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Where the Grizzlies Should Be in the NBA Power Rankings

Where ESPN's 2026-27 projections got it wrong.... part 3
Ryan Kaminski|
Nov 7, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) and Memphis Grizzlies forward Cedric Coward (23) react during the second quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Nov 7, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) and Memphis Grizzlies forward Cedric Coward (23) react during the second quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Memphis GrizzliesOrlando MagicIndiana PacersSacramento KingsBrooklyn NetsLos Angeles ClippersMilwaukee BucksChicago BullsWashington WizardsDallas MavericksNew Orleans PelicansCharlotte Hornets

ESPN projects a 27-55 record and the 3rd-worst record in the West for the Memphis Grizzlies in their 2026-27 Season Forecast.

Could the Grizzlies surprise the basketball world with a more competitive team than expected with rookie phenom Cameron Boozer in the fold?

Finishing off the 2026-27 NBA Power Rankings, be sure to follow along with the Top-10 in Part 1 and the teams ranked Top-20 in Part 2, here are the 21st-30th ranked teams heading into next season.

Power Ranking 21st-30th NBA Teams Before 2026-27 NBA Season

Flagg, Zion stare
Nov 21, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg (32) and New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) look for the ball during the second half at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

21. Charlotte Hornets

The Hornets enter the 2026-26 with one of the biggest holes to fill of any team. Charlotte going from unlocking a killer offense to moving on from the sun of their system so quickly is a surprise, but their front office seems confident in this direction long term for a handful of reasons.

Losing Ball for a versatile defender in Naz Reid may help the roster's defensive versatility, but looking to replace Ball's production with proven vets and a rookie will be a tough ask that will likely mean one step backwards next season in the win column before any steps forward come down the road.

Even still, Hornets Rookie Christian Anderson is a lights-out 3pt shooter and connective playmaker in his own right; he'll fit right into this system. Guards Coby White and Dennis Schroder will provide instant offense, with White having real potential to explode as a scoring creator in the starting role, giving the Hornets a handful of options to supplement their new faces of the franchise on the wing in Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller.

Add in the defensive versatility of Moussa Diabate, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Royce O'Neale' sprinkle in some 3pt shooting, toughness, and closeout-attacking skills of Grayson Allen, Sion James, Liam McNeeley, and Pat Connaughton; and round out the frontcourt with traditional behemoths in Ryan Kalkbrenner and Rookie Hannes Steinbach down low, and one can see how Charlotte's got plenty of depth to work with to maintain last year's momentum the best they can.

But without the straw that stirs the drink, how good will the milkshake still taste?

22. New Orleans Pelicans

Zion Williamson lands a new Head Coach in Jamahl Mosley focused on unlocking Williamson's paint penetration dominance into paint-and-spray team offense while fortifying this team's talent like Herb Jones, Trey Murphy, and Dejounte Murray into a winning culture focused on defense and the four factors. The new Coach will help young prospects like Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen find opportunity to succeed, develop, and help the team while doing it.

This team's success revolves around buy-in for a new culture to form winning habits, with an offensive schme around creating and making threes off Zion's elite downhill gravity. Adding Bennedict Mathurin is one low-risk medium-reward swing on a real talent with legit NBA skills as downhill athletic scorer.

New Orleans rated 21st on Offense and 23rd on Defense last year with the 21st Point Differential (PD) overall, but the Pelicans rated Top-12 in three of the four offensive factors – FT Rate, ORB%, TOV%. Mosley fine-tuning the defensive side of the floor with better habits while helping the team focus on drive-and-kick threes along with daily individual player development is the path to the Pelicans surprising folks sooner than expected.

23. Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies have built a roster of competitive young talent that should surprise some folks this season.

Cameron Boozer projects to bring instant production as a consistent offensive hub and reliable rebounder, showing elite two way feel and high impact indicators predicting future stardom in Memphis.

Zach Edey's rim-protecting, running, and rolling will add big two way impact down low in complement to Boozer. Cedric Coward impresses on both sides as a defender and as a scorer; Ty Jerome continues to level up as a scorer.

Boozer’s connective super powers makes it all go; with loads of prospects to try out in different forms and fashion around their young core, Memphis could compete quicker than expected to kickstart this new era.

