NBA POWER RANKINGS — The Oklahoma City Thunder don’t lose much. So, whenever they do, we sit up and take notice.
The San Antonio Spurs’ Emirates NBA Cup semifinal victory against Oklahoma exposed perhaps the club’s top vulnerability (if you can even call it that): multifaceted scoring centers. The West’s three other best teams all boast prolific All-Stars at the position, so at least the playoffs might be a bit more interesting than Oklahoma City’s regular-season run for 70-plus wins.
Christmastime usually represents the big moment that “casuals” like to check in on the league and update the latest NBA Power Rankings. The first five-to-ten games in a given season can be a bit fluky, but by the 25/30-game mark, trends feel more tenable.
Of course, our Bulls remain stubbornly mid, albeit with some very fitful performative inconsistencies. The one thing we know for sure: they cannot defend anybody.
Thanks to some terrific offensive performances from Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey, Chicago is looking to build on a three-game win streak this week, with games against some other Eastern Conference postseason hopefuls. The Bulls cracked Josh’s top 20 in the NBA Power Rankings last week. Where do they rank this week? Read on.
NBA Power Rankings: December 23, 2025
We’re going to break the league down into tiers this week. Buckle up.
The Best
1. Oklahoma City Thunder (26-3)2. San Antonio Spurs (21-7)3. Denver Nuggets (21-7)4. New York Knicks (20-8)
When you’re 26-3 on the year, you’re going to be the No. 1 overall seed. Oklahoma City is a ferocious defensive juggernaut, first and foremost, but All-NBA point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is clearly gunning for his second straight MVP as big man Chet Holmgren angles for his inaugural All-Star berth. Young wing Ajay Mitchell has also emerged as a possible legitimate future star, with injured rookies Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber waiting in the wings.
The Thunder rank fifth in offensive rating (120.4) and first in defensive rating (104.5). Oklahoma City’s 16.1 point differential is 7.1 points clear of the closest competition, the Denver Nuggets — and would shatter the current record if it were maintained over the course of a full season.
The Spurs’ new “Slash Brothers” duo of reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle and likely All-Rookie First Teamer Dylan Harper has helped elevate San Antonio as possibly the other rising young squad in the West.
Is it maybe a hair too early to rank the Spurs ahead of the revamped Denver Nuggets in our updated NBA Power Rankings, given that they still boast possibly the NBA’s best player in three-time MVP center Nikola Jokic? I don’t really think so. Denver hasn’t even made it out of the second round in either of the last two seasons, and although the club’s depth has been vastly improved thanks to some savvy summer moves, the Nuggets still feel a little solvable in the backcourt. San Antonio, meanwhile, does not.
New York is reportedly looking to improve its bench depth at the trade deadline, per James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. While its record under Mike Brown may be a smidge behind that of the Detroit Pistons, I don’t necessarily trust the relatively unproven Pistons in the playoffs. This reconstituted, more egalitarian offense seems to be engaging Jalen Brunson’s supporting cast more than in recent seasons under Tom Thibodeau.
© Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn ImagesThe “1 Trade Away” Fringe Contenders
5. Houston Rockets (17-9)6. Minnesota Timberwolves (19-10)7. Detroit Pistons (23-6)8. Los Angeles Lakers (19-8)
None of these teams has the goods to survive three playoff rounds, as currently constructed. But all of them have the trade assets necessary to level up. Houston and Minnesota will be competing for the same type of player at this season’s Feb. 5 deadline — a playmaking guard, a la Coby White. Detroit still may need to solve its Jaden Ivey/Cade Cunningham fit problem. Los Angeles needs a true defensive wing.
All these clubs are talented enough to win plenty of regular-season contests right now. But they all need a bit more help to make the NBA Finals.
© Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn ImagesThe “1 Jayson Tatum Away” Fringe Contender
9. Boston Celtics (18-11)
Boston looked pretty shaky to start the season, going 4-6 across its first 10 contests. Questions abounded about whether four-time All-Star Jaylen Brown could handle lead playmaker duties in the absence of Jayson Tatum. Surprisingly, he has looked relatively up to the challenge lately. Boston has gone 14-5 since that tenuous beginning. Incumbents Derrick White and Payton Pritchard have been steady hands for head coach Joe Mazzulla.
