NBA Power Rankings Week 1: The rise of the Brooklyn Nets

After four days of games, it’s time to do the first NBA rankings of the new season with a touch of overreacting. Like a new contender inching to the top.

It needs to preface the entirety of this list. Two games for every team (except for the singular postponement) is ripe for overreacting. Most of the teams are treating these games as an extended preseason and plenty of these results will look somewhat meaningless a month from now as teams settle into their normal rotations.

But where is the fun in that? Fans love to look at a single game sample and decide the fortunes of the teams we all follow. Keeping up with the quick takes and reactions is part of what makes the season fun. So while some of these rantings and rankings may look out of place quickly, that is what we are here to do.

That being said, there is little movement at the top outside of one contender rising. It is tough to knock the Los Angeles Lakers or the Milwaukee Bucks for dropping an early game to a conference contender on this short of a turnaround. Likewise do not let some of the early wins by tankers sway you into thinking they are contenders.

These rankings are more about what we have seen on the court at this point than where the teams fall in the standings. So if some teams are winless but ahead of some undefeated squads. that is just part of the argument. Playoff races will matter more in a month or two. Right now it is all about the fun of the first week.