The loss of Kevin Durant for the Golden State Warriors presents a shake-up in the NBA Vegas rankings with the San Antonio Spurs now edging out the Warriors for the top spot. Our rankings had the Warriors as 2.5 points better than any team before the injury. Durant is arguably worth 3-4 points in the betting markets depending on a myriad of factors game to game.
The NBA continues to be top-heavy in the West as we have five Western Conference teams ranked above the top Eastern Conference team, the Cleveland Cavaliers (Cleveland's power rating adjusted for current injury to Kevin Love).
The NBA Vegas rankings are compiled from the power ratings of yours truly, Erin Rynning, and Dave Tuley with input from other handicappers. The rankings compare the relative strengths of teams and can be used in relation to point spreads if the teams were to meet on a neutral court. They can also be used as a basis of your own power ratings if you think our consensus is too high or too low on certain teams. We invite readers to offer their differences of opinion in the comments section.
Here are our power ratings for all 30 NBA teams.
1. San Antonio Spurs (power rating: 8)
It's taken a major injury from the Warriors for the juggernaut Spurs to steal the top power rating position. With the league's second-best straight-up record, they also rate fifth with their stellar 33-25-1 against-the-spread mark. The question lingers: Can this steady and deep regular-season team hit another level in the postseason?
