B/R Community NBA Power Rankings: Where You Ranked All 30 Teams

The 2023-24 NBA season is here.

Tuesday night's TNT slate tips off the campaign with a matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets, followed by another between the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors.

To get you primed for the new season, we released fresh NBA power rankings yesterday, but that's not all. For the first time, we put the power in the hands of the B/R community to make its own ranking of the league's 30 teams. And you can find the results below.

But first, a word on how you decided the order.

With the help of AllOurIdeas.org, B/R readers and app users were able to vote on a limitless number of either/or comparisons drawn from a pool of all 30 teams.

For example, a voter might be presented with the hypothetical matchup of the Nuggets and Warriors, under the question, "Which Team Should Rank Higher to Start the 2023-24 NBA Season?"

The more votes a team got against the field, the higher up the list it rose.

And after nearly half-a-million votes from all of you, the system gave every team in the pool a score from zero to 100. If a team winds up at 80, it means it's predicted to win 80 of its next 100 matchups.

Now that the entire pool has been sorted by those scores, we can present the fans' season-opening power rankings.

30. Charlotte Hornets (ranked 27th by B/R)

29. Detroit Pistons (29th)

28. Washington Wizards (26th)

27. Portland Trail Blazers (30th)

26. Houston Rockets (24th)

There isn't a ton of deviation here from B/R's official order, but it's worth noting that the community is lower on the Rockets' offseason veteran additions.

Houston and the Wizards both feel like teams with enough experience to at least surprise some opponents early on, but you clearly weren't convinced on either.

The Hornets sinking to the bottom of the rankings is another departure, but giving their chaotic offseason, I can't really quibble with you.

25. San Antonio Spurs (ranked 28th by B/R)

24. Orlando Magic (21st)

23. Toronto Raptors (25th)

22. Chicago Bulls (23rd)

21. Indiana Pacers (22nd)

Again, we're mostly on the same wavelength with this group of teams that includes Victor Wembanyama's Spurs and four Eastern Conference play-in contenders.

However, the community's faith in the Spurs' young core is a little stronger than mine, while I'm higher on Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and the Magic.

Other than that, we're not far off. Sorting out the teams that will be fighting for seventh through 10th place in both conferences will be a season-long challenge.

20. Utah Jazz (ranked 20th by B/R)

19. Brooklyn Nets (19th)

18. Atlanta Hawks (18th)

17. New Orleans Pelicans (16th)

16. Minnesota Timberwolves (15th)

"Great minds think alike" here.

There's little to no deviation from B/R's rankings for this group, though you do appear to be slightly less confident in Zion Williamson's health for the Pelicans and the fit between Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns for the Timberwolves.

Ultimately, these teams feel like the higher-upside versions of those found on the last slide. With the exception perhaps of Utah, any of these five sneaking into the top six of their respective conferences wouldn't be shocking, but these still seem like play-in contenders.

15. Oklahoma City Thunder (ranked 17th by B/R)

14. New York Knicks (11th)

13. Dallas Mavericks (12th)

12. Memphis Grizzlies (7th)

11. Los Angeles Clippers (13th)

Alright, now we have some disagreements to get into.

First, having the Knicks behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (especially this far behind) feels like a stretch following the first-round series between the two.

Cleveland made a couple interesting offseason additions in Max Strus and Georges Niang, but it's kind of surprising that those were presumably enough to erase the Knicks' five-game drubbing of the Cavs from the community's collective memory.

The fans are obviously a little lower on the Grizzlies too, and that one makes sense in the wake of news that Steven Adams will miss the season with a knee injury. Only, most of the vote took place before that news broke, so the fans must've been more worried about Ja Morant's suspension than I was.

As for the slight differences with the other teams, I actually won't fight you much. OKC's upside is exciting, especially after seeing Chet Holmgren in the preseason. The Mavericks' depth beyond Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving is worrisome. And if the Clippers can stay healthy (a big "if," for sure), they can compete for a title.

10. Cleveland Cavaliers (ranked 14th by B/R)

9. Sacramento Kings (8th)

8. Philadelphia 76ers (10th)

7. Miami Heat (9th)

6. Los Angeles Lakers (5th)

As mentioned in the previous slide, this feels like a little excess confidence in the additions of Strus and Niang, but internal development for Darius Garland and Evan Mobley could certainly push Cleveland into the top 10.

Any other differences for this group are pretty minor, though I would not have bet on me being higher on the Lakers than the app.

That fanbase typically shows up in droves for exercises like this, but maybe the consensus is that LeBron James is finally starting to look human.

5. Golden State Warriors (ranked 6th by B/R)

4. Phoenix Suns (4th)

3. Boston Celtics (2nd)

2. Milwaukee Bucks (3rd)

1. Denver Nuggets (1st)

The Lakers are only a few months removed from beating the Warriors in the playoffs, and they made a number of encouraging offseason moves. Seeing them behind Golden State is a bit strange, though the addition of Chris Paul and a hopefully more available Andrew Wiggins will help the 2022 champs.

Otherwise, the most notable thing about this group is where the community landed on the Bucks-Celtics debate. You all have Milwaukee higher, and it's safe to say it has the better duo, but I'm betting on a top six in Boston that may be unrivaled.

And of course, leading the way, is the reigning champion Nuggets.

Even after the huge offseason moves made by the Suns (who picked up Bradley Beal), Celtics (who added Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis) and Bucks (who won the Damian Lillard sweepstakes), putting the best player in the world and, arguably, the best starting five in the top spot feels like a relatively safe bet on opening night.