Few teams in NBA history have transformed as much in one year as the 2024-25 Detroit Pistons.
They were the worst team in the NBA last season (and the season before) and had the worst record in team history.
Flash forward a year and Detroit is coming out of the All-Star break in the 6th spot with a chance to make the playoffs. Unreal.
That improvement was reflected in Bleacher Report’s recent NBA power rankings, where the Pistons found themselves ahead of some unlikely teams.
The Pistons were ranked 16th, up four spots from their last breakdown, and have surpassed teams that you never would have guessed at the beginning of the season.
#18: Orlando Magic
The Magic finished 5th in the Eastern Conference last season and most expected them to improve on that mark in this one.
To be fair, the Magic were holding a top-four spot before injuries to their stars set them back, but lately it’s just been poor play that has them in the 7th seed, 2.5 games behind the Pistons.
Their lack of offense has finally caught up to them, though this is a talented team that I would not count out in the final stretch, as they could get hot and propel up the standings.
#20: Phoenix Suns
The team with by far the largest payroll in the league finds themselves with a losing record and a game and a half out of the final play-in spot as play gets ready to resume after the All-Star break.
The Suns are a perfect example of when going “all-in” doesn’t work, as they pushed in all their chips on the Durant/Booker/Beal trio and it simply hasn’t worked, as it’s nearly impossible to have any kind of depth with three max players at the top of the payroll, especially when one of them doesn’t play like a max guy and has a no-trade clause.
Beal’s wonky contract and the Suns reckless spending have left them with few ways to improve the roster other than blowing it up, which seems more likely after they tried to shop Durant at the deadline behind his back (what a stupid move) and went into the All-Star break on a three-game losing streak with a roster that wasn’t improved.
This has huge offseason drama written all over it and I for one am here for it.
#21: Miami Heat
So much for Heat culture.
After having to hear ad nauseum for years how the Heat have the greatest culture that everyone else should be trying to emulate, they spent most of this season arguing with their best player, eventually suspending him before a messy breakup that yielded them little.
Most had the Heat penciled in for one of the guaranteed playoff spots before the season started, and they might still get there, but right now they are three games back of Detroit.
The two teams do play again, so this battle is far from over for the Pistons, as the Heat will probably make a run at some point.
#23: Philadelphia 76ers
Ok, so some of us did see this coming, a I predicted Philly would be this year’s surprise bad team.
And they haven’t disappointed. Their Big 3 of Embiid, George and Maxey have barely played together and haven’t been good when they have.
Embiid has struggled to stay healthy, George has not been an improvement over Tobias Harris (thanks, Philly!) and Maxey can’t carry the team on his own.
The worst part for the 76ers is that there isn’t an easy fix, as they owe Embiid between $55-67 million over the next four seasons after this one. They owe George $51-56 million over the next three years after this one, and given their production this season, those contracts might be impossible to move.
Philly undoubtedly has talent, so I wouldn’t be shocked if they went on a run and made the play-in, as they are only 1.5 games behind the tanking Bulls for the final spot, but they lost five straight heading into the All-Star break, so if they are going to turn things around, it needs to happen fast.
I could see a world where Philly makes some noise in the play-in (if they make it) but given their preseason expectations, this season has been nothing short of a nightmare.