Report Card Grades for Every NBA Team Entering Season's Final Quarter
Believe it or not, the 2024-25 NBA regular season has officially entered its closing kick. And with every team already having played 60-plus games, it's time to update those report cards once again.
These letter grades portray the state of teams entering games on Wednesday, March 5. They can—and will—change. Heck, in the time since our quarter-mark and half-season evaluations, they have changed. (These previous marks will be included for reference and transparency.)
Each squad continues to be measured against expectations. Supposed-to-be contenders flailing in the win-loss basement will receive harsher marks than rebuilding squads de-emphasizing the here and now. Pleasant surprises will have an easier time racking up top-tier grades than known juggernauts. And so on.
Injuries will not be held against teams, but critiquing flawed processes in the face of misfortune is fair game. Though these grades reflect the entire season, commentary will often spotlight the most important developments that have come to light since last convened. Especially if and when they materially impact a squad's bigger-picture outlook.
Finally, please remember that "C" represents an average grade. Anything higher means teams are outperforming expectations. Anything lower means they're underachieving.
Atlanta Hawks: C
1 of 30
Quarter-Season Grade: B
Midseason Grade: B
Squint hard enough, and you can see the Atlanta Hawks' vision.
They have leaned out their longer-term cap sheet while surrounding Trae Young with a bunch of rangy, often-disruptive defenders. Even if you aren't a fan of their trade-deadline happenings (*raises hand*), they did at least resist the urge to overcorrect their immediate direction knowing the San Antonio Spurs control their next three draft picks.
This is invariably damning with faint praise. Atlanta punted on too much secondary offense even before Jalen Johnson's season-ending shoulder surgery, and its defense, while plucky, is losing steam. (Dyson Daniels remains a terror.)
Trae Young's perimeter-shooting struggles can be excused relative to the spacing around him, and Zaccharie Risacher is downing more than 46 percent of his triples since the team's midway grade.
Overall, though, the Hawks are no longer overachievers, and their trade-deadline returns featured neither intriguing enough players nor draft compensation to clarify their path forward.
Boston Celtics: B
2 of 30
Quarter-Season Grade: A
Mid-Season Grade: B
Recency bias will call for a harsher critique of the Boston Celtics. They just lost to the Detroit Pistons (Feb. 26), blew multiple monster leads against the Cleveland Cavaliers (Feb. 28) and did their best to fall apart versus the Denver Nuggets (Mar. 2).
Somewhat quietly, the New York Knicks have inched within striking distance of Boston's second-place spot in the East.
Consider any blips micro-concerns. This Celtics squad remains closer to a juggernaut than classically vulnerable. Even some of its previous red flags have stabilized since the midseason check-in.
Jaylen Brown's three-point clip has crept closer to a more digestible 35 percent during a 15-game stretch. Cleveland is the only offense nailing more of its triples over this same span, and the Celtics are fourth in defensive rebounding rate, too.
Boston is engendering skepticism by ostensibly making life harder on itself. That is caked into its overall grade. The Celtics are nevertheless still on pace to win nearly 60 games, have dismantled the Knicks in each of their meetings and possess the firepower to build should-be insurmountable leads against powerhouses like the Cavs.
Brooklyn Nets: B
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Quarter-Season Grade: B
Midseason Grade: B
After winning six of seven games to close out January and begin February, the Brooklyn Nets have hit the rebuilding sweet spot.
Ideally, they would be tracking toward better than top-six lottery odds. They only control their next two first-rounders. Urgent badness is of the essence. But you can't fault a team that was built to lose from the start and has proved feistier than its design at every turn.
If anything, Brooklyn's competitiveness amid frequent experimentation is a harbinger of good process.
Head coach Jordi Fernandez cobbled together plenty of offensive innovation to start the year. By the trade deadline, he shifted to a more frenetic defensive approach. The end result? The Nets are fourth in points allowed per possession since the last batch of report cards.
Charlotte Hornets: D
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Quarter-Season Grade: C
Midseason Grade: C-
Injury-bug bites and a clear prioritization of the bigger picture have floated Charlotte Hornets optimism for most of 2024-25. That should remain the case following their trade-deadline approach and a season-ending right wrist surgery for Brandon Miller.
