NBA midseason grades for every West team: Nuggets, Suns, Thunder set up for success, Mavs, Clippers flounder

Getty Images

The midway point has arrived in the 2025-26 NBA season. Teams are hitting the 41-game threshold this week, and various races are becoming more clear in the NBA standings. Today, we're focusing on the Western Conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder have come back to earth after a 24-1 start, but they still are the No. 1 seed in the West and the heavy title favorites (+115 per FanDuel).

Who's the second-best team in the West? That question is debatable. The Spurs have knocked the Thunder off three times, but have cooled off since an eight-game winning streak in December. The Nuggets have played surprisingly well as they await Nikola Jokić's return from injury. The Timberwolves have been steadily improving since we last handed out grades at the season's quarter mark. And the Rockets have the second-best net rating in the league.

So where, exactly, do things stand in the West at the midseason mark? We've handed out grades for all 15 teams below.

NBA midseason grades for every East team: Celtics in 'A' tier, Knicks, Cavs, Hawks trying to find footing

Jack Maloney

Dallas Mavericks: D

Record: 16-26
The basics: 27th in offense, 10th in defense, 22nd in net rating (-3.1)
Reason for optimism: Cooper Flagg looks every bit a generational star.
Reason for pessimism: Anthony Davis' constant injuries are setting the Mavericks back.

The good here is that, after a slow start to the season, Flagg looks as advertised halfway through. In fact, he looks better. It's insane to think he's just turned 19 years old and yet is putting up 40 points and scoring in clutch situations when you wouldn't expect a rookie to be doing that. He's getting to the rim at will, his mid-range game is already automatic, and while his 3-point shot is still a work in progress, even that is trending upwards in recent weeks. We'll have to see if he'll be sidelined for longer than just the game he missed after tweaking his ankle, but his play gives the Mavericks hope for the future.

Now for the bad. Davis will miss at least a month and a half after sustaining ligament damage in his hand. That means he'll remained sidelined through the trade deadline, diminishing what small trade market he already had even more. The Mavericks still plan on making him available via trade, but also don't want to sell low on him. Could that mean Davis remains on this team until the summer? It may not be a bad thing given he won't be playing until probably late February or early March, but the longer he's on the roster, the longer it takes for Dallas to be able to fully move on from this farce of a trade they executed last February. The Cooper Flagg era is here and the Mavericks need to put their full focus into building around him, which doesn't include still having Davis on this roster. -- Jasmyn Wimbish

Denver Nuggets: A+

Record: 28-13
The basics: 1st in offense, 23rd in defense, 5th in net rating (5.5)
Reason for optimism: Peyton Watson has made an enormous leap.
Reason for pessimism: Nikola Jokić and Cam Johnson reportedly won't be back for weeks and Denver will have a relatively short amount of time to find its rhythm heading into the playoffs.

Watsanity has been something to behold. In nine games since Jokić's knee injury, the fourth-year forward previously known as a defensive specialist has averaged 23.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists while shooting 51% from the field and making 53.6% of his catch-and-shoot 3s. This is an enormous development for a team that already profiled as the top threat to the Thunder at full strength.

It's a big deal, too, that Jalen Pickett now seems like he should have a spot in the playoff rotation and that the Nuggets have gone 6-3 in this Jokić-less stretch (with Johnson missing all of it, Jonas Valančiūnas missing most of it and Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun and Jamal Murray missing some of it). Even if they can't keep winning like this, David Adelman's coaching staff should be thrilled. Now it's about getting everybody healthy, keeping everybody healthy and, ideally, peaking at the right time. Johnson (out with a knee injury) and Christian Braun (out again with an ankle injury) have not been as effective as expected, but no one will care about their regular-season numbers if Denver is operating at a championship level come playoff time.

Shoutout to Murray, by the way. He has been playing at an All-Star level from opening night onward and he has remained extremely efficient without Jokić. -- James Herbert

Golden State Warriors: C-

Record: 23-19
The basics: 13th in offense, but 7th in defense, 10th in net rating (2.6)
Reason for optimism: Stephen Curry is still a top 10 player in the NBA in his age-37 season.
Reason for pessimism: Nobody outside of Curry and sometimes Jimmy Butler appears capable of generating high-quality shots.

