{"id":169882,"date":"2025-12-16T09:30:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T14:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=169882"},"modified":"2025-12-15T20:22:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T01:22:53","slug":"2025-26-nba-power-rankings-december-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/12\/16\/2025-26-nba-power-rankings-december-16\/","title":{"rendered":"2025-26 NBA Power Rankings: Updated December 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this point in the NBA season, the picture at the top of the league is starting to come into focus. Some teams have separated themselves with consistency on both ends of the floor, while others have climbed the rankings behind recent momentum and statement wins. These Top 10 power rankings reflect not just records, but how teams are playing right now and how dangerous they look moving forward.<\/p>\n

Updated December 2025-26 NBA Power Rankings<\/h2>\n

10. Orlando Magic<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Magic<\/a> are one of the NBA’s best defensive teams, and the addition of Desmond Bane has been critical to their success. They still have a lot to improve on, but they are slowly becoming a very scary team in the East<\/p>\n

9. Boston Celtics<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Celtics<\/a> were written off at the beginning of the season, but their style has proven that they will win games. They are a very competitive team and can win any game they play in.<\/p>\n

8. Minnesota Timberwolves<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Timberwolves<\/a> are slowly moving up the rankings. They always seem to start off the season a little slow, and by playoff time, they are a force to be reckoned with. They will continue to grow as the season goes on.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

7. New York Knicks<\/h3>\n
\"Karl-Anthony
Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Knicks<\/a> are a very scary team and probably the favorite to make it out of the Eastern Conference. Their team chemistry has grown so much over the past season and a half; they are a great roster, and new coaching has changed them.<\/p>\n

6. San Antonio Spurs<\/h3>\n

\"Victor<\/p>\n

The Spurs<\/a> have the most athletic roster in the NBA, and they are still so young. They are probably the most fun team to watch in the NBA with Wemby and Fox, who just run up and down the court. The Spurs are a juggernaut now and are only growing as time goes on.<\/p>\n

5. Los Angeles Lakers<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Lakers<\/a> are one of the biggest surprises in the NBA this season. I do not think a lot of people had them doing so great. There was a change in LA, and there is just more buy-in from the players, and they could easily make a run down the stretch.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

4. Detroit Pistons<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Pistons<\/a> are just a really good team. There is not much to say about it other than that they win games and have just a solid all-around team. JB Bickerstaff is one of the most underrated coaches in the NBA and has a lot of talent for getting the most out of all his guys. The Pistons might be even better if they get these 6 Christmas Wishes<\/a>!<\/p>\n

3. Houston Rockets<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Rockets<\/a> just have a feel that is different from the rest of the top teams in the NBA. They feel like they can get the job done against anyone. Even their losses have been very tight, and they are just a great team that can beat anyone at any time.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2. Denver Nuggets<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Photo Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Nuggets<\/a> are only getting better and better. They keep just winning games by trusting in Nikola Jokic. Jokic is coasting to his fourth MVP by being the engine to one of the best offenses in the entire NBA, and nobody will want to see the Nuggets in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

1. Oklahoma City Thunder<\/h3>\n
\"Shai
Oklahoma guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) poses for a photo shoot during Thunder media day at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Thunder<\/a> are the best team in the NBA, and it is not even close. They are currently 24-2 and just seem like they will not lose again. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is so consistent in everything, and the Thunder defense is always consistent through every game in and out.<\/p>\n

For more great basketball analysis, check out DrRoto.com<\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At this point in the NBA season, the picture at the top of the league is starting to come into focus. Some teams have separated themselves with consistency on both ends of the floor, while others have climbed the rankings behind recent momentum and statement wins. These Top 10 power rankings reflect not just records, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5637,"featured_media":169895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62],"tags":[302,108,340,333,152,214,511,58,54,55],"class_list":["post-169882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-boston-celtics","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-houston-rockets","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-nba-power-rankings","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-san-antonio-spurs"],"modified_by":"Doug Henderson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5637"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169882"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169897,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169882\/revisions\/169897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}