossy new sheen in the present. The Knives Out movies are basically just Agatha Christie stories with Daniel Craig doing some accent work, no superheroes or monsters or plans to take over the world. It’s easy to forget because it’s James Bond investigating a slew of very famous people for murder, but those movies are shockingly small in scope compared to the other blockbusters out there. That is what’s going on with Poker Face, too. We are going back in time, but with the resources of the future. There’s something cool about that.

Yes, Columbo is the obvious inspiration here, right down to the yellow-font title cards and the thing where each episode opens with 10-20 minutes without the main character and with a very clear depiction of who did the murder and why. It’s not a whodunnit as much as it is a hows-she-gonna-get-em, which can be just as satisfying when done right. Also, like Columbo, there’s barely anything connecting the episodes from one to the next. A casino tough guy played by Benjamin Bratt is trying to hunt her down and sometimes he shows up five minutes too late and grumbles into his cell phone about it, but that’s all. It’s… I don’t know. The word I want to use here is refreshing. The stakes are low in a macro sense but extremely high on a micro level. This is still the wildest stuff that has ever and probably will ever happen to the characters in each episode. But then Charlie leaves and stumbles into another mystery and life goes on. That’s okay, too.

Let’s close with two more things, both of them equally important.

ONE: We should be doing stuff like this. A lot. Isn’t that the point of having all these options? I said a similar thing a few weeks ago when Netflix dropped Kaleidoscope, their CYOA heist series that was probably better on paper than in practice, but it applies here, too. We can have big huge television projects that play themselves out over a whole season (or multiple seasons if we want to get crazy), and we can have fun/intense little mysteries that wrap up after an hour each week. Neither one is inherently better or worse. Either can be great if done at a high level. Variety, baby. Mix it up. Give the people some choices.

TWO: There was once an episode of Columbo where a robot helped him investigate a murder. I rarely have an excuse to bring that up and I don’t know when I’ll get one again, so I’m going to say it here. And I’m going to post the picture of Columbo shaking hands with the robot. Here, look.

We are all doing pretty great here. Rian Johnson, Natasha Lyonne, me, Columbo, that robot, all of us. Really nice work.

The first four episodes of Poker Face premiere on Peacock on January 26, with the remaining episodes dropping weekly after that

Metallica is teaming up once again with Trafalgar Releasing for a global listening party in a theater (possibly) near you. For one night only on April 13, the band’s new album, 72 Seasons, will let fans hear it ahead of its official release the following day.

“This is a monumental opportunity for Metallica fans to be the first to hear the new album,” Trafalgar said in a statement. “We are thrilled to be a part of this historical global moment – connecting Metallica with their fans once again.”

The band previously used Trafalgar to bring their S&M² reunion event with the San Francisco Symphony to theaters in 2019.

“72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves,” James Hetfield previously explained about 72 Seasons in a statement. “The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are.”

“I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today,” he added. “Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”

Tickets for the global premiere of Metallica’s new album go on sale starting March 2.

72 Seasons is out 4/14 via Blackened Recordings. Pre-order it here.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are in year three of what many expected to be an extended rebuild. Sam Presti and Oklahoma City’s front office have amassed an unmatched stable of future draft picks and, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander already on board via the trade that sent Paul George to Los Angeles, the Thunder had a leg up in the rebuilding process.

Still, Oklahoma City entered the 2022-23 campaign with very modest expectations, especially after word broke in late August that No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren would miss his rookie season with a foot injury. In fact, the Thunder closed with a 22.5-win over/under in the betting market, and that came on the heels after 46 combined wins in the last two seasons. Then, Oklahoma City opened the season with an 11-18 record that was well ahead of pace but also relatively anonymous in nature. In recent days, though, the Thunder have been rolling to the point where Oklahoma City has already exceeded its over/under with more than 30 games remaining.

Oklahoma City is 7-2 in the last nine games, and the two losses came by only six points combined. The Thunder have a sparkling +9.8 net rating in that sample, including the No. 1 defense in the league, and even with opponent shooting luck baked in, Oklahoma City’s fundamentals are strong. The centerpiece is Gilgeous-Alexander, who is averaging 30.7 points per game with a 62.4 percent true shooting mark this season. He is a lock to reach the All-Star team. In addition to his counting stats, Gilgeous-Alexander leads the NBA in drives, maintains a sterling 10.8 percent turnover rate by the standards of a lead creator, and has scored at least 21 points in 27 of the last 28 games. The Thunder are above-average (114.4 points per 100) with Gilgeous-Alexander on the court, and that feels like a small miracle given the nature of a roster still in flux.

Elsewhere, 2021 lottery pick Josh Giddey is enjoying the best stretch of his young career. Giddey is averaging 19.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 6.2 assists in the last 13 games, shooting 53.2 percent from the field, and he is finding a new level of consistency and partnership with Gilgeous-Alexander that is wildly encouraging. From there, Oklahoma City is legitimately frisky on defense, and not only in the recent sample. The Thunder are in the top ten of the NBA in defensive rating this season, giving up 111.7 points per 100 possessions. Playing without a dominant rim protector, Oklahoma City is vulnerable in certain areas, headlined by defensive rebounding, but the Thunder make up for that with fantastic positioning, a top-five turnover rate, and the consistency to contest shots at a high level.

