NBA rankings: From No. 30 to No. 1, which teams need to blow it up?

There are a lot of unhappy NBA teams right now. We’ve seen players like Ja Morant question their coaching staffs. We’ve seen coaches like Doug Christie question their players. There are would-be contenders playing terribly like the Clippers. We’ve already seen our first GM firing in Nico Harrison and our first coach firing in Willie Green, formerly of the Pelicans. 

When things like this happen, the instinct is very often to suggest that the team in question should blow it up: trade everyone, get a bunch of draft picks, maybe change coaches or front offices and start over. It’s often a better idea in theory than in practice. Teams have tickets to sell. They want people to watch their games and buy their jerseys. This is a business. It’s Twitter’s first step and usually a team’s last.

But inevitably, some teams really have no better option, and this year, there seem to be a fair number of teams in that boat. So we’re going to rank them. All 30 of them, from the teams least in need of a blow up to the teams that should already be stacking dynamite.

Tier IX: No-explosives zone

30. Oklahoma City Thunder

29. Denver Nuggets

28. Cleveland Cavaliers

27. San Antonio Spurs

26. Houston Rockets

25. New York Knicks

24. Detroit Pistons

The teams in this group are perfectly happy with what they have and will not entertain the idea of blowing anything up. They more or less speak for themselves. Here we have the top two seeds in the Eastern Conference as of this writing, the top three seeds in the West, along with the No. 5 seeds in both. 

Tier VIII: Hoping to scavenge someone else’s rubble

23. Minnesota Timberwolves

22. Golden State Warriors

21. Los Angeles Lakers

At some point in the next year or two, all three of these teams will probably make a substantive trade. They just won’t be blow-it-up trades. They’ll be win-now moves. All three of them are presently competitive Western Conference teams that are, in all likelihood, at least one upgrade away from genuinely competing for a championship. The Lakers are missing at least one defender. The Warriors could use a bit more youth and athleticism as well as some extra scoring. The Timberwolves probably need a long-term Mike Conley replacement.

Really, though, these teams are just going to be opportunistic. The Lakers have the chips to chase a superstar if they want one now that Austin Reaves has ascended to All-Star-level. The Warriors will sniff around the Jonathan Kuminga market and see what they can find. The Timberwolves are liable to do just about anything. This is the team that traded Karl-Anthony Towns the weekend before training camp. The Lakers, just by virtue of having Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles market to sell, are probably the likeliest to make a significant win-now trade soon, but the order here is mostly negligible. 

The Wolves have the least to trade, so they’re at the bottom. The Warriors have the most restrictive salary structure, so they’re in the middle. But all three will pounce for the right deal.

Tier VII: Still sorting their own rubble

20. Brooklyn Nets

19. Washington Wizards

18. Charlotte Hornets

The Nets just blew things up a year ago. For the Wizards, it’s been two years. The Hornets? Well, I can’t exactly remember the last time there was a standing structure in Charlotte. The lot has just mostly remained vacant for the past … well … always. The point here is that there isn’t much left to be blown up.

The Nets still have Michael Porter Jr. and Nic Claxton as tradable veterans. The Wizards will almost certainly let CJ McCollum and Khris Middleton finish the season on contenders if they want to, either through trades or buyouts, but the young core is staying put. Charlotte has a bit more room for a substantial fire sale. If someone wanted Miles Bridges, they’d likely listen, and LaMelo Ball rumors pop up every now and again. But mostly, these are teams in the middle of a rebuild. They won’t blow it up because they’ve already done so.

Tier VI: Letting things play out

17. Orlando Magic

16. Portland Trail Blazers

15. Miami Heat

14. Philadelphia 76ers

13. Chicago Bulls

12. Toronto Raptors

The Magic occupy their own space in this group. They just made their all-in move for Desmond Bane and the results have been mixed thus far. They’re above the luxury tax line, so a move to get back underneath it may well come at some point, but it’s far too early to do anything major beyond that. The Magic are still figuring out who they are and what they have.

Everyone else? They’re the good vibes gang. All five of them have gotten off to promising starts so far this season and are likely content to see how things go before making any major decisions. Portland hasn’t even seen Scoot Henderson play yet this year, so it would be irresponsible to do anything too big until they know what they have. The Heat are always happy to hunt for stars, but they’re also waiting for a guard to come back in Tyler Herro, and their new playing style is working so well that there’s no need to force anything crazy.

