NBA Power Rankings: The Nuggets and Grizzlies are Better Than Everyone

Welcome back to Deadseriousness NBA Power Rankings—a weekly list of the best things happening in the NBA that I often forget to write about so it comes out like, every 12 days instead of weekly.

9. Boston Celtics

I don’t want to write about the Boston Celtics but they have been the best team in the NBA all season long so I reckon it would be inappropriate to make a power rankings article without including there so this is for the 1 Celtics fan who reads this site.

Enjoy.

8. LeBron James

The Lakers may be 4 games below .500 and sitting at the 13th seed in the West but this Lakers team would be in freefall losing every single game if LeBron wasn’t on this roster doing everything in his power to drag these bums into overtime games against the Mavericks every week.

But LeBron is on these power rankings for this reason.

On October 29th, 2003, LeBron James played his first career NBA game against the Sacramento Kings and Jabari Smith. On January 16th, 2023, LeBron James played against Jabari Smith Jr and the Houston Rockets.

As much as I enjoy completely disregarding LeBron’s legacy entirely, some of these moments are cool enough to acknowledge for a second before going back to being too cool for school.

7. Lauri Markkanen

Lauri Markkanen is a difficult player for me to write about mainly because of the amount of k’s in his name. But as far as the on-court shit goes, he’s suddenly transformed into one of the most athletic big men in recent NBA history.

Dunk Of The Night: Lauri Markkanen on Vucevic!

He’s averaging 34 PTS over his last 7 gamespic.twitter.com/QAlY25eXNU

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) January 8, 2023

Once a week there is a highlight of Markkanen dunking on someone’s head in the midst of a random 30-point performance. Unfortunately, he’s missed the last two games with a hip injury but hopefully that doesn’t take Lauri away from us for too long or else I will literally never speak about the Utah Jazz again.

6. Jalen Brunson

Since no major sports media platform wants to talk about the Knicks and no one wants to vote any of their players into the All-Star game then allow me to constantly force them into every article from now until the NBA Finals.

I’ve already written about Brunson being the biggest signing of the offseason but I don’t think people realize the numbers this man is putting up on a nightly basis. He’s currently a Top 5 clutch player in the NBA which means at the most important pressure-packed moments in the game, Brunson thrives and excels.

5. DeAaron Fox and Damontis Sabonis

You know what site is never dedicating more than a minute to talk about the Sacramento Kings? Deadseriousness dot com. Fox and Sabonis are having great seasons. Cool.

4. Brooklyn Nets PR Team

The Brooklyn Nets are having a very unique season as they started off with Kevin Durant demanding everyone be fired. That quickly went into the entire world trying to sit Kyrie Irving down and explain to him why posting a clip to a movie that says Jews are demons is bad.

Yet, the moment they stopped talking and focused on basketball, they went on a 12-game win streak.

Earlier this week, Ben Simmons scored 0 points on a big MLK game against the Boston Celtics and was roasted by everyone and their mothers.

Ben Simmons partnered with non-profit Operation Warm to gift new winter coats to over 2,600 children through his annual Ben Simmons Coat Giveback, serving six schools and three community groups in New York. #nets

— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) January 18, 2023

Anddd the Nets PR team immediately got this story out to the local press. Ben Simmons scored 0 points BUT he’s donating coats to the needy so like, which is more important?

It’s like whenever people try to criticize Kyrie Irving and Kyrie stans rebuttal with all of his charity work. The Nets PR team is phenomenal. We should universally boycott these guys but just when you think you hate Durant, he donates his kidney to a homeless vet.

3. Memphis Grizzlies

I wanted to write about Ja Morant and I wanted to write about Jaren Jackson Jr so fuck it, let’s bang them out at the same time. The Grizzlies are currently on an NBA-best 10-game win streak so everyone on this roster deserves a mention.

ICYMI … Ja Morant drops an absolutely ridiculous dunk vs. Pacers. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/tUfyPlp6hj

— Sportsbook Review (@SBRReview) January 15, 2023

But Ja is DIFFERENT. His ability to finish at the rim is legendary. He doesn’t have to rely on fouls like Luka or Harden. When he gets to the rim, he’s scoring 2 points and jogging back on defense. There is no other outcome.

But I’d rather talk about the defensive player of the year.

Jaren Jackson Jr ALL CLAMPS 🔐 pic.twitter.com/1yZesEYkeI

— Ultimate Sports & Entertainment (@Ultimatesport5) January 10, 2023

Jaren Jackson Jr has only played 27 games this season and he has the third most blocks in the entire league. He’s literally coming off a game against the Suns where he recorded 6 blocks and 2 steals.

JJJ is the defensive anchor that Dillon Brooks thinks he is.

2. Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets are on a 7-game winning streak and sit in 1st place in the West. Nikola Jokic has somehow already universally secured the 2022-23 MVP Award in January. The injuries of Steph Curry and Kevin Durant have solely left Jokic in the driver’s seat for best player in the world.

Like, just look at his last game against the Portland Trailblazers on Tuesday night:

34 minutes
36 points
13-for-14 from the field
9-for-10 from the line
12 rebounds
10 assists
1 steal
1 block
+19

Nikola is prettyyyyyy good at basketball.

1. Trade rumors

We are in the heat of NBA trade season which is easily the worst part of the calendar as you are waterboarded with trade rumors all day long and yet, not a single franchise is actually pulling the trigger on any deals.

There is a report today that the Spurs want TWO first-round picks for Jakob fucking Poeltl. I can’t have a discussion about the Knicks without Cam Reddish trade rumors sneaking in. The Lakers are pretending like they’re doing well and shouldn’t make a trade.

I’m just ready for deals to be made and hopefully by the next time these Power Rankings come out, we’ll be able to overanalyze some of this nonsense.