We are a quarter of the way through the 2024-25 NBA regular season, which means we can start to separate teams out based on performance and not based on potential. Earlier this year right before the start of the campaign, we put teams into tiers based on where we thought they stood in the race for a championship.
A lot has happened since then. We’ve had teams establish themselves as contenders, teams with title aspirations look like they’re a little farther back than anticipated, and of course, we also have the Sixers. Today, we wanted to revisit our tier list based on how things look now.
S-Tier: Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder
As of right now, these are the three best teams in the league. Cleveland has raced out to the best record in the league under new head coach Kenny Atkinson, and we’re seeing the promise of the Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen core. Boston and Oklahoma City, meanwhile, were supposed to be here, even as the former has had some bumps and bruises (Kristaps Porzingis is just getting back from injury) and the Thunder have needed to deal with a patchwork center rotation due to injuries to Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein.
A-Tier: Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns
There are a ton of teams that are trying to break into the tier of no-doubt contenders in the NBA, and frankly, we think that’s awesome. And the best thing is there isn’t a team that is clearly the best of the bunch here — any of these teams can knock off any of the others (and, potentially, anyone in the tier above them) when they play their best games. Basically all of these teams have room for upward mobility, too, particularly teams like Orlando (Paolo Banchero), New York (Mitchell Robinson), Memphis (Zach Edey), and Phoenix (Kevin Durant), which are all dealing with injuries to important rotation players. Houston’s upward mobility comes from their young guys continuing to coalesce and possibly (although not likely) a major consolidation trade, while Dallas has been really good even as Luka Doncic has slumped a bit to start the year by his own lofty standards.
B-Tier: Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors
The Bucks are a bit of a sleeping giant, as they’ve stabilized admirably after the start of the season thanks in large part to an MVP-caliber year from Giannis Antetokounmpo. And speaking of teams getting MVP-caliber performances, Denver is getting perhaps the best basketball of Nikola Jokic’s career, although it’s a bit concerning that this hasn’t led to more team-wide success. As for the Clippers, Ty Lue should get coach of the year consideration, as he’s squeezing everything he can out of his roster, even as Kawhi Leonard continues to be sidelined. The Warriors, meanwhile, started the season hot and had a case for the tier above before hitting a rough patch lately.
C-Tier: Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves
The tier of teams that are toeing the line between “sneaking into the playoffs” and “fighting for a Play-In berth as a .500 team,” although that’s more difficult in the Western Conference than the Eastern Conference. Expectations are everything in this group, so Atlanta and San Antonio being here is a pleasant surprise, while Miami, L.A., and Minnesota have all disappointed this year. Still, I don’t think there’s a team that would love to see any of those last three squads if they get hot come playoff time, even if they need to kick into gear sometime soon to prove they can be a threat — with Minnesota the squad in that group showing the most life over the last week-plus.
D-Tier: Chicago Bulls, Sacramento Kings, Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers
Brooklyn is in a bit of a different spot than Chicago, Detroit, and Sacramento, as we anticipate they’ll start to fall back in an effort to improve their Draft Lottery position and trade some of their productive veterans (Dennis Schröder, Dorian Finney-Smith, maybe Cameron Johnson) to accrue future assets. Chicago, Detroit and Sacramento are not, like, horrendous, but they also don’t look like they are going to compete for a conference championship. The Bulls and Pacers really need to shore up their defense (and, for Chicago, pick a long-term direction), the Pistons need more offensive explosiveness, and the Kings really need someone other than Malik Monk to take and make a lot of threes — Keegan Murray and Kevin Huerter both struggling to they extent they have from deep is a big problem. Of this group, Sacramento feels like the team with the most upward mobility.
F-Tier: Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers, Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans
A bunch of bad basketball teams, and other than the Sixers and the Pelicans (both of which have dealt with some major injury issues that have contributed to this), it’s not a surprise that these teams are here. Toronto, Charlotte, Portland, and Utah were all expected to be in the Flail For Flagg race, and for the most part, they are. There’s just one team that is lapping the field right now…
The “At This Point It’s Just Like, Don’t Be That Team” Tier: Washington Wizards
Boy, are the Wizards terrible, to the point that this infamous Kyle Kuzma post applied to them before a stunning win over the Nuggets this weekend despite a 56-point game from Nikola Jokic. Again, they were expected to be bad this season, so it is not the biggest deal in the world, but we’re talking about historical ineptitude at this point. The good news is, by beating Denver, they’ve avoided a Pistons-like losing streak (for now), but they are in a league of their own when it comes to the bottom of the NBA.