It doesn't.
Charlotte is fresh off a historically awful three-game stretch. Even more ridiculously, the Hornets allowed themselves to get swept by the Washington Wizards, of all teams, this season.
Clinging to silver linings from the traded-but-not-really Mark Williams and Moussa Diabaté does only so much when they likely mean little to the longer haul and aren't accompanied by other breaks in the clouds. Not even LaMelo Ball looks consistent right now.
This aggregate uncertainty surrounding who will show up from night-to-night cannot simply be written off because Charlotte (wisely) fired up the tank earlier than expected. It is instead the kind of recurrent ambiguity, verging on futility, that may end up demanding wholesale introspection over the offseason.
Chicago Bulls: C-
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Quarter-Season Grade: C
Midseason Grade: C-
Just four teams have a lower net rating than the Chicago Bulls since the midseason grades. During this time, the Windy City's finest have jettisoned Zach LaVine, reacquired the rights to this year's draft pick and leaned more aggressively into the Matas Buzelis Experience™.
This should be cause for celebration—questionable asset valuation in the LaVine trade notwithstanding. Instead, it's both too little and too late.
Chicago's decision to do nothing beyond the LaVine deal at the deadline is certainly a choice. And its overall activity was worse than long overdue. The Bulls will likely lose their hearts out for the rest of the year and still stumble into the Eastern Conference's play-in tournament.
Maybe this was the plan all along. It better not have been.
Regardless, extended flashes from Buzelis and recent upticks from Josh Giddey and Coby White are undeniably positive developments. They just fail to overshadow Chicago's inability to map out a clear and coherent endgame.
Cleveland Cavaliers: A
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Quarter-Season Grade: A
Midseason Grade: A
Potential pain points have bubbled to the surface for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The defensive rebounding remains lackluster during one-big minutes. Opponents with mismatch-hunters can really go after the backcourt. Evan Mobley is shooting under 26 percent from deep since the midseason report cards. Is Cleveland's Feb. 28 come-from-behind victory over Boston proof of its championship arrival or evidence of prospective fragility?
Nothing noted above is enough to upend the Cavs' 11-of-out-10 marks, though.
No team is perfect, Cleveland included. The Cavs are better suited to papering over their flaws with an innovative offense and depth that begets lineup optionality. They do not have the league's best record by chance.
Cleveland also deserves a round of applause for its trade-deadline acquisition of De'Andre Hunter. It helps that he's burying nearly 42 percent of his treys with the Cavs. But the decision by team president Koby Altman and the front office to swing for the fences at a time when this group is rolling takes guts.
Dallas Mavericks: F
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Quarter-Season: B
Midseason Grade: B
The Dallas Mavericks are spared the dreaded "F-" out of respect for what players like Kyrie Irving, P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford (when healthy), Naji Marshall and Max Christie have done well on the court amid mass injuries and indefensible turnover.
Everything else about this team's present and future sucks. The root cause: an arrogant C-Suite headed by president of basketball operations Nico Harrison and married-into-the-gig managing governor Patrick Dumont.
For argument's sake, let's pretend to buy their vision of a gargantuan, defensively versatile team that, conceptually, gums up the most dynamic and/or superstar-driven offenses. Assuming this needed to come at the expense of Luka Dončić (it didn't), the path to actualization should not include aging up, and increasing fragility at, the top of your roster.
Recent injuries to Irving (ACL) and Anthony Davis (groin) prove as much. The same even goes for Jaden Hardy (ankle). Oh, and for Caleb Martin, who has yet to play for this team.
Dallas is now left to scrounge up offensive initiation from a pool of players ill-fit to provide it after trading one of the three best primary initiators in the business—a hopeless venture that underscores not just this season's end destination (the lottery) but also the organization's descent into indefinite fecklessness.
Denver Nuggets: B
8 of 30
Quarter-Season Grade: D
Midseason Grade: B
Bright spots abound for the Denver Nuggets.