Former fourth-string center Neemias Queta has become a legitimate double-double low-post threat, rookie wing Hugo Gonzalez and third-year forward Jordan Walsh look like draft steals for the Celtics front office, and new additions Josh Minott and Anfernee Simons appear to be settling into their new home nicely.
Should Tatum return from his Achilles tendon surgery this season, Boston has a legitimate chance to overtake the Knicks or Pistons in the East playoffs.
© Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY SportsThe Frisky Playoff Outs
10. Phoenix Suns (15-13)11. Philadelphia 76ers (16-11)12. Orlando Magic (16-13)13. Toronto Raptors (17-13)14. Cleveland Cavaliers (16-14)15. Golden State Warriors (15-15)16. Atlanta Hawks (15-15)17. Miami Heat (15-14)
All of these teams likely would need multiple moves to truly contend (or just move up in our next set of NBA Power Rankings). The Magic, Cavaliers and Hawks have been the big disappointments among this group so far this season.
Cleveland and Atlanta looked shockingly vulnerable against the Bulls this week, and if they can’t handle the Bulls, then we can’t trust them to survive two rounds of the playoffs. But both the Hawks and Cavaliers have plenty of talented players on tradable contracts, and seem likely to be aggressive looking for talent upgrades over these next two months.
The Warriors need a legitimate starting center, full stop. Once they get that (assuming Draymond Green and Steve Kerr don’t murder each other), they could vault up in the West.
The young Raptors and 76ers have been surprisingly solid so far, but I’m skeptical that some of their pricier vets (Brandon Ingram in Toronto, Joel Embiid and Paul George in Philadelphia) can stay healthy for a deep playoff push.
© Matt Marton-Imagn ImagesThe Trade Deadline’s Biggest Directional Question Marks
18. Milwaukee Bucks (11-18)19. Memphis Grizzlies (13-16)20. Chicago Bulls (13-15)21. Portland Trail Blazers (12-17)22. Dallas Mavericks (11-19)
The fate of two-time MVP Bucks superstar power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo remains the big question mark of the season. Chicago will get to capitalize on a Bucks squad missing its best player this week, as the nine-time All-NBA standout continues to recover from a calf strain.
With Antetokounmpo back in the fold (assuming he’s open to sticking around), the Bucks are the best team among this group. But the longer he sits and Milwaukee loses, the likelier it is he forces a midseason exit.
All of these other teams are talented enough to make the play-in tournament, but have such massive issues on one side of the floor (defense for Chicago and Memphis, scoring for Portland and Dallas) that they won’t advance to the playoffs in their current iterations. It would behoove all these squads to tank ahead of what’s supposed to be a loaded draft, but their owners and front offices may be deluded enough to try to improve at the deadline.
© Benny Sieu-Imagn ImagesThe Pseudo-Competent Flotsam
23. Utah Jazz (10-18)24. New Orleans Pelicans (8-22)25. Charlotte Hornets (9-20)
New Orleans — now fully healthy aside from Dejounte Murray — has won five straight. Derik Queen, selected just after Chicago rookie forward Noa Essengue at a position of need, is looking like a mini-Alperen Sengun already. Oops. Suddenly, that 114-104 Chicago loss to the Pelicans earlier this year doesn’t feel so bad.
Ex-Bull Lauri Markkanen is in the midst of a career season on a perpetually rebuilding Utah squad. LaMelo Ball is a fun League Pass player who just might not know how to win, but the Hornets absolutely nailed their 2025 draft class and could start winning soon enough regardless. Probably not this year, though.
© Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY SportsThe Abject Trash
26. Brooklyn Nets (8-19)27. Indiana Pacers (6-23)28. Washington Wizards (5-22)29. LA Clippers (7-21)30. Sacramento Kings (7-22)
These are the clubs with absolutely no hope for this season, amid devastating injury issues (the Pacers and Clippers), insanely young and raw talent (the Nets and Wizards), or horrific roster construction (the Clippers again, and of course the Kings). LA might have the most dreary future in some ways, as a lot of its short-term future picks, likely to wind up in the lottery for a few more years, have already been shipped out in ill-advised trades. But Sacramento’s insanely incompetent front office and coaching, its disastrous ownership, and its reality as a small-market also-ran squad, makes it the bottom of the barrel in our Christmas NBA Power Rankings. Someone save DeMar DeRozan.
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