NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
Only one of the top eight teams in NBC’s NBA Power Rankings from last week lost a game: Boston on Sunday to Minnesota. With that, not much movement at the top.
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
(56-15, last week No. 1)
Only two franchises in NBA history — at the peak of their powers — have won 65 games in consecutive seasons. The Jordan-era Bulls did it between 1995-97 (winning the championship both years), and the peak Curry-era Warriors did it three consecutive years (two with Kevin Durant) between 2014-17, winning two rings (hat tip to the Slam & Jam podcast for the stat). The Thunder are on pace to be the third. They won 68 games last season and have 56 wins this season, on pace for 65 exactly — and they are about to get their second-best player back. Jalen Williams is set to return from his second hamstring injury on Monday against Philadelphia, plus Lu Dort is cleared to play in that game as well. It would be the first game this season when the OKC core would all be healthy… except that Ajay Mitchell is suspended for that game after escalating a fight against the Wizards.
Advertisement
2. San Antonio Spurs
(53-18, last week No. 2)
San Antonio has reached 50 wins for the first time since the 2016-17 season (the Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Pau Gasol era). “That’s real,” coach Mitch Johnson said of hitting the mark. “It’s one of those things we’ve done this year where we’re not going to avoid that or try to act like that (is nothing) — 50 wins this league is tough.” It has happened because Victor Wembanyama made a larger leap than anyone but himself expected: In March, he averaged 26.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 38.1% from 3-point range. Starting Monday in Miami, San Antonio has six of seven on the road.
3. Detroit Pistons
(51-19, last week No. 4)
Cade Cunningham is out with a collapsed lung, possibly for the remainder of the regular season. That sucks for him because he was on the way to being top-5 in MVP voting and first-team All-NBA, and now he’s unlikely to reach the 65-game threshold (he’s at 60 qualified games). Note: This is example 1,437 why the 65-game rule sucks….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-power-rankings-2025-26-202234355.html
Author :
Publish date : 2026-03-23 20:22:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