The 76ers are somewhat reminiscent of the Bulls last season. Chicago tried and failed to shop Zach LaVine in the 2024 offseason. A hot start for him opened the door for a trade and the Bulls pounced. Philadelphia likely feels the same way about Paul George and Joel Embiid. Nobody would’ve touched those contracts before the season began. Would this year’s hot start compel anyone to take the plunge? If so, the Sixers would likely be eager to get off of either deal and more fully hand the team over to Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.

Chicago somewhat falls in the “already blew things up” group with the Nets, Wizards and Hornets, but they’re playing well and may be open to an explosive trade in the other direction. The Anthony Davis rumors are inevitable given their need for a defensive center and his ties to the area, so until his situation is settled, the Bulls will be on trade watch. However, they probably aren’t looking to make just any major trade. If it’s not Davis, they’re probably happy to see how this season plays out.

The Raptors have won nine of their past 10 as of this writing, but mostly against weaker competition. In truth, we don’t know what Toronto’s long-term vision is. If the goal is just to be competitive and make the playoffs, they might already be there. But there’s no obvious path to entering the championship picture or even consistently winning a playoff round. They’re the first reasonably good team we can say probably should blow it up if they had any real ambition. However, considering what they’re paying for this team and how recently they changed regimes, they’re probably just going to play out the season and see what happens. 

Tier V: Has consulted their local explosives expert

11. Indiana Pacers

10. Boston Celtics

9. Atlanta Hawks

The Pacers and Celtics have taken different approaches to their gap years. The Celtics shipped out a number of high-profile veterans and openly took trade calls for stars like Jaylen Brown and Derrick White. The Pacers aren’t known to have done the same for any of their core players after losing Myles Turner in free agency, though one could argue there’s reason for them to do so before the deadline. With Tyrese Haliburton out this season, Pascal Siakam will be 33 at the earliest the next time the Pacers play in the playoffs. Does his timeline still align with the rest of the team’s? The same could be asked of T.J. McConnell, who’s even older.

Yet the Pacers, the team that kept almost everyone, are having the far worse season. They’ve won only two games this year and appear poised to pick at the top of next year’s draft. Injuries have been primarily responsible for their struggles, but they present an opportunity. The Pacers could still get a haul for their older players, make a top draft pick, and completely reconfigure for the long haul. Letting Turner go was already a step in that direction, but going any further would go against everything this organization traditionally stands for. The Pacers are about as conservative with player-movement as any team in the NBA. This isn’t in their nature.

The Celtics tend to be more aggressive and open-minded, so they have to rank ahead of Indiana, but they’re actually playing reasonably well. They won’t contend for the title even if Jayson Tatum comes back. The front court is just too thin. But they’ll hang around the play-in mix. That could change with injuries, and they’d likely still be open to a significant enough offer for Brown or White, but they’re not trading those players just to trade them. After all, with a healthy Tatum, they’re really only one strong offseason away from jumping right back into the title picture next year.

And then we have the Hawks, who might be playing Trae Young out of a job. Atlanta is 7-2 without him thus far this season, and he’s a potential 2026 free agent thanks to his player option. With a high lottery pick from New Orleans incoming and a dominant Young-less defense, the Hawks could very easily talk themselves into jettisoning Young now, before a long-term contract becomes potentially burdensome. The trouble here is that the Hawks have looked into Young trades in the past and never found strong offers. It’s obviously too early to say where this goes, but if Young returns and the Hawks regress, it’s possible that the Hawks treat Young as the Clippers once treated Paul George and just let him walk so they can reallocate the cap space elsewhere. Either way, there’s explosive potential here. The onus is going to be on Young to prove he belongs as part of this new, defense-first Hawks team.

Tier IV: Strong starts but…

8. Phoenix Suns

7. Milwaukee Bucks

The Suns are 9-6 and hold the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference at the moment. They’ve found a defense after two years without one, are scoring like crazy when Mark Williams is on the floor, and are getting one of the best regular seasons of Devin Booker’s career. All of this is great in November coming off of two nightmare seasons. The reality of being a play-in team in a conference of superpowers hits much harder in April. With practically no draft control of high-upside youth aside from the injury-prone Williams, the ceiling remains relatively low here. So the Booker rumors are on hold for the moment, but are by no means off the table entirely.

At least Booker signed his extension. This entire Bucks season is based on convincing Giannis Antetokounmpo to do the same over the summer. They’ve followed a 4-1 start up with a 4-6 stretch that has magnified their defensive and bench issues. Things are only going to get harder with Antetokounmpo set to miss a week or two with a groin strain. The Bucks are 19 points per 100 possessions worse without Giannis on the court this season. This is barely a team equipped to win with him, much less without him.

