NBA midseason winners and losers: Nuggets, Knicks on upswing; Warriors' window shuts

NBA midseason winners and losers: Nuggets, Knicks on upswing; Warriors’ window shuts

Posted by author January 23, 2025 NBA

Spread the love

Just because the NBA is at its midseason point doesn’t mean it’s too early to take stock of how the 2024-25 season has unfolded.

And while there have been some surprises, the Oklahoma City Thunder appear well on their way to clinching the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the second season in a row. OKC has leaned on MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams is emerging as a star, and the Thunder have impressively done this mostly without Chet Holmgren.

In the East, it’s the surprising Cleveland Cavaliers who have raced past the field in their first season with Kenny Atkinson as coach.

Winners and losers of the 2024-25 NBA season, at the midway point:

(All stats are through Wednesday morning)

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder

The two best teams in the NBA, the Cavs in the East and the Thunder in the West, are the only ones with single-digit loss totals. Not only are Cleveland and Oklahoma City the only teams to have winning percentages of .700 or better, they’re the only ones to crack .800. The similarities don’t stop there. Both embody team basketball, share the ball and protect it; the Cavaliers lead the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.23), while the Thunder rank second (2.17).

Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons

Last season, Detroit won 14 games and had the worst record in the NBA. This year, at midseason, the Pistons have already surpassed that win total by eight games and are locked in a fight with the Atlanta Hawks, Orlando Magic and Miami Heat for the sixth seed in the East, the final guaranteed playoff spot. Sparking the turnaround has been Cade Cunningham, who is playing like an All-Star and is averaging career highs in points, assists and rebounds.

After slow start, Denver Nuggets are surging

On Dec. 7, the Nuggets lost to a Wizards team that entered the night with just two wins and on a 16-game losing streak. Denver, at that point, fell to 11-10. Since then, the Nuggets are 16-6 and their offensive efficiency has been the catalyst for the turnaround. Not only has Nikola Jokić been outstanding — averaging 30.1 points, 13.2 rebounds and 9.9 assists per game — but Jamal Murray has returned to form after a summer in which he struggled with the Canadian national team. In fact, Jokić is scoring less, which has allowed his supporting cast to step up. Denver’s 3-point stroke has also stabilized, giving the offense far more versatility.

The New York Knicks took a chance, and it paid off

New York’s front office saw the strain on Jalen Brunson to sustain the team’s offense late in the postseason and decided to be aggressive. The trade that sent Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns has been a stroke of genius. Towns is having a career year and his range has allowed for excellent spacing, giving his teammates the opportunity to attack the rim. Towns is also averaging career highs in rebounds with 13.9 per game, battling Domantas Sabonis and Jokić for the league lead. The Knicks (29-16) are third in the East and have their best team in a long time.

The Los Angeles Clippers persevered without Kawhi Leonard. Can he stay on the floor?

Los Angeles, thanks largely to the jump in production from Norman Powell, withstood the 35 games Kawhi Leonard missed, compiling a 19-16 record without him. (Two of those missed games came when he spent time with family during the LA-area fires. He missed Wednesday’s game due to knee injury management.). The Clippers haven’t rushed Leonard back from his offseason knee surgery, and that’s rational and calculated; they will need him for a postseason run. Leonard is nowhere close to his typical career averages, but he’s also playing far fewer minutes. Yet, through Thursday morning, L.A. was 4-2 in the games Leonard played in. He helps stabilize the defense and draws attention away from other scorers. The Clippers did the hard work. Now they must figure out how to keep him on the floor.

The young Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies have arrived

These teams have uber-athletic players all over the floor, top-10 defenses and tacticians as coaches who are extracting potential from their young rosters. They’re also competing for the No. 2 seed behind the Thunder.

MORE: Bold predictions for NBA’s second half: New era in West; Jimmy Butler won’t fix Suns

ANALYSIS: NBA midseason grades: Cavs acing season, 76ers need improvement

ANALYSIS: 10 players who could be on the move ahead of NBA trade deadline Feb. 6

The window to win for Golden State Warriors has fully closed

Turns out Klay Thompson’s departure over the offseason was merely a start. The Warriors, who have derailed after starting the season 12-3, look older, slower and in need of a savior. The problem is that Stephen Curry, while still an ignitable sharpshooter, can no longer will this team past its deficiencies. Curry, who turns 37 in March, hasn’t been able to finish at the rim like he has in the past. Golden State lacks an inside presence, struggles to convert two-point field goals and, according to Spotrac.com, has a whopping 84.76% of its salary cap tied up in four players: Curry (39.66%), Andrew Wiggins (18.69%), Draymond Green (17.15%) and Dennis Schröder (9.26%). Only Schröder’s is an expiring deal. Missing the play-in window is a possibility.

Miami Heat deal with dysfunction

One-and-a-half seasons removed from a historic run to the Finals, the Heat have stagnated. The Jimmy Butler era is seemingly headed to an inevitable end, and Miami’s offense at times looks stuck in the early 2000s. Miami does have some nice, young pieces in place — rookie center Kel’el Ware has even flashed in the last five games — but the Terry Rozier trade from last season was a failure and the Heat look like nothing more than a play-in team with no clear identity.

Mike Brown

Just one-and-a-half seasons after Mike Brown became the first unanimous winner of the NBA Coach of the Year award, the Kings fired him Dec. 27. Sacramento had started the season 13-18 under Brown, whom the team signed to a contract extension in July. Brown is an experienced coach with a proven track record, so he should at least latch on somewhere else as an assistant. Nonetheless, his ouster in Sacramento felt reactionary and rash.

The Big Three experiment in Philadelphia

The 76ers (15-27) are very much in position to contend for the play-in, but it’s clear that the Big Three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George has been a failure. Availability has been a concern, with Embiid appearing in only 13 games. George has struggled, at times looking slowed by his age and not worthy of his four-year, $212 million deal signed in June. The Sixers have lost seven in a row, the most recent a blowout against the Nuggets in which Philly could not defend.

The Washington Wizards fall behind, yet again

The only team in the NBA to not reach double-digit victories by the midway point, Washington is four games short. The Wizards are on an 11-game losing streak, which is only their second-longest this season. They tied their franchise record for most consecutive losses (set last season) with 16. Kyle Kuzma’s value has plummeted, Jordan Poole remains inconsistent and the only path out will take time — think years, not months — for Washington’s young players to keep developing.

Follow NBA reporter Lorenzo Reyes on social media @LorenzoGReyes