Jamal Murray is back to championship form. Michael Porter Jr. has never been more dynamic. Christian Braun's Most Improved Player case endures. Zeke Nnaji looks good. Jalen Pickett propaganda is a thing. Nikola Jokić may yet win his fourth MVP.
Combine all this, along with Denver's top-three offense since mid-schedule grades, and the vibes are gruh-ate. They should be.
Perspective is important here, too. The Nuggets' uneven start to the season still happened. More critically, they are not the New York Knicks, breaking ground inside the championship contender cul-de-sac for the first time. Denver is supposed to rank among the foremost title favorites.
Relative to the rest of the league outside Boston, Cleveland and Oklahoma City, it absolutely does. Yet, a losing record vs. teams .500 or better—as well as a 5-14 showing versus opponents with top-10 point differentials—limits how much we can value its midseason metamorphosis.
Detroit Pistons: A
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Quarter-Season Grade: B
Midseason Grade: A-
Finding ways to portray the Detroit Pistons' season in anything other than a complete and utter positive light is increasingly impossible. You have to really play up the "They are better off not conveying their first-round pick to Minnesota" card or be peeved by their limited experimentation with Ausar Thompson-Ron Holland II tandem minutes.
In all actuality, there is no better story than these Pistons. They are firmly entrenched in the East's playoff—not play-in; playoff—picture, with a top-10 defense (top-three since midseason grades) that belies the personnel.
Detroit's success is made all the more sweeter knowing it's either come because of or without compromising long-term development.
Thompson, Cade Cunningham, and Jalen Duren are active participants in the uprising, and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff continues to find reps for Holland. Jaden Ivey's season-ending injury created a void, but the Pistons managed to fill it by parlaying cap space into Dennis Schröder, to whom they aren't obligated beyond this season.
Recent outside-shooting slides from Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tobias Harris don't come close to negating how much they've helped overall.
Malik Beasley, meanwhile, would like to remind you the Sixth Man of the Year race remains open—and that this team rules.
Golden State Warriors: B
10 of 30
Quarter-Season Grade: B
Midseason Grade: D
The Golden State Warriors get a well-deserved bump from their midseason marks after the front office finally acted like it cares about maximizing the Stephen Curry window by trading for Jimmy Butler.
His initial fit has also been more seamless than expected, contributing to the team's top-six net rating since the midway report card.
Equally, if not most, important: Golden State is crushing opponents when Butler plays without a Steph. The sample spans just a couple hundred possessions, and we have to see how the overall dynamic handles the return of Jonathan Kuminga. But even the prospect of optimizing both the Steph and non-Steph minutes is a giant deal.
Curry's continued exploits are part of the Warriors' newfound appeal as well. So, too, is the post-injury play of Brandin Podziemski; the emergence of Quinton Post; and, shooting slump in mind, the performance of Moses Moody following Andrew Wiggins' exit.
Hovering inside the top six of the West is right where the Warriors should be, which lends itself to "C" territory. But they are now better built to strike lightning in a bottle. And that makes a world of difference.
Houston Rockets: B
11 of 30
Quarter-Season Grade: A
Midseason Grade: A
Slogging through an extended absence from Fred VanVleet—as well as a brief sideline stay for Alperen Şengün—has reinforced the limits of the Houston Rockets offense.
They rank inside the bottom 10 of points scored per possession since midseason grades, a drop-off fueled almost entirely by a 28th-ranked half-court attack.
Anyone who begged the Rockets to consolidate at the trade deadline will feel vindicated. Total dependence on transition annihilation and VanVleet doesn't inspire much postseason confidence.
Still, Houston was well within reason to stand pat. The defense retains hellfire mystique, even as it's slipped closer to league average, and the bulk of the core is young enough to value information gleaned from a status-quo playoff appearance.
Hanging tough in the ultra-brutal Western Conference while getting steps forward from Amen Thompson and Tari Eason, specifically, is a feat unto itself.
Houston's recent "slide" does not undo an overall encouraging body of work.
Indiana Pacers: B
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Quarter-Season Grade: D-
Midseason Grade: B
There is perhaps no better signal of the Indiana Pacers' progress than the intervening period between midseason grades and now.