It feels like we've seen four or five versions of this exact Warriors season. Stop me if you've heard this one before: Stephen Curry is still great, Draymond Green has taken a step back and is once again a distraction, there's not enough shooting, there's not enough bench offense, there's not enough size, Jonathan Kuminga still isn't fitting in, and they're linked to every big name on the trade market leading up to the deadline. We're just gonna keep Groundhog Day-ing this thing until Curry retires, I suppose?

The presence of Butler has injected slightly more optimism here. As frustratingly passive as he can be, he's still playing at an All-Star level. He's the only Warrior who ever draws fouls and is essential to their offense. Maybe the star power exists here. The supporting cast hasn't. It's not fixable through a single addition. Kuminga never developed as hoped. Brandin Podziemski has stagnated. Al Horford looks to be finally, after all of these years, washed. They're two or three good basketball players away from scaring any of the Western Conference heavyweights. Even if we've known a trade was necessary all along, that's below expectations. -- Sam Quinn

Houston Rockets: B

Record: 23-15
The basics: 4th in offense, 9th in defense, 4th in net rating (6.5)
Reason for optimism: Houston's improve health has unlocked things for Amen Thompson.
Reason for pessimism: This team still needs depth in the backcourt.

The Rockets have been been victim of really high highs, like a 13-4 start through the first month of the season, and some pretty big lows, like a recent three-game losing streak that saw them drop back-to-back games to the Trail Blazers, followed by their second loss of the season to a Kings team that has won just 11 games. But they've stayed the course enough to be sitting fourth in a loaded Western Conference.

More than that, the Rockets have gotten a few guys back into their rotation after Tari Eason returned in late December and Dorian Finney-Smith finally made his season debut on Christmas. While both of those guys have missed the last two games, the time they were on the floor allowed rising star Amen Thompson more flexibility to showcase his wide array of skills in a way he hasn't been able to before.

Getting Eason, who is shooting 46.9% on nearly five 3-point attempts per game, back gives the Rockets more spacing on the floor. That allows someone like Thompson to use his athleticism to attack the rime at a higher rate, where he can either finish with an emphatic dunk or kick it out the perimeter where the Rockets now have a wealth of shooters at their disposal. -- Jasmyn Wimbish

Los Angeles Clippers: D+

Record: 17-23
The basics: 12th in offense, 24th in defense, 19th in net rating (-0.9)
Reason for optimism: Kawhi Leonard has not missed a game since November and is playing at an MVP level.
Reason for pessimism: Leonard's current streak of 24 consecutive games played is the second-longest streak he's had as a Clipper, trailing only a 27-game streak at the beginning of the 2023-24 season.

Wednesday's win pushed the Clippers above .500 in games without Chris Paul (12-11). Was he the problem? Of course not, but it offers some slight vindication for their embarrassing treatment of a franchise icon. The real change here has been a renewed defensive vigor and a return to All-NBA form for Kawhi Leonard. He's averaging just under 33 points per game during this 11-2 Clippers stretch while playing his best defense in years. After getting smoked in transition early in the year, the Clippers are allowing the fifth-fewest fast break points per game during this hot streak.

But we're grading the whole season, not just the last few weeks of it. That ghastly 6-21 start? It happened. The Clippers are improving, but they're still below .500 and have an extremely small margin for error. The Bradley Beal signing was a disaster they still haven't recovered from. Nobody can keep this offense humming when James Harden rests. There's a Norm Powell-sized hole in the roster they'll have to try to fill by the deadline. They never get rebounds.

And then there's the Aspiration investigation looming over this entire season. In a month, this turnaround might be forgotten amid new evidence of impropriety. We aren't holding that against the Clippers in this grade, just pointing out how precarious all of this is. It all rests on one of the NBA's most unreliable players continuing to take the court at an MVP level. He could wake up tomorrow with his knee feeling sore and it would all fall apart. If they'd been playing this well all season, if they'd truly balanced the roster as they'd hoped, if their future wasn't so thoroughly mortgaged, that might not feel so terrifying. But it's where the Clippers are. They've started digging themselves out of their early season hole, but they're not close to seeing the sun. -- Sam Quinn

Los Angeles Lakers: C

Record: 24-15
The basics: 8th in offense, 26th in defense, 17th in net rating (-0.8)
Reason for optimism: They have Luka Dončić.
Reason for pessimism: They don't have a single player who actually fits next to Luka Dončić.

