NBA

NBA power rankings: Suns, Pacers see improvement while Raptors enter tank mode – DraftKings

Rohit Palit January 22, 2024

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We’ve entered the second half of the NBA season, which means trade talk is about to heat up around the league. The trade deadline is February 8, and we’ve already seen a few big deals from the Toronto Raptors with the latest sending star forward Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers have long been considered the favorite to land Siakam if the Raptors did make him available, and the move gives Indiana a bump in the championship index despite losing the first two games with the forward in the lineup.

In the desert, the Phoenix Suns might be starting to turn things around. The Suns were the worst team in the fourth quarter this season in plus/minus, behind the likes of the Pistons, Wizards and Spurs. That appears to have changed after Phoenix overcame a 22-point deficit against the Kings in the final frame recently. The Suns have won five in a row and are suddenly right back in the hunt for an automatic playoff berth. The question will be health, as February has been a bad month for Kevin Durant the last two seasons and Bradley Beal has battled back problems all year.

The Suns, Pacers and Raptors aren’t the only squads making moves ahead of this busy month for the league. Here’s our second championship index for the 2023-24 NBA season, with our first rankings here.