The Portland Trail Blazers have dropped ever-so-slightly in [the latest NBA Power Rankings put together by The Athletic](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6444675/2025/06/23/nba-power-rankings-2025-thunder-pacers-knicks-celtics/):
> **22\. Portland Trail Blazers**
>
> Last ranking: 21
>
> Playoffs? Did not qualify (finished 36-46)
>
> **What happened, and what’s next?** The Trail Blazers have a lottery pick for the fourth straight draft, but it’s outside the top 10, unlike the previous three drafts. That should be fine for a team that has way too many mouths to feed as is. Only the Jazz had a worse turnover percentage than the Trail Blazers last season.
>
> Matisse Thybulle has a player option, and Dalano Banton is a free agent, but other than that, Portland still has most of its rotation under contract. What will happen with the expensive Portland vets? The Trail Blazers were 8-4 when Anfernee Simons didn’t play and had a better record without Deandre Ayton than they had with him, and Jerami Grant shot 37.3 percent from the field.
Unsurprisingly, the Oklahoma City Thunder - winners yesterday of their first-ever NBA Championship (and don’t come at me with the Sonic’s title in the late 70s, that was a different team) - top the league:
> They’re the NBA champions, capping off one of the most dominant seasons ever. They won 64 games by double digits between the regular season and the playoffs. They had the No. 1 defense. They swallowed teams up in the possession battle. But winning championships is hard... They have the reigning NBA Finals MVP/regular season MVP/scoring champion (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander), an All-NBA/All-Defense selection (Jalen Williams) and a second-overall pick just scratching the surface of his capabilities (Chet Holmgren). Jaylin Williams is their top free agent. And, because they’re the Thunder, they have one lottery pick set to debut next season (Nikola Topić) and the 15th and 24th picks in this week’s draft. It’s an embarrassment of riches, and they’re not “too young.” They’re young champions.
Bringing up the rear at 30th are the Utah Jazz:
> The Jazz were fined $100,000 for violating the Player Participation Policy, lost 60 games for the first time and wound up with the lowest pick possible. Like Durant said, tanking must be stressful. The only free agent from the rotation is power forward John Collins, and he has a player option. The Jazz recommitted to head coach Will Hardy with a multi-year extension, while hiring Austin Ainge (son of CEO Danny Ainge) as president of basketball operations. It appears that the Jazz are moving forward with a Celtics West brain trust, without a Jayson Tatum or a Jaylen Brown. Maybe they can get themselves a Jrue Holiday or Derrick White.