NBA Power Rankings Shake-Up: Which Surprising Teams Are Rising as Playoffs Loom?

Puncher’s Chance At The Championship

9. Los Angeles Lakers

8. New York Knicks

7. Minnesota Timberwolves

6. Detroit Pistons

5. Denver Nuggets

These teams all have flaws, but they also have enough strengths to make a deep playoff run if everything breaks their way. Recently, I did a deep dive on the history of five-man lineups. Long story short, to win an NBA Championship, you need a regular season lineup featuring most/all of your best players that have played at least 300 possessions together and posted a +9 per 100. As of writing this, none of the Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, or Minnesota Timberwolves have a lineup that fits this description. That’s why they are in the back half of this tier. But they still need to be in this group because Luka Doncic (LAL), Jalen Brunson (NYK), and Anthony Edwards (MIN) have all shown the ability to take over a series on their lonesome, and all of them have been to the conference finals as recently as the past two seasons. The Detroit Pistons have been faltering of late (5-5 in their last ten), but they still have a distinct identity, homecourt advantage through the first three rounds, and a five-man lineup they can count on (Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, Duncan Robinson, Tobias Harris, and Jalen Duren are a +12.8 per 100).* The Denver Nuggets cannot seem to find a groove. Just yesterday, they dropped an unnecessary game to one of The Tankers (the Memphis Grizzlies). Still, they have the best player on the planet (Nikola Jokic), and when you have that, you always have the chance.