They churned out some uncomfortably uneven performances during this stretch—and have a winning record to go along with a top-seven offense and nowhere-near-rock-bottom defense anyway.
Tyrese Haliburton is back to playing MVP basketball. Pascal Siakam's All-NBA case is flying under the radar. Myles Turner is draining threes on, by his standards, monster volume.
Andrew Nembhard is leaving his mark even when he's not hitting threes, at times propping up a defense that is currently struggling to provide resistance at the rim. Be sure to purchase some Ben Sheppard stock before it sells out.
Indiana's playoff viability remains a question mark and often seems too tethered to what it gets from—or how much it uses—Bennedict Mathurin, Obi Toppin and Jarace Walker.
The makeup of this roster, though, leaves head coach Rick Carlisle with plenty of different levers to pull. The Pacers look comparably menacing to, if not more threatening than, Milwaukee and New York because of it.
Los Angeles Clippers: B
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Quarter-Season Grade: A
Midseason Grade: B
Losing five of their first six games coming out of the All-Star break has quieted some of the hype that was starting to build for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Actual availability from Kawhi Leonard has not resulted in obvious title contention. The Clippers just squandered his best offensive performance of the season in a Mar. 2 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bake in a cold spell from recent acquisition Bogdan Bogdanović, and this post-All-Star stretch serves as a sobering reminder of both the Clippers' flaws and the sheer difficulty of the conference in which they play.
Nods to recent struggles are important. They do not undermine everything the Clippers have already done. They are still third in points allowed per possession. Ivica Zubac is still killing it. Derrick Jones Jr. is still providing outsized two-way value. Norman Powell is still tracking toward Most Improved Player consideration, even as his three-point clip dipped pre-hamstring injury.
Most of all, the Clippers are still trucking opponents when Leonard, Powell, Zubac and James Harden share the floor. This team may not be certified title threats, but even retaining dark-horse appeal noticeably outstrips what was expected of it.
Los Angeles Lakers: A
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Quarter-Season Grade: C-
Midseason Grade: C
Having the wherewithal to capitalize on the Dallas Mavericks' organizational incompetence factors very little into the Los Angeles Lakers' updated grade. (Though, kudos to the franchise for accomplishing the elementary-school feat of keeping a secret.)
Their grade might even be lower if the Mark Williams deal had gone through. Unloading their last real trade chips on a center who doesn't provide enough defensive utility was questionable at best.
This is more about the Lakers overachieving independent of Luka Dončić and open-for-interpretation physicals.
Los Angeles pairs a top-three net rating with a league-best defense since midseason grades. Its performance on the less-glamorous end is absurd when you consider Anthony Davis last suited up for the team on Jan. 28 and was jettisoned along with point-of-attack pest Max Christie in advance of the trade deadline.
Many smart people do not expect the Lakers' defensive intensity to hold. Plenty are also waiting for LeBron James to actually age; for Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura to slip off; for Jaxson Hayes' minutes to go south; and, among other things, for small(er)-ball combinations to implode.
Perhaps this all comes to pass. Until then, the Lakers are built around two of the seven or 10 most talented offensive stars on Earth and an at-worst competent defense.
Some of their vitals may scream "frauds," but their record and place in the West (second) bellows the exact opposite.
Memphis Grizzlies: B
15 of 30
Quarter-Season Grade: A
Midseason Grade: A
Cracks are starting to show in the Memphis Grizzlies' armor. They are barely above .500 since midseason grades, during which time they are 23rd in points allowed per possession on the back of transition struggles and heightened issues preventing second-chance opportunities.
A relative lack of positional size seems to be a primary culprit. Rookie Zach Edey is huge. Can he play more minutes? Vince Williams Jr. and Scotty Pippen Jr. scrap and claw. They also routinely give up size and strength. Jaylen Wells might be Rookie of the Year but, despite being listed at 6'7", he can be overtaxed versus bigger wings.
Memphis does rank in the top five of offensive efficiency over this span, but its performance still feels somewhat flimsy.