The Lakers are well above .500 but don't have the net rating to match. In a way, that might not be the worst outcome for them. They get to flash the veneer of respectability. They're not rolling around in the play-in muck. No, these are the Los Angeles Lakers, the team that employs Dončić and LeBron James. They're a playoff team. They're just a bad one. No embarrassment, but no illusions either. This team is going to get torn down and rebuilt in the near future and everyone knows it. That's why Rich Paul is going on podcasts and trying to knock someone else's client overboard so his own could hopefully stay on the lifeboat.

James has posted big numbers lately. Dončić has been great since opening night and Austin Reaves was when he was healthy. Together, they've failed. The Lakers rate in the 26th percentile in terms of offensive efficiency this season when the three share the floor, according to Cleaning the Glass. That's the tone of this season. Less than the sum of its parts. This Laker team is loaded with on-paper talent. Two Hall of Famers! A budding All-Star! A No. 1 overall pick at center! A former Defensive Player of the Year! Former first-round picks littering the bench!

It's not a cohesive whole. It's lifeless. JJ Redick has openly lamented the lack of energy and hustle. Nobody's protecting the basket, and Marcus Smart is probably the only consistently above-average defender on the team. The Lakers are currently on pace to set a new record for 2-point field goal percentage -- above 60%! -- yet they've only hovered around the top 10 in offense all season. How does a team with this much creation take and make so few 3s? They're buoyed only by their remarkable clutch record. They're not a C-caliber team, but they're having a C-caliber season. Decent enough to avoid the endless "what's wrong with the Lakers" talk that has plagued the Clippers and Warriors all year, which is a small victory. But there is no universe in which this team can defend well enough to reach the Finals. They're running out the clock until they can flip the roster over again in July. -- Sam Quinn

Memphis Grizzlies: C

Record: 17-23
The basics: 24th in offense, 13th in defense, 20th in net rating (-1.5)
Reason for optimism: Trading Ja Morant could reset things for the Grizzlies.
Reason for pessimism: A trade market for Morant may not net what the Grizzlies want in return.

The Grizzlies season has had a cloud hanging over it thanks to the impending -- or maybe not -- trade of Ja Morant. It's been such a supersized topic that it's practically overshadowed the stellar rookie campaign of Cedric Coward, the continual rise of second-year guard Jaylen Wells and another strong season from Jaren Jackson Jr. But that's what happens when the franchise leaks that is willing to listen to trade offers on it star pupil.

If a trade gets done for Morant, it will allow the Grizzlies to move on from this era and recenter their efforts in team building around Jackson Jr. and the young stable of players they have. However, there's at least a mid-to-high chance that the Grizzlies won't be satisfied with the return they get for Morant. Reports have suggested that Morant's value on the open market may be lower than Trae Young, who netted the Hawks just two expiring contracts and no draft capital. It remains to be seen if the Grizzlies are willing to sell low on Morant or if they are comfortable in playing out the season with him still on the team and seeing if his trade value rises in the summer.

But until there's a resolution there, the Grizzlies are nothing more than a play-in team bound for a first-round exit if they make the playoffs. -- Jasmyn Wimbish

Minnesota Timberwolves: A

Record: 27-14
The basics: 6th in offense, 8th in defense, 6th in net rating (5.3)
Reason for optimism: For all the concern about them needing a point guard, their starting lineup has been elite at both ends and has outscored opponents by 9.6 points per 100 possessions.
Reason for pessimism: Notwithstanding the recent blowout win in Milwaukee without Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert, Minnesota's depth is shaky for a team with title aspirations.

After a 10-8 start, the Wolves have gone 17-6, the league's best record in that span. And while they could make a move before the trade deadline, the way they've played offensively allows them to negotiate from a position of strength. Fun fact: When Julius Randle is on the floor without Anthony Edwards, Randle has averaged averaging 29.6 points, 6.2 assists and 7.9 rebounds per 36 minutes with a 66.3% true shooting percentage and, according to Cleaning The Glass, Minnesota has outscored opponents by 13.4 points per 100 possessions.

Gobert is having yet another DPOY-caliber season. Edwards has made strides in the post and as a playmaker. Jaden McDaniels has been everything Minnesota needed him to be and more. Bones Hyland has been pretty solid for the last six weeks. -- James Herbert

New Orleans Pelicans: D

Record: 10-33
The basics: 25th in offense, 27th in defense, 26th in net rating (-7.0)
Reason for optimism: The rookies are the future.
Reason for pessimism: All this losing will have been for nothing.