The Bucks have a history of pulling rabbits out of their hat to secure extensions. Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard got the job done in 2020 and 2023, respectively. Myles Turner fit the bill last summer, but he came before Antetokounmpo was extension-eligible. Giannis remains a Buck today, and Horst’s history suggests there’s still some hope that he can be convinced to remain a Buck tomorrow. But the strong vibes from Milwaukee’s hot early start are beginning to fade. If this is going to be a .500 team the rest of the way, they’re facing an uphill climb to retain the best player in franchise history. They might not want to blow it up, but it may not be long before the choice is taken out of their hands.

Tier III: Controlled demolition

6. Utah Jazz

5. Memphis Grizzlies

How much blowing up is still even available to the Jazz? Six of their top eight scorers are on rookie deals. The veterans are mostly gone. Yet here they sit, owing a top-eight protected first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder that they are currently slated to lose without yet having drafted a surefire franchise player of their own yet. Lauri Markkanen is tantalizingly close to that line, but for now, he represents the single biggest obstacle to the Jazz finding that player. He’s simply too good to allow them to tank properly. That forces the Jazz into an impossible choice: keep your All-Star and lose your best chance at an All-NBA player, or trade him for what would essentially be a mystery box. 

Nobody in Utah wants to hear this, but the right answer is probably a trade. Markkanen’s hot start should invite strong offers. As well as he’s played, Utah needs to be realistic here. In a conference with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luka Dončić, Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama, moving forward with him as your best player is tantamount to bringing a spork to a gun fight. He’s already 28. How much prime overlap will he have with Ace Bailey and whoever Utah drafts in the coming years? The Jazz have set an impossibly high bar on a Markkanen return in the past. Perhaps the very real threat of handing the defending champions a top-10 pick is enough to get a trade across the finish line. Fortunately, that’s the only move Utah needs to make. Remove Markkanen from the picture and the rest of the team can tank in peace.

Memphis won’t get remotely the offers for Ja Morant that Utah will for Markkanen. His injuries, his off-court issues and his declining play will see to that. Someone will be interested in taking him off of their hands, though, and there’s an addition-by-subtraction argument to be made here. The Grizzlies fired their coach last season in part because Morant disliked the team’s playing style. He’s already clashed with a second coach. His availability on a night-to-night basis is a mystery. This just isn’t a way to function as an organization. The best teams are consistent and accountable. The Grizzlies, right now, are at the mercy of one of the NBA’s least reliable stars.

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They don’t need a total overhaul, though the Desmond Bane trade started them in that direction. That trade got them a rookie in Cedric Coward who has already flashed All-Star potential. The Grizzlies have two potential 2026 lottery picks in their own and the Suns pick they got in the Bane trade. They could turn this thing around relatively quickly. 

There’s no need to trade Jaren Jackson Jr., and the point guard market is oversaturated, so finding a Morant replacement is doable. As frustrating as it would be to give up the most talented player in team history, it may be the only way to get everyone in organization rowing in the same direction again. Morant, at this stage of his career, isn’t worth the headaches he creates.

Tier II: Evacuate key personnel

4. Los Angeles Clippers

3. New Orleans Pelicans

2. Dallas Mavericks

How do you blow it up without controlling your picks? That’s the question facing the miserable Clippers. There’s no room here for a tank, and the veterans probably wouldn’t fetch much on the trade market. When James Harden was last available, the Clippers were the only team known to be interested. He’s two years older now. As well as he’s playing, he’s a 36-year-old guard making $40 million. There’s not much of a market for players like that. Kawhi Leonard was practically untouchable for other teams even before the Aspiration scandal. He’s just never healthy. The player here with a shred of trade value would be Ivica Zubac, but what would be the point of trading him for a couple of draft picks in the 20s?

The real endgame for the Clippers is their upcoming cap space. They’re in Los Angeles. Players will want to sign with them. We covered Young’s uncertain future in Atlanta. He’d be an ideal pivot for the Clippers, carrying their offense while Zubac and the wings they’ve accumulated in recent years keep the defense afloat. Is there a trade there, in which the Hawks grab Harden as a short-term offense boost as they prepare to rebuild around their young wings? Maybe, though it would likely require some draft compensation from the Clippers, and they have very little to spare. Zubac is good enough and young enough to keep for whatever the next version of this team looks like. If they can get out of Harden, Leonard or any of the older players, well, they probably should. If there was ever a window for this version of the Clippers to contend, it is now closed.