Ja Morant is dealing with a shoulder injury and has looked less than transcendent. Jaren Jackson Jr. remains a bright spot but needed to leave Monday's loss against Atlanta with a left ankle issue. Desmond Bane Jr. is drilling threes again, but the team's first-shot offense continues to lack a certain punch.
Write it all off as part and parcel of a long season—and a byproduct of losing so many close games. The Grizzlies are deep and talented. Their inability to add at the trade deadline, though, was an interesting choice when they have a lower winning percentage versus opponents .500 or better than the Golden State Warriors.
Miami Heat: D
16 of 30
Quarter-Season Grade: C
Midseason Grade: C
Life after Jimmy Butler is underscoring just how ill-prepared the Miami Heat are to exist without him—especially on offense.
Everybody's job is harder. Tyler Herro is overtaxed, and his efficiency has plunged. Andrew Wiggins is struggling to find his groove. Kel'el Ware's outside efficiency has subsided. Jaime Jaquez Jr. (sidelined with an ankle injury) is flirting with afterthought status.
Bam Adebayo has started crescendoing. It has not prevented the Heat from turning in a 25th-ranked offense since Butler last suited up. Miami's attack rates in the 21st percentile overall when he and Herro are running the show.
Anecdotally speaking, there seem to be more moments in which the Heat deviate from their core principles—when they allow defenses to dictate the terms of half-court engagement, including ball and body movement.
Certain folks are ascribing blame to head coach Erik Spoelstra failing to adjust. There may be kernels of truth to that stance, but the Heat aren't teeming with the players and general talent to effectively adapt. That was true before the Butler saga, and it puts the franchise in an awkward and uninspiring spot, both immediately and when looking ahead.
Milwaukee Bucks: B
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Quarter-Season Grade: C-
Midseason Grade: B
Flipping Khris Middleton (and AJ Johnson) for Kyle Kuzma at the trade deadline was a controversial move by the Milwaukee Bucks. But it's paying off so far.
Kuzma continues to float beneath 32 percent from distance but is doing a solid job moving without the ball and fighting on defense. His arrival has given way to an ultra-huge starting five that may eventually require more spacing, yet for now is steamrolling opponents.
The addition of both Kuzma and Kevin Porter Jr. has permitted head coach Doc Rivers to favor more tandem minutes from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
Climbing to fourth in the Eastern Conference relative to how the Bucks began the year is a relief. That's materially different from an achievement. They still have one of the league's worst fourth-quarter offenses and rank inside the bottom five of defensive efficiency against top-10 offenses. The burden of proof remains theirs to bear.
Minnesota Timberwolves: C-
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Quarter-Season Grade: D
Midseason Grade: D
Gussying up the Minnesota Timberwolves' grade requires us to operate under the premise that last year's Western Conference Finals run was a fluke. I'm not. That team was a problem. This year's group is a different sort of problem.
Maintaining a top-10 offense and defense since midseason grades is an absolute victory. It is not reflective of much more consistency.
Minnesota remains among the teams most likely to play down to the level of its opponent. That its net rating against top-10 squads ranks fourth while its net rating versus bottom-10 teams checks in at 12th is almost too perfect.
Even the Timberwolves' positive developments are laced with caveats. Absences from Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert and Donte DiVincenzo provided windows of opportunity for Rob Dillingham, Terrence Shannon Jr. and even Naz Reid. It will be fascinating to see how head coach Chris Finch juggles the entire rotation at full strength.
Whether this optionality is a harbinger of progress or further complications remains to be seen.
New Orleans Pelicans: C-
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Quarter-Season Grade: D-
Midseason Grade: C-
Shifting goalposts have defined the New Orleans Pelicans' season.
Expectations were clearly higher, but New Orleans is snake-bitten even by its own standards. Setting its phasers to "experimental" mode was the only option.
Giving the Pelicans close to an average grade feels a little icky anyway. They are mostly being demerited for letting the Brandon Ingram relationship fester long past its expiration and earlier stylistic stubbornness.
