Five weeks into the 2022-23 NBA season, the Utah Jazz still have the most wins in the Western Conference. But the topsy-turvy standings fun doesn’t end there, because now the red-hot Sacramento Kings are gaining ground with a seven-game winning streak.
In between the world-beating Jazz and Kings, the Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets and LA Clippers are starting to meet expectations, but none have managed to separate from the pack.
Then there are the teams that boast two of the best players in the NBA so far this season in the Luka Doncic-led Dallas Mavericks and Stephen Curry-led Golden State Warriors. Dallas and Golden State haven’t quite fully wasted the MVP-caliber performances of Doncic and Curry, but they definitely haven’t capitalized enough so far as both teams hover around .500.
The Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks still look like the two primary contenders in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, just when it looked like the Brooklyn Nets might finally have the look of a real challenger, they dropped a game to a short-handed Philadelphia 76ers team that was playing without Joel Embiid and James Harden. Still, with Kyrie Irving back on the court for Brooklyn and Ben Simmons starting to find his form, the Nets could have a chance to get back into the conversation.
See where the East’s elite, the West’s surprises and all 30 teams stand this week.
Note: Throughout the regular season, our panel (Kendra Andrews, Tim Bontemps, Jamal Collier, Nick Friedell, 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 now and which teams are looking most like title contenders.
