Tracking the Power Rankings

[O_V]

Good news is we won’t have the opportunity to get high off our own farts with a week of rankings at the top

Yep, someone was reading their own press. Getting whipped by a shitty team was just in time.

 

[LeBowen]

Power Rankings, Week 11: Spurs power past Thunder for No. 1

Oklahoma City's recent struggles drop it from No. 1 for the first time all season as the Top 10 undergoes changes aplenty.

www.nba.com

#1, but the pressure is too high and we'll probably go on a losing streak, tbh.

 

[scott]

Week of 12/29/2025
NBA.com: 1 (up from 5) - https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-11
NBC Sports:
ESPN: 2 (up from 5) - https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...all-30-teams-new-year-knicks-nuggets-warriors
CBS: 2 (up from 5. They have the Knicks #1, before we beat them) - https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-power-rankings-knicks-spurs-hawks/
USA Today: 1 (up from 3) - https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2025/12/29/nba-power-rankings-spurs-thunder/87948556007/
Yahoo: 1 (up from 3) - https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-power-rankings-no-1-203358782.html
Bleacher Report: 1 (this says it was posted 12/31, but the info is out of date, I think this is still last week's) https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25344726-nba-power-rankings-okc-thunder-knocked-top-spot
Mark Stein: 2 (up from 11 on Nov 27, this was before the Christmas game though, only updated monthly) - https://marcstein.substack.com/p/its-an-nba-power-rankings-christmas
NYT/The Athletic: 2 (up from 5) - https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6925519/2025/12/29/nba-power-rankings-thunder-spurs-knicks-suns/

 

[scott]

We're #1 in the first two publishers of the week... feels good to be respected but I think we're being a bit overly fluffed up here. Curious to see where some of the others come in later this week.

If anyone has a subscription to the Athletic, I can add those to the tracker as well.

 

[SpursFan86]

We're #1 in the first two publishers of the week... feels good to be respected but I think we're being a bit overly fluffed up here. Curious to see where some of the others come in later this week.

If anyone has a subscription to the Athletic, I can add those to the tracker as well.

Think some of the "power rankings" stuff comes down to semantics. If you take it to mean "who is the hottest team right now" or "who has looked the most impressive over the past couple of weeks", then I think the Spurs have as good of an argument as anyone to be #1.

If you're using it to just plainly rank teams, however...yeah, it's pretty insane to put the Spurs at #1. Even top 3 is a big stretch.

 

[NotRobDiaz21]

 

[scott]

Added NYT/The Athletic to the tracker. I thought it was paywalled, but I guess it is not.

 

[scott]

Updated and also made this handy little chart. NBC Sports hasn't posted an updated in awhile.

 

[scott]

Week of 1/5/2026

Will update the table at end of week after everyone has updated. Honestly surprised we didn't drop in a few of these.

NBA.com: 1 (unchanged) https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-12-v2
NBC Sports: 2 (up from 7) https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/...e-over-top-spot-with-thunder-sliding-to-third
ESPN: 3 (down from 2): https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...de-deadline-updates-hawks-mavericks-grizzlies
CBS: 5 (down from 3) https://www.cbssports.com/nba/powerrankings/
USA Today: 3 (down from 1) https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...-rankings-week-11-2025-26-season/88037581007/
Yahoo: 2 (up from 4, even though they had an article listing us at 1 last week) https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/articl...eams-are-looking-to-make-moves-172057176.html
Bleacher Report: 4 (down from 1) https://bleacherreport.com/articles...nkings-and-new-years-resolutions-all-30-teams
Mark Stein: 2 (up from 11 on Nov 27, this was before the Christmas game though, only updated monthly) - https://marcstein.substack.com/p/its-an-nba-power-rankings-christmas
NYT/The Athletic: 3 (down from 2) https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/69...power-rankings-celtics-rockets-lakers-knicks/

 

[eric365]

From the nba.com power ranking : "With their win over the Knicks on Wednesday, the Spurs are 7-1 (not including the Emirates NBA Cup final) against the other six teams that have won at least 65% of their games this season".

Nice stat

 

[scott]

Updated after everyone published for the week

 

[scott]

Week of 1/12/2026

Will update the table at end of week after everyone has updated.

NBA.com: 4 (down from 1) https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-13
NBC Sports: 4 (down from 2) https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/...tain-top-spot-while-thunder-move-up-to-second
ESPN: 3 (unchanged) https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...suns-celtics-pistons-trade-deadline-midseason
CBS: 8 (down from 5) https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-power-rankings-76ers-rising-joel-embiid-pistons-timberwolves/
USA Today: 3 (unchanged) https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2026/01/12/nba-power-rankings-houston-rockets/88148347007/
Yahoo:
Bleacher Report: 6 (unchanged) https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25261879-2025-26-nba-power-rankings
Mark Stein: 2 (up from 11 on Nov 27, this was before the Christmas game though, only updated monthly) - https://marcstein.substack.com/p/its-an-nba-power-rankings-christmas
NYT/The Athletic: 3 (unchanged) https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6963188/2026/01/12/nba-power-rankings-timberwolves-rockets-knicks/

 

[scott]

Can't find an update from Yahoo this week. Sometimes their site is difficult to tell what their rankings are versus what is just an aggregation of other sites... might be time to just remove them.