The healthy(ish), more centralized version of this team validates what it could have been. Zion Williamson is dominating, providing glimpses into his superstar-playmaker self on offense while remaining active on defense. New Orleans has won the minutes he's logged this season—a small coup under the circumstances.
Trey Murphy (holy playmaking) is making a late push for Most Improved Player. Yves Missi is perfecting floor navigation away from the ball. Karlo Matković is offering frontcourt stretch.
Faced with a bleak—if avoidable—present outlook, the Pelicans have preserved longer-term hope.
New York Knicks: B
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Quarter-Season Grade: B
Midseason Grade: B
Much is being made of the New York Knicks' 0-7 record versus the league's top-three teams as well as their 29th-ranked defense against top-10 offenses. Rightfully so.
New York is trying to punch its championship-contention ticket. The standard to which it's held must increase manyfold. Nitpicking over the performance of the starting lineup, depth of the rotation, defense, unnecessarily close games—it all comes with the territory.
This should not entirely detract from an otherwise quality season. The Knicks are on pace for a top-five record and offense, have a real-life on-court superhero in Jalen Brunson and will be favored in whatever first-round playoff matchup they pull.
That comes as minimal comfort when viewed through the cost of fielding this team. But top-of-the-roster overhauls seldom crystallize in a single season. New York has needed to incorporate two significant new faces (Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns) and spent most of 2024-25 without last year's defensive anchor (Mitchell Robinson).
The Knicks do not profile as a complete product as presently constructed, but they've done enough to delay declaring this nucleus #NotGoodEnough until the playoffs unfold and they get an offseason to adjust based on the results.
Oklahoma City Thunder: A
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Quarter-Season Grade: A-
Midseason Grade: A
Feigning worry over the Oklahoma City Thunder is a chore. Even the most valid concerns are easy to excuse. Let's run through 'em all, with the "But!" to each in italics:
—The defense is 19th in points allowed per possession since the trade deadline (...during which time Oklahoma City is 9-2 with a top-two offense).
—Dual-big minutes with Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein have been lackluster on defense (...across a whopping sample size of just 248 possessions, and they still have a net rating of 8.8)
—Oklahoma City's offense flounders without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, including when Jalen Williams is on the court. (You mean to say a top-two MVP candidate is valuable to the offense?)
That last tidbit is worth monitoring. But Oklahoma City is winning the non-SGA minutes overall, and the offense has shown resolve when J-Dub is paired with Hartenstein or Holmgren. If anything, this issue cannot be adjudicated until it spills over into the playoffs.
Orlando Magic: C
22 of 30
Quarter-Season Grade: A
Midseason Grade: B
Injuries have derailed what, at one point, looked to be a championship contender's arrival in Central Florida.
Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner may finish the regular season appearing in six games together. This says nothing of Mo Wagner's left ACL injury or time missed by Gary Harris and Wendell Carter Jr.
The Orlando Magic's defense has raged on amid their availability crisis. They are second in points allowed per possession for the season and first overall in fourth quarters and crunch time.
To what end injuries excuse a bottom-five offense and historically bad three-point shooting is debatable. Absences have not bilked the Magic of deadeye snipers, because they never housed them, despite years of evidence proving they needed them.
Orlando could also stand to play faster in an attempt to offset spacing deficits versus set defenses. It ranks 30th in average offensive possession time, according to Inpredictable, and doesn't look to run nearly enough during Banchero's minutes.
Its overall performance in the face of misfortune is admirable, but the offensive flaws, at this point, are ingrained into its DNA.
Philadelphia 76ers: F
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Perpetual uncertainty surrounding the state of Joel Embiid's left knee offers the Philadelphia 76ers some reprieve from the harshest spotlights. The problem is they've burned through that goodwill a katrillion times over.
Finding the right course for Embiid's long-term viability is not a matter entirely within their control. Completely obfuscating their, let's say, trial-and-error approach is on them. It doesn't matter whether "them" in this case means Joel Embiid, team president Daryl Morey, managing governor Josh Harris or somebody else. Philadelphia actively prioritized opacity all year, which is categorically dumb and altogether unforgivable.