On Wednesday, the Thunder will host the Atlanta Hawks with a chance to reach the .500 mark and to match the season-long win total (24) from last season. That is far from a lock, but Oklahoma City is firmly in the play-in race as of late January, and that is already a win for an organization that still has plenty of firepower to build for the future.

Where do the Thunder rank in this week’s DIME power rankings? Let’s assess.

1. Denver Nuggets (34-14, Last week — 3rd)

Denver ascends to the top spot despite a home loss to OKC this week but, given that the Thunder are rolling, that result isn’t so bad. The Nuggets are an outstanding 20-4 since early December, and Denver has been virtually unstoppable on the offensive end.

2. Philadelphia 76ers (30-16, Last week — 4th)

Philadelphia only played two games this week, but the Sixers went 2-0 on the road in Portland and Sacramento. The Sixers may not be the second-best team in the league, but they are a long way from the 12-12 start and now in sole possession of the No. 2 seed in the East.

3. Boston Celtics (35-14, Last week — 2nd)

Road losses happen, and the Celtics just had two in a row in the state of Florida. Would it surprise me if Boston won the next four games at home to vault back to the top? No, it certainly wouldn’t.

4. Milwaukee Bucks (30-17, Last week — 5th)

The biggest thing for Milwaukee is the return of Khris Middleton on Monday. Amusingly, the Bucks scored 150 (!) points in his first game back but, broadly speaking, the Bucks just can’t be the same on offense without Middleton. He unlocks everything.

5. Memphis Grizzlies (31-16, Last week — 1st)

The DIME curse continues. Memphis was atop the rankings and our focus team last week. The Grizzlies just lost three in a row. Water is wet, but there is no need for panic for a very good basketball team.

6. Brooklyn Nets (29-17, Last week — 7th)

Everyone understands the Nets aren’t the sixth-best team in the league without Kevin Durant, so let’s get that out of the way. Still, Brooklyn’s season-long profile is strong and a pair of road wins over the Jazz and Warriors were encouraging to end the week.

7. Sacramento Kings (27-19, Last week — 8th)

Sacramento is the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. It is January 25. That is borderline unbelievable for thorough NBA observers over a long sample, but having the best offense (117.9 points per 100) in the league goes a long way.

8. Miami Heat (27-22, Last week — 10th)

The Heat have a top-five record (11-5) in baseball since Christmas. That’s an arbitrary endpoint, but the Heat just beat the Pelicans and Celtics at home over a three-day period and the next two games are against Orlando and Charlotte.

9. Cleveland Cavaliers (29-20, Last week — 6th)

Cleveland has leveled off lately, but it’s not terribly shocking when you consider the team’s losses. The Cavs don’t have a “bad” loss in the bunch, losing on the road to the Nuggets, Jazz, Wolves, Grizzlies, and Knicks with a home loss to the Warriors. It isn’t great, but Donovan Mitchell missed part of that run. The Cavs are fine.

10. L.A. Clippers (26-24, Last week — 17th)

The Clippers just swept a three-game road trip. Non-coincidentally, there were no back-to-backs in that stretch. L.A. is now 16-9 with Kawhi Leonard in the lineup this season, and the Clippers host the lowly Spurs on Thursday with another day of rest in between games.

11. Oklahoma City Thunder (23-24, Last week — 15th)

OKC might be able to build on the success discussed above. The Thunder have four of the next five at home and FiveThirtyEight’s ELO model (which is results-based) gives them a 70 percent chance to make the playoffs. That dips considerably when the RAPTOR player projections are incorporated, but the actual results are very, very intriguing.

12. New Orleans Pelicans (26-22, Last week — 9th)

The Pelicans are 3-10 in the last 13 games. Obviously, there are caveats with neither Zion Williamson nor Brandon Ingram on the court for an extended period, but the recent results are not great.

13. New York Knicks (26-23, Last week — 11th)

Alarm bells were going off after four straight losses, but they were quieted when the Knicks beat the Cavs on Tuesday. New York has a very interesting test in Boston on Thursday, but until then, the Knicks can take some solace in sole possession of the No. 7 spot.

14. Phoenix Suns (25-24, Last week — 24th)

The Suns recently went through a stretch with nine losses in ten games, cratering both in the standings and in these rankings. Devin Booker hasn’t played since Christmas and, in short, that caps Phoenix’s ceiling without any other context. Quietly, though, the Suns just opened a homestand with four straight wins. None were necessarily landmark victories, but they all count.

15. Golden State Warriors (23-24, Last week — 12th)

If the Warriors weren’t the Warriors, it would be hard to get terribly excited. Golden State is below .500 in late January with a comical 6-18 road record and six losses in the last nine games overall. You can find positives, like a +7.0 net rating with Steph Curry and Draymond Green on the floor together, but the overall product hasn’t been good during the team’s title defense.