The Pelicans have been hammered for the draft trade last summer that landed them Derik Queen and lost them their own 2026 first-round pick. New Orleans was incredibly high on Queen, and since the season started you can see why. He's one of the top rookies in his class, a do-it-all offensive big man who can shoot 3s, score in the post and has court vision that is earning him the nickname "Baby Jokić." He's been a bright spot in what's been otherwise a lost season for the Pelicans. So too has fellow rookie Jeremiah Fears, who plays with a level of competitiveness and aggression that has caused skirmishes in a few games, but typically leads to positive results for the Pelicans.

Queen's play alone should silence the criticism of the trade the Pelicans made to land him. But given the talent that will be in next summer's draft, it's still fair to question if it was the right move. Especially when you consider that the Pelicans pick will all but certainly land in the top 3 of the draft.

That aside, though, it almost feels unbelievable that this Pelicans team, which isn't harboring a ton of injuries for the first time in a while, has managed to put together only 10 wins. Zion Williamson has been relatively healthy and is averaging 22.4 points, but it hasn't translated to wins for the Pelicans. It feels like a team that should be making moves at the deadline, but it's already been reported that most of the names that would likely net them the biggest hauls are off limits, including Williamson, the rookies, Herb Jones and Trey Murphy. We'll see if that's the right gameplan for the Pelicans, because what they've been doing so far isn't working. -- Jasmyn Wimbish

Oklahoma City Thunder: A+

Record: 35-7
The basics: 5th in offense, 1st in defense, 1st in net rating (-13.0)
Reason for optimism: If/when Jalen Williams' wrist and jumper are back to normal, they'll be even better.
Reason for pessimism: From Dec. 13 onward, they've shot 31.7% on catch-and-shoot 3s, the second-worst mark in the league.

The second quarter of their season wasn't nearly as good as the first, but the reigning champs are still on a near 70-win pace and should be considered title favorites. Their loss in Charlotte was surprising, but, when I was 9 years old, I went to a baseball stadium and watched the expansion Raptors beat the 1996 Bulls. It happens. (Doug Christie always defended MJ well.)

It's OK that OKC is working through some stuff offensively without Isaiah Hartenstein getting them extra possessions, screening guys open and playing the DHO game. It was shocking that San Antonio beat the Thunder three times, but they responded appropriately on Tuesday. The air of invincibility they had early in the season is gone, but now they're in problem-solving mode. -- James Herbert

Portland Trail Blazers: B+

Record: 20-22
The basics: 23rd in offense, 17th in defense, 21st in net rating (-2.5)
Reason for optimism: Caleb Love and Sidy Cissoko, both on two-way contracts, appear to be capable rotation players.
Reason for pessimism: So, um, how's Scoot Henderson going to fit in?

Though Portland may not be as blazing fast as it was early on, it's still an annoying team to play against. The Blazers have been shorthanded in a lot of games, but their effort and physicality have been consistent. The big story here is still the ascension of Deni Avdija and, in this respect, the backcourt injuries have had a silver lining: It's now clear that Avdija can handle a huge playmaking load and get to the rim even with defenses tilted toward him.

In the second half of the season, can Portland fix its glaring turnover problem? Can it be better on the defensive glass? Given what the bottom of the West standings look like, it'll likely make the play-in regardless. -- James Herbert

Phoenix Suns: A

Record: 24-17
The basics: 16th in offense, 5th in defense, 11th in net rating (2.3)
Reason for optimism: For the first time in many years, the members of the Phoenix Suns actually seem to enjoy playing with one another.
Reason for pessimism: It's unclear how seamlessly they'll be able to reintegrate Jalen Green once he gets healthy now that Collin Gillesspie has seized his presumed starting job.

There are 16 former All-Stars in the Pacific Division. The Suns have the fewest (only Devin Booker). Yet they're the only team among the five that's actually happy with how this season has gone. Sure, that's based on expectations to an extent. But it's also process. The Suns -- yes, Mat Ishbia's Suns -- are the only Pacific Division team that seems to understand where the NBA is going.

The Lakers, the Clippers, the Warriors, the Kings, they're all living in the past. They've assembled their famous people and assumed they'd talent their way up the standings like it was 2013 or something. That's not the NBA anymore. No team better encapsulates where this league is now than the Suns. They have one All-Star, Booker, who's not even shooting especially well. But they're exceptionally well-coached by rookie Jordan Ott and they try harder than everyone they're playing.

