We’re a week out from 2024, and every NBA team is writing its New Year’s resolutions as the season is far from over and a fresh start is welcomed … for some more than others.

The Boston Celtics are seemingly untouchable as they top the rankings for the sixth week in a row. But the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers are not far behind them as the Eastern Conference begins to heat up.

In the West, the LA Clippers continue to cook, but Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks are also putting on quite a show. Doncic capped a Christmas Day slate of games with 50 points to eclipse 10,000 for his career.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons made history Tuesday night by dropping their 27th straight game — setting a new single-season record for the most consecutive losses.

Will some teams turn a new leaf in the new year? While we wait to see whether some can round out 2023 on a high note, let’s take a look at this week’s Power Rankings.

Note: Throughout the regular season, our panel (Kendra Andrews, Tim Bontemps, Jamal Collier, Andrew Lopez, Tim MacMahon, Dave McMenamin and Ohm Youngmisuk) is ranking all 30 teams from top to bottom, taking stock of which teams are playing the best basketball and which teams are looking most like title contenders.

Previous rankings: Post-Finals | Nov. 1 | Nov. 8 | Nov. 15 | Nov. 22 | Nov. 29 | Dec. 6 | Dec. 13 | Dec. 20 |

Jump to a team:

ATL | BOS | BKN | CHA | CHI | CLE
DAL | DEN | DET | GS | HOU | IND
LAC | LAL | MEM | MIA | MIL | MIN
NO | NY | OKC | ORL | PHI | PHX
POR | SAC | SA | TOR | UTAH | WAS


2023-24 record: 22-10

  • Previous ranking: 5

  • Next games: vs. MEM (Dec. 28), vs. OKC (Dec. 29), vs. CHAR (Jan. 1)

The Nuggets will never forget 2023, the year they won their first NBA championship. And as the calendar year closes, the champs appear to be back on track. After going through a stretch in which they lost four of seven games, the Nuggets are now winners of five in a row after handling the Warriors on Christmas Day. is finally healthier and more comfortable, and it’s showing: He is shooting 15-for-28 (53%) from 3 and has an eye on securing his first All-Star appearance. — Ohm Youngmisuk

Denver Nuggets. Denver held teams to 110.2 points per 100 possessions; the Lakers were just behind that at 110.3. Then he showed his team its defensive rating this season: 113.0 — 11th in the league. The message? If we don’t start getting more stops, we can stop thinking about a deep postseason run. A few nights later, Ham swapped for in the starting five to help his team “lean into” the Lakers’ defensive identity. — McMenamin


2023-24 record: 15-15

  • Previous ranking: 19

  • Next games: vs. MIA (Dec. 28), vs. DAL (Dec. 30), vs. ORL (Jan. 2)

The Warriors remain a fickle team. They won five games in a row, but played in 14 consecutive crunch-time games, most of which ended up so close because they’d relinquished a big early lead. They did close out a tight one against the Celtics in OT last week — their best win of the season — but their inconsistencies make it hard to tell what to make of this team. Are they simply average? They’re 15-15, 10th in the West, with the 13th-ranked offense and 15th-ranked defense. Golden State’s group of rookies continues to show promise, but what does that mean for and the team’s immediate success? — Andrews


2023-24 record: 15-14

  • Previous ranking: 17

  • Next games: @ CHI (Dec. 28), vs. NY (Dec. 30), @ MIL (Jan. 1)

The Pacers finally got a win last week against the Hornets but have struggled since reaching the in-season tournament finals, going 2-6 since leaving Vegas, their only victories coming against the Pistons and Hornets. Still, Pacers guard is putting together a special season, with six games with 25 points and 15 assists, the most in a season by any player since Brandon Miller (right ankle) and center Victor Wembanyama. — Lopez

30. Detroit Pistons
2023-24 record: 2-28

  • Previous ranking: 30

  • Next games: @ BOS (Dec. 28), vs. TOR (Dec. 30), @ HOU (Jan. 1)

The Pistons broke the league record for a single-season losing streak — dropping their 27th straight game to the Nets on Tuesday night. The next historical mark for the Pistons? The NBA’s overall losing streak, at 28 games, which the Sixers accumulated over the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. Their upcoming schedule almost promises they will surpass it. They travel to Boston on Thursday to face the Celtics before hosting Toronto on Saturday and starting a West Coast road trip to begin the new year. — Collier