None of the Sixers' brighter spots—Jared McCain (pre-injury), Guerschon Yabusele, Justin Edwards—provides enough cover to offset their missteps, particularly when those follies extend well beyond Embiid.
Head coach Nick Nurse has chaperoned this team in head-scratching ways even relative to its rampant ambiguity. Philly has lost the minutes played by the Big Three—and is a net-negative during two-star stints as well, according to PBP Stats.
Half-assing it at the trade deadline is the nail in the Sixers' coffin. Skirting the tax is fine as part of a larger-scale selldown. It was, instead, an extension of Philly's refusal to close the door on this season that was never really open in the first place.
Phoenix Suns: F-
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Quarter-Season Grade: D
Midseason Grade: F
Skeptics of the Phoenix Suns' top-heavy roster construction could always envision a scenario in which this team flamed out before the playoffs. Failing catastrophic injuries, though, nobody saw them potentially winning fewer games than the...Portland Trail Blazers.
And yet, here the Suns are, owners of the NBA's least desirable outlook, much to the appreciation of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Virtually nothing is going right. This team cannot get stops. Head coach Mike Budenholzer isn't even pretending to field lineups that might change that anymore. Adding Tyus Jones, who is no longer starting, did not remedy turnover issues. That Phoenix ranks just 12th in offense is a brain-bending failure. Ditto for its point differential during Big Three minutes.
The Suns compounded their own hopelessness around the trade deadline. Not only did they ultimately view their 2031 first-rounder as a vehicle through which they'd dump Jusuf Nurkić without landing Jimmy Butler, but they also tried dealing Kevin Durant without his collaboration and/or knowledge, setting the stage for inevitable, zero-leverage negotiations this summer.
Portland Trail Blazers: B
25 of 30
Quarter-Season Grade: C-
Midseason Grade: C
Unexpected, if unintended, success in the win column can subvert a rebuilding team's outlook. The Portland Trail Blazers do not fall squarely into that bucket.
Both their present and future outlook is more complicated.
Racking up wins now—they are fifth in net rating and second in defense since midseason grades—costs them ground in the draft lottery. And there are at least two players who either shouldn't be on the roster or anywhere near the rotation. Portland's grade is lowered accordingly.
By and large, though, the Blazers are obliterating expectations on the backs of their most important long-term names. Deandre Ayton (calf) has not played since early February, and Jerami Grant has missed a chunk of time. Scoot Henderson, Toumani Camara, Shaedon Sharpe, Deni Avdija and Donovan Clingan have all shined to varying degrees.
It would be easier to lament the Blazers' uptick if they didn't have a blue-chip prospect on their hands. They potentially have three.
The most detached observers won't assign meaningful value to Avdija and Anfernee Simons. Portland has, and even if it's wrong, it won't go down as the kind of miss that impedes surrounding development.
Hammering the Blazers for not being worse requires a suspension of belief in, specifically, Henderson's ability to become the guy. It's much too early for that.
Sacramento Kings: C-
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Quarter-Season Grade: C-
Midseason Grade: B-
The Sacramento Kings deserve a more favorable grade if you buy into their post-De'Aaron Fox vision. This presumes they have one.
Posting the sixth-best net rating since the trade deadline carves out some latitude. Will it sustain following Domantas Sabonis' left hamstring strain? And a schedule that won't forever see them face a who's who of unspectacular opponents? We'll see.
Immediately, Sacramento has traveled great lengths to end up inside play-in territory, with a point differential worth only two more expected wins compared to last year. Its longer-term path is even hazier.
Whatever you think of Fox and the offers available at the time he was moved, the Kings botched the end of his relationship by letting it reach a point of no-leverage no-return.
Rendering this interpretation of their season incorrect rests not only on how they finish 2024-25 but also their ability to do what they've proved incapable of doing for the past few years: Figuring out how to do more than tread water in the middle.
San Antonio Spurs: C-
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Quarter-Season Grade: B
Midseason Grade: C
Winning the minutes with Victor Wembanyama on the floor before his season ended gave the San Antonio Spurs a line to smashing expectations. Without him, the delicacy of their balancing act is shining through.
