NBA Power Rankings: Trade Deadline Impact Already Showing On Court
By Reid Mueller
As the clock ticks down to the playoffs with the All-Star break and the trade deadline behind us, we looked around the league with our first NBA Power Rankings.
The NBA is back after taking a week off for the All-Star break. In the time since, we’ve gotten a chance to see how the moves made that the trade deadline have changed the shape of things. Now, with the stakes raised and the final stretch of the season in sight, it seemed like the perfect time to launch our new NBA Power Rankings.
From week to week I’ll check in around the league to see which teams are moving up, and which are trending down. Of course, this will include a look at the Milwaukee Bucks, as well as the NBA’s other 29 franchises.
This week, the primary focus falls on measuring the fallout from the trade deadline and the buyout market.
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The Raptors are looking good having added Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker, even without the injured Kyle Lowry. The New Orleans Pelicans are 0-3 since the DeMarcus Cousins trade. Nerlens Noel is coming off the bench to provide the Mavericks with a new athletic toy. The Cavaliers signed three-time All-Star Deron Williams to provide the extra playmaker that LeBron James was impatiently waiting for.
The Kings are within striking distance of the eight seed, but look unable to win the minimum amount of games to give the Nuggets a run. Lou Williams has looked to be a lethal addition to the Rockets bench, and somewhere the Blazers wish they hadn’t signed Evan Turner, so they could have paid Mason Plumlee.
In the very first edition of our full NBA Power Rankings, let’s take a closer look at the current situation around the league.