NBA Power Rankings: Sixers, Lakers Doubts as Scouts Rank All 30 Teams

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Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers are No. 11 in the NBA power rankings

With less than a week to go before the summer gives way to September, we can pretty much pronounce the bulk of NBA business complete. Most teams have rounded out their rosters, and most free agents have found a home. There are still players lingering on the market, extensions to hash out, restricted free agents to be signed and/or traded and, as always, there’s Jonathan Kuminga, who appears to enjoy the attention of being the last guy to sign.

But with that business handled, we turned to some personnel folks to see how teams are stacking up heading into the 2026-27 season. After all, we are just 27 days from teams participating in preseason games outside the US (Houston, Dallas, Toronto and Miami) opening their training camps, and just 34 days away from all teams getting started.

Let’s check the power rankings, with thoughts from coaches and scouts.

NBA Power Rankings Top 10: Thunder Still the Best

The Knicks were the NBA champs, and the Spurs won the West, but it is important to remember that the Thunder had a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference finals despite playing without the team’s second-best player, Jalen Williams. Maybe the Spurs would have won anyway, and maybe the Knicks could have taken down OKC.

And the Thunder had to dump three players–Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins–for financial reasons this summer.

Still, when healthy, the Thunder have the best roster in the league, and have championship credentials. Said one Western Conference coach: “The Spurs have great young players but no one is more complete than the Thunder.”

Team to watch: Sixers. Eastern Conference scout says, “Philadelphia is a great fantasy league team but I want to see how they make this work on the court. They’re going to talk about sacrifice a lot, and they might want to sacrifice. But doing it is a lot harder.”

NBA Power Rankings:  Lakers at 11

The most interesting teams in this bunch are probably the Pacers and Jazz, because both were intentionally terrible last season but stand to bounce back this year. It might be too early to count the Jazz as a legitimate playoff team in the  West, but it’s not hard to envision that unit coming together quickly.

The Lakers revamped the roster by dumping LeBron James, paying Austin Reaves, selling out for Walker Kessler and adding role players around Luka Doncic. Not everyone’s a believer, though.

Team to watch: Lakers. Western Conference coach says, “They will score and they will be fun to watch, but they’re lacking size and rebounding and they’re asking too much of Kessler. They just have too many holes, I see them as a 46, 47-win team.”

Down at 21-30 .. Bottom of the Barrel

There are a few feel-good stories form the 2025-26 season that might have a hard time repeating their accomplishments this year–namely the Suns and Blazers. Both outperformed expectations last year, but it is reasonable to expect a reversion to the mean here. Portland is hoping that Ja Morant can find his old self again, but there’s little to suggest that is possible.

Team to watch: Grizzlies. Western Conference scout says, “They are a point guard away. They loaded up on size, they are just going to hammer you with big guys. I love what Cam Boozer brings, they got some toughness with (Quinten) Post and (Isaiah) Stewart. You’ve still got (Zach) Edey. They just need that point guard to tie it all together. I thought they should have tried to get that in the draft, but they made size their priority.”