The Pelicans may have overpaid for Derik Queen, but he’s been reasonably promising as a rookie. So has Jeremiah Fears. Trey Murphy is good enough, young enough and affordable enough to carry over from one rebuild to the next. Everyone else needs to go. An elite wing defender is a luxury for a team with no long-term identity. Go get a nice haul of draft picks for Herb Jones tomorrow. This organization has perpetually underappreciated Jose Alvarado. Send him to a smart team and watch him do for them what TJ McConnell does for the Pacers. Jordan Poole and Dejounte Murray are negative contracts. If someone wants them? Agree before they change their minds.

We’ve been dancing around a Zion Williamson trade for years now. At this point, he’s more valuable as a contract than a player. His max salary is currently non-guaranteed for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons and will remain so as long as he fails to meet certain games played thresholds, which an acquiring team could obviously assure just by not playing him. Some team out there with a bad contract would probably be happy to pay the Pelicans to take it in exchange for Williamson’s phantom cap number. Do it. There are very few contracts in the NBA today bad enough to outlast however long this Pelicans rebuild is going to take.

Some particularly enterprising team with cap space could even trade for Williamson with the idea that it would waive him and then re-sign him on more team-friendly terms next summer. He would obviously have to agree to it, but it would be a chance for someone to take a look at a player with superstar potential without having to commit star money to him. Either way, it’s time for New Orleans to move on. Queen has supplanted him as the power forward of the future in New Orleans. As is the case with Morant in Memphis, a team can’t operate optimally when it never knows what to expect out of its most expensive player. This rebuild requires certainty Williamson has never been able to provide. Both sides need a fresh start.

Everyone not named Cooper Flagg should be available in Dallas. PJ Washington isn’t eligible to be traded until the summer, and Dereck Lively and Max Christie are still promising enough to keep, but it’s time to start moving veterans. We’ve covered Anthony Davis in depth here. It’s hard to imagine anyone wants to trade for Kyrie Irving before seeing him play on his surgically repaired ACL, but if there’s a positive-value offer out there? Take it. Naji Marshall and Daniel Gafford would surely appeal to contenders in need of depth.

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The name of the game here is maximizing their own 2026 first-round pick. It’s the last of their own first-round picks Dallas controls until 2026, and therefore by far this team’s best chance at finding Flagg a young co-star. If that means taking suboptimal trade packages for veterans already on the team? So be it. They are the rare team for whom making a trade is more important than making the right trade. The whole idea is to make this year’s team as bad as possible by whatever means necessary. This doesn’t need to be a long rebuild. Heck, hold Irving out all season, bring him back next year and you’re already potentially a playoff team. But nothing matters more than maximizing that last bite at the lottery apple. So start trading veterans as quickly as possible.

Tier I: Kingdom Come

1. Sacramento Kings

How many members of the 2025-26 Sacramento Kings have positive trade value? Domantas Sabonis would probably, ultimately net a first-round pick in a trade. The counting stats, at least before this year’s roster of misfit toys, were just undeniable. But very few teams want to pay max money to a center that doesn’t defend or consistently make 3s. Keon Ellis is so cheap, and has so much promise as a 3-and-D player a bad team doesn’t trust, that he’d get positive value in a trade. Even on a five-year, $140 million deal, there are surely still Keegan Murray believers around the NBA. Solid two-way wings whose development has been stunted by poor roster-construction are always prized.

And that’s about it. DeMar DeRozan is overpaid, though his partially guaranteed contract for next season might appeal to the right, financially desperate team. The Dennis Schröder contract was a puzzler from the moment it was signed. Giving a three-year deal to a player who had been on seven teams in the previous four seasons was a strange choice. The Kings seemingly canvassed the league for a Malik Monk deal over the summer and found nothing. If there were robust interest in Russell Westbrook around the league he wouldn’t have signed in October. Zach LaVine is actually playing reasonably well. Nobody wants injury-prone guards in their 30s on max contracts that don’t defend anymore.

So yes, the Kings should blow it up. Trade everyone. There are no sacred cows here. 

It’s just hard to imagine them getting much back if they actually do so. Blowing up a backwoods hut doesn’t exactly produce a mushroom cloud. This team is probably going to go out with a whimper. They’ll find a few trades. Maybe even a Sabonis trade. But most of these players will be here until their contracts expire. The best-case outcome is that ownership allows that to happen organically so the new front office can tank and build a core of its own. 

The Beam Team is dead. That era is over. Moving on will be slow and painful, but there’s just no remaining alternative.