16. Utah Jazz (25-25, Last week — 18th)

Utah’s 10-3 start feels like a lifetime ago, but the Jazz have found something again in recent days. That manifests with five wins in the last seven games, and the two losses came to Philadelphia and Brooklyn. In taking a big-picture look, Utah is the No. 8 seed in late January, and no one expected that.

17. Atlanta Hawks (24-24, Last week — 13th)

The best stretch of Atlanta’s season happened in the middle of January with five straight wins against solid competition. Seemingly on cue, the Hawks gave away a 19-point lead at home to the Hornets and struggled on offense in a loss to Chicago just two days later. Atlanta is still in a better spot than it was a few weeks ago, but it isn’t as if every problem is solved.

18. Dallas Mavericks (25-24, Last week — 14th)

Oof. The Mavericks had a rough home loss on Tuesday, wasting a 41-point, 15-rebound showing from Luka Doncic against the Wizards. Dallas is just 2-7 in the last nine games, and the defense is yielding more than 1.22 points per possession. It’s hard to stay afloat, much less win, with that defensive resistance.

19. Minnesota Timberwolves (24-25, Last week — 16th)

Minnesota has an incredible knack for laying eggs. The Wolves lost to the Rockets on Monday and, before that, Minnesota racked up losses to Detroit (twice), Charlotte, San Antonio (twice), and other flops. When it’s good, it’s good. When it’s not, it’s really not.

20. Los Angeles Lakers (22-26, Last week — 20th)

The Lakers lost to the Clippers on Tuesday, which never goes over well. Before the end of the night, though, word broke that Anthony Davis could return on Wednesday, and that should give Los Angeles a jolt. If Davis does come back against the Spurs, it will be rather amazing that the Lakers managed to go 10-10 without him.

21. Washington Wizards (21-26, Last week — 25th)

It was a very good week for the Washington Professional Basketball Club. The Wizards won all three games, including road victories over the Mavericks and Knicks. Washington still seems to be stuck in a burning desire for the play-in, but the Wizards are back within one game of the No. 10 spot.

22. Chicago Bulls (22-25, Last week — 22nd)

DeMar DeRozan and company would be higher on this list if not for a blown lead in Indiana on Tuesday. Even with that loss, the Bulls are still a frisky 11-7 in the last 18 games, ranking in the top ten of the NBA in net-rating since mid-December. Is that going to be enough to satisfy a team with real expectations? Probably not, but it’s something.

23. Portland Trail Blazers (22-25, Last week — 21st)

A 5-12 mark in the last 17 games paints a pretty dire picture for the Blazers. Then, a closer look shows you that three of those wins came against the Hornets, Pistons, and Spurs. It’s really rough, and frustration appears to be boiling over as the Blazers now sit outside the top ten of the West.

24. Toronto Raptors (21-27, Last week — 23rd)

Toronto’s upcoming schedule gauntlet could be pivotal. The Raptors play the next seven games on the road against Western Conference opponents, and that is the last thing the team needs as they sit in the No. 12 spot in the East.

25. Orlando Magic (18-29, Last week — 26th)

Orlando beat the Boston Celtics by a wide margin on Monday, furthering the reality that the Celtics can’t seem to win in Florida. That was preceded by a blowout loss to Washington (not great), but the Magic are a few steps above the dregs at the bottom of this list.

26. Indiana Pacers (24-25, Last week — 19th)

Yes, the Pacers won on Tuesday, and this might be too low. But it’s been gross lately. Tyrese Haliburton’s absence has cratered Indiana’s offense to the tune of a league-worst 107.7 offensive rating during a 1-7 stretch. Indiana’s comeback win over Chicago did ease the pain a bit, but that came against a Bulls team on the second night of a back-to-back with travel, which probably contributed.

27. Charlotte Hornets (13-36, Last week — 29th)

The biggest impetus for Charlotte’s rise this week was a nice road win in Atlanta. The Hornets trailed by 19 points in the second half of that game, only to ride Atlanta’s collapse and some late heroics from Terry Rozier to victory. Of course, the Hornets then lost the next two games by very lopsided margins, but a 2-2 week isn’t so bad given the state of the roster.

28. Detroit Pistons (12-37, Last week — 27th)

The Pistons are 1-7 in the last eight games, and the defense is just gross. Detroit allowed more than 1.2 points per possession in that sample, and that included a 150-point drubbing at the hands of the Bucks on Monday.

29. San Antonio Spurs (14-33, Last week — 28th)

It was a very light week for the Spurs with only two games, both of which were losses. San Antonio has lost five of the last six games and, in each loss, the Spurs have given up at least 131 points. That’s the recipe for a league-worst 119.9 defensive rating for the season.

30. Houston Rockets (11-36, Last week — 30th)

Houston did win its last game, beating the Wolves at home on Monday behind 42 points from Jalen Green. It’s tough to ignore the long-term, though, and the Rockets are 2-18 in the last 10 games with a gross -11.0 net rating.