NBA standings based on average point differential

The NBA playoffs are just six weeks away, and many teams have fewer than 20 games remaining. This is when teams make their playoff push while others bow out and look forward to the offseason. However, with the play-in tournament, more teams remain competitive, which should make for an exciting end to the season.

With standings changing nightly, let’s look beyond wins and losses and examine point differential. Point differential is a team’s cumulative margin of victory or defeat in each of their games divided by the number of games played. While not the end all be all, it’s an important stat that shows how good a team is or whether they are playing up to their full potential. Therefore, here are the standings based on average point differential.

NBA Eastern Conference:

Cleveland Cavaliers- 5.6
Boston Celtics – 5.4
Milwaukee Bucks- 4.0
Philadelphia 76ers-3.8
New York Knicks- 3.1
Toronto Raptors- 0.6
Chicago Bulls- 0.4
Brooklyn Nets-0.4
Atlanta Hawks-0.1
Washington Wizards-0.0
Miami Heat- -0.7
Indiana Pacers- -2.4
Orlando Magic- -2.8
Charlotte Hornets- -5.9
Detroit Pistons: -7.9

Point differential paints a different picture of the Eastern Conference standings. Although the Cavaliers are fourth in the East, they actually have the best point differential in the NBA by a wide margin. That suggests that they have underperformed in regard to wins and losses this season, though it could mean that they are sleeping giants in the East too.

Additionally, while the Bucks are first in the East, Boston is well ahead of them in differential. That means that the Celtics have likely had more decisive wins as well as closer losses. It’s not to say that they are better than Milwaukee, but the Bucks have likely played more close games with fewer blowout wins.

The Bulls are 11th in the East but have the 7th-best differential, which suggests they haven’t played up to their full potential, Bulls fans could tell us that much. Still, they have a good chance of righting the ship thanks to a cakewalk schedule, unlike the Toronto Raptors.

The Raptors are slightly better than their record would suggest, but they could fail to make the play-in tournament due to a tough schedule. Lastly, the Heat have a terrible differential and have actually overperformed relative to it. Although they are 7th in the standings, they have the 8th worst differential in the NBA.

NBA Western Conference:

Denver Nuggets-4.5
Memphis Grizzlies-4.0
Sacramento Kings-2.7
Phoenix Suns-2.0
OKC Thunder-1.4
Golden State Warriors- 1.0
Dallas Mavericks- 0.9
New Orleans Pelicans- 0.8
Utah Jazz- 0.0
Minnesota Timberwolves- 0.0
Los Angeles Clippers- -0.3
Portland Trail Blazers- -0.9
Los Angeles Lakers- -0.8
Houston Rockets- -9.0
San Antonio Spurs: -9.9

As for the West, the current top four seeds remain in the same order when point differential is applied. However, the Thunder, who are currently eighth in the West, actually have the fifth-best differential. That implies that they’ve been unlucky in close games.

Meanwhile, the Jazz, Wolves, Clippers, and Blazers each have a net zero differential or even a negative one, hinting that the back end of the West playoff picture is far worse than the East’s. Then again, the West has more parity, with only Denver keeping pace with the Bucks and Celtics.

At the bottom of the standings are the Rockets and Spurs, the two worst teams in the NBA. That’s something we already knew, but both teams are on pace to have the worst differentials of any team in the last five seasons. Probably not coincidentally, the prize in this year’s draft is Victor Wembanyama, a generational prospect.

Overall, point differential is a useful stat that can illustrate just how good (or bad) a team is. However, several teams have exceeded or underperformed their differential this season, which has made for an unpredictable playoff race.