The good news: the Wizards are clear of the basement in the final installment of these power rankings!
9. San Antonio Spurs
Let me put you on: The Spurs have this rookie named Victor Wembanyama on their roster who is pretty good. Not sure if you’ve heard of him.
Wemby arrived in the NBA with the most hype since LeBron James, and he’s already surpassed expectations. He is truly a one-of-one talent and a top-20 player in the NBA at the ripe age of 20. This week alone he had two games with seven blocks, including a monster statline of 33 points, 18 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 blocks. He is a lock for Rookie of the Year, will make an All-Defensive team (probably first team) and will almost certainly be the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up.
Luckily, the rest of the team is starting to look a little better around Wemby too. A big win over the New Orleans Pelicans this week saw seven different Spurs score 14-plus points on 51% shooting from the field as a team.
San Antonio will be a much, much better team next year, especially if they trade for Trae Young or Donovan Mitchell, two moves that are looking more and more likely by the day.
8. Memphis Grizzlies
Are you familiar with the Ship of Theseus paradox? In short, this thought experiment questions whether a ship is still the same ship it was when it was built if it’s had each of its parts gradually replaced. So are we still watching the Memphis Grizzlies?
This season, the Grizzlies have sent out FIFTY-ONE different starting lineups, and no single lineup has started more than five games together. It’s been a season from hell for the Grizzlies, but at least there have been some diamonds in the rough. I’ve mentioned GG Jackson in weeks past, and he looks like a real rotational piece going forward, but I have yet to mention Vince Williams Jr., the 2022 second-round pick that has also established himself as a keeper in Memphis.
I am confident that the Grizzlies will be back to winning 50-plus games next year with Ja Morant back and Desmond Bane back to full health, as well as a potentially high lottery pick coming in this summer. Sometimes you just have to take a step back before you take two steps forward.
7. Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are in the early, early stages of their rebuild, but they already have some really strong foundational pieces. Scottie Barnes is already an All-Star caliber player. Gradey Dick is average (which is totally fine by the way) but you can expect him to grow.
6. Portland Trail Blazers
5. Brooklyn Nets
4. Utah Jazz
Welcome, Utah.
The Jazz have clearly packed it up for the season. I feel good-not-great about their outlook going forward; they have a lot of promising (if not fully-rounded) young talent complimenting All-Star forward Lauri Markkanen, who I would bet gets flipped this summer for a monster package. Rookie Keyonte George is a really solid young point guard who’s been improving gradually all season, and Collin Sexton is Westbrookesque in his refusal to ever turn it down a notch. Other than those three, Utah’s roster is is a bundle of role players all at different stages of their careers.
3. Charlotte Hornets
I have just about run out of things to say about the 2023-24 Charlotte Hornets, so here are my final bullet-point thoughts on them.
- Brandon Miller is awesome and you can pencil him into third place for Rookie of the Year.
- Vasilje Micić was an amazing pickup as a throw-in to the Gordon Hayward trade.
- Every player who played in the loss to Oklahoma City this week scored in double figures; I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen an NBA team do that.
That’s all I’ve got, I’m sorry. Good riddance to this Hornets team.
2. Washington Wizards
The Wizards aren’t at the bottom! But they are guaranteed to be tied to get the highest number of lottery balls!
1. Detroit Pistons
I swear I switch up on the Pistons constantly.