NBA power rankings: Are the surging Lakers a threat out West?

The Los Angeles Lakers have won five consecutive games, including massive recent victories over the Nuggets, Timberwolves and Knicks.

We are down to the final month of the 2025-26 NBA regular season.

No NBA team has more than 16 games remaining, as the races for seeding tighten up. And there’s still a possibility for some upheaval at the top of both the Eastern and Western Conferences; the Boston Celtics are only 4 games back of the Detroit Pistons in the East, while the San Antonio Spurs trail the Oklahoma City Thunder by just 3 ½ games.

And, as has been the case for a couple of months now, there’s also a race to the bottom, with tanking teams in the bottom third of this list looking to improve their draft positioning.

Here are USA TODAY Sports’ NBA power rankings after Week 19 of the 2025-26 regular season:

Note: Records and stats through March 9. Parentheses show movement from last week’s rankings.