 

[Fabbs]

View attachment 451

Can't find an update from Yahoo this week. Sometimes their site is difficult to tell what their rankings are versus what is just an aggregation of other sites... might be time to just remove them.

Did Mark Stein simply not update his ranking for the longest time? Or is a phallic Laker object so far embedded in his BSPN behind that it shows?
Had us 15th for a month. When 18-7 still only bumped us up to 11th.
Now he completely flip flops and has us at 2.

 

[scott]

Did Mark Stein simply not update his ranking for the longest time? Or is a phallic Laker object so far embedded in his BSPN behind that it shows?
Had us 15th for a month. When 18-7 still only bumped us up to 11th.
Now he completely flip flops and has us at 2.

He only updates once a month

 

[scott]

Week of 1/19/2026

Will update the table at end of week after everyone has updated.

NBA.com: 3 (up from 4) https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-14
NBC Sports: 3 (up from 4) https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/...-no-1-with-pistons-spurs-right-on-their-heels
ESPN: 3 (unchanged) https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...dseason-biggest-questions-rest-regular-season
CBS: 3 (up from 8) https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-power-rankings-halfway-hierarchy-west-five-best-teams/
USA Today: 3 (unchanged) https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2026/01/21/nba-power-rankings-knicks-rockets/88278646007/
Yahoo: 3 (down from 2) https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-power-rankings-every-team-130000574.html
Bleacher Report: 6 (unchanged) https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25261879-2025-26-nba-power-rankings
Mark Stein: 2 (up from 11 on Nov 27, this was before the Christmas game though, only updated monthly) - https://marcstein.substack.com/p/its-an-nba-power-rankings-christmas
NYT/The Athletic: 3 (unchanged) https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6982992/2026/01/19/nba-power-rankings-celtic-warriors-all-star/

 

[scott]

 

[Correct Crusader]

3-4 sounds about right.

 

[poopbox]

View attachment 533

All these actual companies and then "Mark Stein"

Should actually be "Marc"

Bro must be eating good as a solo act. One of the few people who left ( got fired ) from a big sports company and didn't go crawling somewhere else for less pay.

 

[scott]

Week of 1/26/2026

Will update the table at end of week after everyone has updated.

NBA.com: 4 (down from 3) - https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-15
NBC Sports: 5 (down from 3) - https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/...ockets-shoot-up-to-second-in-front-of-pistons
ESPN: 5 (down from 3) - https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...nference-joel-embiid-76ers-eastern-conference
CBS: 2 (up from 3) - https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-power-rankings-cavaliers-move-knicks/
USA Today: 4 (down from 3) - https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...rankings-week-13-pistons-thunder/88367678007/
Yahoo: 4 (down from 3) - https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-team-power-rankings-week-075520816.html
Bleacher Report: 6 (unchanged) - https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25375808-nba-power-rankings-2-weeks-2026-trade-deadline
Marc Stein: 2 (up from 11 on Nov 27, this was before the Christmas game though, only updated monthly) - https://marcstein.substack.com/p/its-an-nba-power-rankings-christmas
NYT/The Athletic: 4 (down from 3) - https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6999162/2026/01/26/nba-power-rankings-celtics-rockets-pistons/

 

[scott]

Have made some updates to my master tracking table.

1. Went back and found history for most sites. Couldn't not find two weeks for the Bleacher Report and NBC appears to have taken the week of 12/29 off
2. Removed Yahoo. It's hard to tell what is actually their rankings versus aggregated slop, plus very hard to find history... so fuck 'em
3. Updated the color heatmap to go from horizontally instead of vertically, so now it shows rankings increasing per rater as opposed to who rated us best on a weekly basis

CBS was the only rater to actually bump us up this week, but they had the luxury of posting their ratings after the Rockets game. Yes we are 9-8 since Christmas and 6-4 in the last 10... but we're actually 5-2 in the last 7 if you look at it that way.

Stein Line is running the risk of being removed from my tracker if he doesn't post anything next week. Lazy bum!

 

[scott]

Week of 2/2/2026

Will update the table at end of week after everyone has updated.

NBA.com: 3 (up from 4) - https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-16
NBC Sports: 3 (up from 5) - https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/...stons-second-as-focus-turns-to-trade-deadline
ESPN:
CBS:
USA Today:
Bleacher Report: 4 (up from 6) - https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25261879-2025-26-nba-power-rankings
Marc Stein:
NYT/The Athletic: 3 (up from 4) - https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7015585/2026/02/02/nba-power-rankings-nuggets-timberwolves-knicks/