2024-25 NBA Power Rankings: Every Team’s Starting Position + a Wild Preseason Stat

After winning just 15 games last season, the Washington Wizards should remain very much in the hunt for the league’s worst record and the distinction of being its worst team.

There are a few intriguing young players, including a potential three-and-D wing in Bilal Coulibaly and incoming No. 2 overall pick, Alexandre Sarr, but there’s little to no star power.

Washington doesn’t even have to jettison its veterans (like Malcolm Brogdon, Jordan Poole, Kyle Kuzma and Jonas Valančiūnas) to pile up losses and a better shot at the top 2025 pick (though it probably should and will).

Even in the weaker conference, the Wizards aren’t likely to be favored in many games this season.

In the loaded West, the Portland Trail Blazers probably don’t have to do anything to be in the mix for the conference’s worst record.

That doesn’t mean they can’t improve their chances at landing the No. 1 pick, though.

Jerami Grant and Robert Williams III could be dealt to playoff teams. If Deandre Ayton starts the season strong enough, he may garner some interest, too. If Portland really wants to get serious about a teardown, it might even consider moving Anfernee Simons.

But again, the Blazers could probably just stand pat and still lose 55-plus games. There are a lot more growing pains for Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe to work through, and the coaching staff should give them every opportunity to do that, even if it’s painful in the short term.

For each of the two seasons prior to this one, the Utah Jazz waited too long to embrace losing and chasing better lottery odds. That resulted in mid-lottery picks, rather than better shots at stars near the top of the draft.

They shouldn’t (and maybe even can’t) afford to do that this year, with Cooper Flagg and Ace Bailey potentially available in 2025.

That means players like Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton and John Collins should probably be moved earlier in the year than Mike Conley was in 2022-23 and Simone Fontecchio and Kelly Olynyk were in 2023-24.

It might also mean extremely conservative (bordering on suspicious) recovery timelines for any injuries that might come up for Lauri Markkanen.

And if those measures aren’t enough to enter the tank race in earnest, Utah can simply play its young prospects more than it has the last couple of years.

The Jazz haven’t had a top-five pick since moving Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, but they have had multiple picks in each of the past two drafts.

It’s time to hand out tons of playing time, earned or not, to the likes of Keyonte George, Taylor Hendricks, Brice Sensabaugh, Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski.

The Detroit Pistons brought back Simone Fontecchio and added Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr. this offseason. The plan seems pretty clear: Surround Cade Cunningham with a little more shooting and veteran competence.

It makes sense, and it’ll likely lead to a seven- or eight-win jump, but that won’t be enough to pull the Pistons away from the bottom of the East.

They went 14-68 last season and will still be handing out plenty of rotation minutes to mostly unproven players like Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren.

Whether they realize it yet or not, they’re in the mix for Flagg in 2025.

Reacquiring control of their 2025 first-round pick and sending Mikal Bridges to the Knicks this past summer were pretty clear signs that the Brooklyn Nets are ready to rebuild.

But fully embracing that approach may take a few more moves.

Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith both have the kind of three-and-D, low-usage games that should be easily portable to other schemes, and they’re on reasonable contracts.

Contenders might be interested in adding the shooting of Bojan Bogdanović or the slashing of Dennis Schröder, too.

That leaves just one, 6’10” playmaking domino in Ben Simmons who has plenty to prove between now and the trade deadline.

If he proves healthy and closer to the All-Star version of himself from 2018-19 through 2020-21 (when he averaged 16.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 1.7 steals) than the more recent one (6.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists, with a 43.1 free-throw percentage over the last two seasons), Brooklyn might be able to turn Simmons into one or two more assets.

From there, no matter how many tough jumpers Cam Thomas hits, the Nets will be in the mix for a loss on just about every night they play.

We finally arrive at a team that may have reasonable hopes for a berth in the play-in tournament.

Assuming LaMelo Ball can stay healthy (maybe bold, but still), the Charlotte Hornets have a tailormade (though young) guard-wing-big trio with him, Brandon Miller and Mark Williams.

Ball brings playmaking and outside shooting in volume. Miller looks like he could play an awful lot like his idol, Paul George. And Williams (though he’s had his own health struggles), has looked solid as both a rim-runner and -protector.

If all three show some improvement over recent years and a couple potential role players (like Miles Bridges, Josh Green or Cody Martin) pop, the Hornets could push 40 wins.

Despite losing DeMar DeRozan this offseason, the Chicago Bulls are sort of signaling that they’d like another season competing for a play-in spot

Zach LaVine is still on the roster, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be going anywhere soon. And though his scoring efficiency dropped off a cliff last season, Nikola Vučević is still good for a double-double and close to 20 points on most nights.

If those two are healthy and active, the Bulls could at least get to 35-40 wins. And in the East, that’s probably good enough for a top-10 finish.

A slow start could open the organization’s eyes, though. If Chicago begins the campaign with a big losing streak, it might get more serious about moving either or both of the veterans above and handing the reins over to Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis.

That’d obviously lead to more losses. But at this point, that’s probably a good thing. Chicago doesn’t really have a surefire future star, and this 2025 draft could give it one.

Like Charlotte, at least in theory, the Toronto Raptors have a pretty obvious “big three” in place.

They don’t really have a traditional big on the same timeline, but Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes still make up an interesting trio that boasts plenty of playmaking and defensive versatility.

It’d be nice if there was a little more robust history of good shooting, but there’s still some developmental runway left for all three.

If they slightly exceed or even match expectations, Toronto could be in the mix for a play-in spot. If someone like Gradey Dick joins them, the Raptors might even be able to escape that mix.

The Dejounte Murray era is over for the Atlanta Hawks, and there’s reason to believe they can be better without him as early as this season.

Over the two years Murray was in town, Atlanta was minus-0.3 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor with Trae Young. The Hawks were plus-2.3 when Young played without Murray.

There’s potentially some missing context there. Some of the Young minutes may have come against bench-heavy lineups, but the sample is more than twice as big for those non-Murray minutes.

A system built around Young’s all-world playmaking just makes more sense on paper. Surrounding him with length, switchability and shooting (which Zaccharie Risacher, De’Andre Hunter and Jalen Johnson should bring) is pretty obvious, too.

Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean Atlanta will instantly get back to the playoffs in 2025, but the team is at least logical again. And it’s easy to get excited about a future with Young (still just 26 years old), Risacher (19) and Johnson (22).

The Los Angeles Clippers might have the widest range of potential outcomes in the league.

They have two superstars, and though James Harden and Kawhi Leonard are both past their primes, they’re still capable of single-handedly swinging games.

Together, and when surrounded by a decent supporting cast that includes versatile forwards like Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum and Terance Mann, they could compete with just about anyone.

But the other end of the range is pretty scary.

Kawhi is already injured, and it’s hard to trust he’ll play 65-plus games for a second year in a row (he hasn’t done that since 2015-16 and 2016-17). Expecting a 35-year-old Harden to be able to carry a team the way he did during his prime years with the Houston Rockets is borderline absurd.

Harden doesn’t have the same burst off the dribble as he did back then. And his best weapon in lineups without Kawhi might be Ivica Zubac.

In the loaded Western Conference, there’s a very real chance LA doesn’t even make the play-in.