That's what this is. Look deeper into the Suns and the surrounding numbers don't paint the picture of a playoff team. They still turn the ball over too much. They never get to the rim or the line. They're only a so-so shooting team. And none of it matters because they outwork their opponent every night. They punch above their weight class on the glass, defend like crazy and get every loose ball (only the Pistons average more of those per night). It's sort of funny. Last year, the Suns were right there with these other aspirational superteams. They were just the first to go belly-up. They adapted out of necessity and it's worked out beautifully. Are the Suns a championship contender? No. They just don't have the talent. But there might not have been a bleaker situation in basketball than theirs coming into the season. That they've managed to generate a feel-good season and restore a bit of optimism into their future makes the year an unbridled success. -- Sam Quinn

Sacramento Kings: F

Record: 11-30
The basics: 29th in offense, 28th in defense, 29th in net rating (-10.1)
Reason for optimism: The NBA hasn't instituted the significant tanking reforms it is considering yet, so the Kings will probably pick very high in June's draft.
Reason for pessimism: We still have to watch this team for three more months.

I'm struggling to find a single thing the Sacramento Kings are doing well. As of this writing, they're in the bottom three in offense, defense and rebounding. They make the fewest 3s in the league and rank 19th in points in the paint, and before you come at me about all of the hoopers and buckets on this team that score the old ways, they're only 14th in mid-range field goal percentage. Their rim defense is a layup line. Opponents make 72.6% of their shots in the restricted area. Only two other teams allow more than 70%. I guess they do just fine in the turnover battle?

Really, the only thing the Kings are doing well is tanking. That's the irony of all of this. Whether it's the Nets or the Wizards or the Jazz, one of the prevailing stories of this season has been these teams that, for some reason or another, really need to lose games but can't because they're just so competent. And here we have the Kings, who actually tried to win (and I don't want to hear your galaxy-brained takes about this being intentional when they gave Dennis Schröder a three-year deal), losing as much as all of them.

They've actually innovated in the tanking space if you think about it. In a league that increasingly prizes effort, versatility, youth and innovation, the Kings just gathered a bunch of washed All-Stars and let them take whatever shots they wanted. Ironically, from an outcome perspective, this is better than the play-in berth they were shooting for. They might just be able to pick a real direction now. It's just funny that they got here by accident. They're worse when they're trying to win than the smart teams are when they need to lose. That's how bad things have gotten in Sacramento. -- Sam Quinn

San Antonio Spurs: A

Record: 28-13
The basics: 10th in offense, 3rd in defense, 7th in net rating (5.0)
Reason for optimism: This roster is ahead of schedule.
Reason for pessimism: Team has a tendency to play down to competition.

There was a two-week stretch in December when we were all making some pretty outlandish claims about the Spurs after they beat the Oklahoma City Thunder three times during that span. That feat certainly deserves the type of national attention San Antonio's been getting. But in the midst of those triumphant wins, the Spurs also lost to a Utah Jazz team that is actively tanking, as well as to the Trail Blazers and Grizzlies, both of whom sit in the last two spots of the play-in.

We know the Spurs can get up for the massive matchups, as evidenced by handing OKC three of its seven losses this season. But we've also seen them play down to the competition they face, making them difficult to pin down when discussing playoff contenders. They sit second in the West, certainly not where anyone expected them to be this early into Victor Wembanyama's career, but some of these losses are a reminder that while they've fast tracked their path to championship contention, they're still vulnerable to those mistakes young teams make. -- Jasmyn Wimbish

Utah Jazz: C+

Record: 14-27
The basics: 17th in offense, 30th in defense, 28th in net rating (-7.7)
Reason for optimism: Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen are a legitimately dangerous duo and George just keeps getting better.
Reason for pessimism: Taylor Hendricks and Kyle Filipowski have not developed the way you'd hope.

George has been a revelation. Markkanen has bounced back from a disappointing 2024-25 season in the best possible way. This is the most important stuff. It is easy to envision the Jazz making a big leap next season, especially if they hit in the lottery.

On the other hand, the defense is absolutely atrocious again and, because Utah's 2026 first-round pick is top-eight protected, the team is doing what it has to do to keep it. That's the smart move in the big picture, but, in this context, how much do a couple of Brice Sensabaugh scoring explosions mean? -- James Herbert