NBA Power Rankings: Biggest lessons learned so far from all 30 teams - ESPN

We're a little over a month into the 2024-25 NBA season and we're already past the halfway point of the NBA Cup group phase with teams facing knockout round clinching scenarios this week.

Some teams are dominating in group play, while others are focusing on the long-term goals of the regular season. Either way, every game counts when it comes to our weekly rankings.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are separating themselves from the rest of the Eastern Conference, riding one of the best starts in franchise history with their only loss coming at the hands of their biggest rival, the Boston Celtics.

Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors appear to be in championship form again and are chasing the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are currently leading a stacked Western Conference.

This week, we asked our NBA insiders to pick one lesson learned from every team this season. What has, and hasn't, worked out for teams in the first month? How are injuries impacting opportunities? Which teams are falling into rebuild mode already?

Here are the updated rankings for all 30 teams.

Note: Team rankings are based on where members of our panel (ESPN's Tim Bontemps, Jamal Collier, Michael Wright, Tim MacMahon, Dave McMenamin, Ohm Youngmisuk, Chris Herring and Kevin Pelton) think teams belong this season.

Previous rankings: Preseason | Oct. 30 | Nov. 5 | Nov. 13 | Nov. 20

Jump to a team:
ATL | BOS | BKN | CHA | CHI | CLE
DAL | DEN | DET | GS | HOU | IND
LAC | LAL | MEM | MIA | MIL | MIN
NO | NY | OKC | ORL | PHI | PHX
POR | SAC | SA | TOR | UTAH | WAS

1. Cleveland Cavaliers

2024-25 record: 17-1

Previous ranking: 1

Next games: vs. ATL (Nov. 27), @ ATL (Nov. 29), vs. BOS (Dec. 1), vs. WAS (Dec. 3)

The time for Cleveland is now. With only two players in the