San Antonio needs to establish itself outside of Wembanyama. De'Aaron Fox may eventually help with that. He's not yet. The Spurs are minus-10.8 points per 100 possessions when he plays without the Frenchman. Adding Devin Vassell or Stephon Castle doesn't help matters.
To be sure, some lineup combinations have flashed independence—just not across large enough sample sizes. The Spurs are early enough into the Wemby era that sagging in the standings to close this year is a feature rather than a bug. Draft-lottery odds and whatnot.
The stakes will climb this summer, though, as they integrate another higher-end prospect, have the opportunity to make other additions and get Fox—Wemby's primary co-star until further notice—to go through a training camp with the team.
Toronto Raptors: C
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Quarter-Season Grade: B
Midseason Grade: C
This season's Toronto Raptors have been yanked in a variety of directions. Some were forced by injuries; others were traveled by choice.
Brandon Ingram's arrival and extension sheds clarity on what comes next, even though he isn't on the floor. Toronto is clearly treating this season (and last) as its gap year, a chance to accelerate its position inside the Eastern Conference by way of immediate information-culling and a high draft pick.
The approach is medium-risk, high-reward. The Raptors have vacillated between individual and aggregate progress at both ends of the floor. Their current iteration is showing renewed defensive swagger as the offense lags in the face of experimentation that might pay off later, particularly as it pertains to Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.
There may yet be cause for concern. The Barnes-Barrett-Quickley-Jakob Poeltl quartet has not picked up where it left off last season. Small samples can be misleading, and the Raptors have gained valuable intel on everyone from Gradey Dick and Ochai Agbaji to Jonathan Mogbo, Jamal Shead and Ja'Kobe Walter. But this self-exploration does not currently suggest Toronto is one Ingram away from a breakthrough without further material changes. And in the end, perhaps that's the entire point of this season.
Utah Jazz: C
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Quarter-Season Grade: C-
Midseason Grade: C
After two seasons' worth of overachieving that required midstream course correction, the Utah Jazz have positioned themselves for primo odds.
Despite doing exactly what everyone was clamoring for back in 2022, they are still frequently trolled, because they didn't conform soon enough and, as a result, lack a definitive face of the future.
These critiques are one-part fair, eight-parts tired. Pretty much everyone assumed the Jazz were sufficiently bad before 2022-23, and then again in 2023-24. It was—and still is—on team CEO Danny Ainge and general manager Justin Zanik to better position Utah's prospect pool. But dinging the Jazz for the purported absence of a blue-chip prospect oversimplifies the circumstances of years past.
Plus, Utah has spent 2024-25 gaining valuable intel on just about everyone. Walker Kessler is better than ever. Isaiah Collier is tantalizing for both his pinnacles and nadirs. Keyonte George looks most comfortable off the bench. Kyle Filipowski has real shoot-or-drive feel.
Bemoan the Jazz's decision to hold relative serve at the deadline if you please. Retaining Collin Sexton, Jordan Clarkson and John Collins has neither roadblocked prospect development or proximity to top-four lottery odds.
Utah's season may not be revelatory, but it's also far from a failure.
Washington Wizards: C
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Quarter-Season Grade: D
Midseason Grade: C-
Wins cannot be the primary measure for the Washington Wizards' season. Their evaluation is more about process and development.
Washington is probably in its best spot across both arenas. Its trade-deadline activity reinforced commitment to incumbent youngsters while netting a couple of rehabilitation fliers in Khris Middleton and Marcus Smart.
You can also see this team taking steps forward on the defensive end, where it ranks 16th in points allowed per possession since halfway-there grades and continues to (generally) allow the right kind of shots.
Sticklers will harp on the efficiency of the Wizards' most important players—namely Bilal Coulibaly and Alex Sarr.
That is to some extent fair. But Sarr made offensive strides galore prior to ankle issues, and though head coach Brian Keefe could stand to be more creative with Coulibaly's touches, the decision to emphasize his on-ball reps is further evidence this organization #getsit.
Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.
Unless otherwise cited, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass. Salary information via Spotrac. Draft-pick obligations via RealGM.
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