27. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder have had one of the wildest summers in recent memory. They traded Paul George, who’s coming off a career year, but that was only the beginning of the madness. They also traded fan-favorite Russell Westbrook and rising role player Jerami Grant, who’s a versatile defender and stretch four. In other words, they’ve punted on winning for the next few years and have entered into a full rebuild.
OKC now has roughly 489,309 first round picks over the course of the next decade, and they have one of the most promising young players in the league in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It’s also reasonable to believe that Steven Adams will get traded in the near future. Heck, Dennis Schroder might even get traded! Oh, and have I mentioned Chris Paul yet? There could be another boatload of picks coming to Oklahoma.
So are the Thunder set up to be successful next year? Absolutely not. But they might be one of the best teams in the league in 2027. We’ll probably have to wait until then to move them up in the power rankings, though.