24. Dallas Mavericks

Cooper Flagg returns for Year 2 of life after Luka, this time hopefully with a fully healthy Kyrie Irving back in the mix to help this team be competitive.

Dallas shakes up its front office bringing in Masai Ujiri and Mike Schmitz, who signs Naji Marshall for depth and adds young talents Morez Johnson, Zaccharie Risacher, Marcus Sasser.

The Mavs will be better than last season due to Flagg's never-ending internal development, if Irving stays healthy this time around.

How does this team balance next season's competitiveness levels as a rebuilding team's focus on player development when the long term goals of contending still matter more than next season's results, but winning games builds winning habits?

25. Washington Wizards

With Trae Young having found a fit in his short time in Washington last season, with Anthony Davis ready to roll and Rookie Phenom AJ Dybantsa entering the fold, the Wizards will definitely be more entertaining to watch than seasons prior and have a chance to make a jump in the win column.

With tons of tantalizing talent to try, Washington can build its rotation and invest in its young core in a handful of ways going forward: How will Tre Johnson’s scoring gravity, Bilal Coulibaly’s defensive playmaking, Alex Sarr’s play-finishing bounce, Will Riley’s 3pt connectivity fit into the equation?

If Washington views any particular prospect as vital to their long-term plans, the Wizards will need to find minutes and opportunity in what's become a crowded roster that now has to juggle stars wanting to win with prospects needing freedom to develop.

26. Chicago Bulls

Caleb Wilson lived up to the hype in Vegas, showing up and showing out as the #4 overall pick for Chicago. Wilson’s defensive instincts and next-level athleticism were on full display, flashing just how lethal his game will be as his jump shot begins to fall consistently from anywhere at any time.

With a potential franchise player in the making under way, Chicago can continue to build out their new identity from there.

Fellow Chicago Rookie Dailyn Swain didn’t quite shine as brightly in his Summer League Bulls point guard role, but he’s more of a downhill scorer and hustling plus defender, whose upside lies as a C&S 3pt threat and potential pull-up on-ball scorer; playmaking is probably best found elsewhere in the lineup. Josh Giddey will help in that regard, especially in the regular season, providing transition playmaking and tall point guard play to set the pace.

The Bulls next step is building a winning culture of competitive basketball on both sides of the floor around its best young talents. Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue give Chicago two dynamic forwards to build out their new gritty identity around their two-way rookies.

27. Milwaukee Bucks

Brayden Burries will surprise some folks with his instant all-around production filling out the box score as a rookie next season in Milwaukee, but the Bucks as a team were struggling to rack up wins even with Antetokounmpo around. Nate Ament bringing intriguing potential as a tall ball-handling jump shooter, though fans should be patient with his all-around strength and development to find his best form.

Will Tyler Herro or Kel'el Ware expand their roles here with more opportunity?
Could Sophomore Kasparas Jakučionis take a leap as the point guard running the show?
How will dynamic wings Ousmane Dieng and Jaime Jaquez Jr. fit in to the plans?

In your first year as a franchise after trading away the greatest player in team history, your goals should be most focused on prospect development and seeing what you have in the players you now have in the building.

28. Brooklyn Nets

The Nets returned to the lottery after mixed results with four rookies last season, coming out with a special offensive talent in Mikel Brown Jr., who projects to bring a superb mix of shooting and playmaking.

Brooklyn adds this super connector to a roster full of connectors, from Egor Demin, Ban Saraf, Nolan Traore, Danny Wolf and even Julius Randle, a proven creator. With Michael Porter Jr.'s scoring and shooting gravity, plus Day'Ron Sharpe's strong play inside, bringing in Moritz Wagner as a hustling big off the bench, there's reason for hope in Brooklyn to build a pass-first culture.

Still, this team seems to be waiting for its franchise cornerstone to appear, to then welcome them into this connector culture, flanking that eventual star with passing and shooting to maximize offensive connectivity.

29. Los Angeles Clippers

With the Clippers reportedly moving on from Kawhi Leonard for Brandon Ingram, Los Angeles' roster looks a lot more barren than recent season.

Darius Garland and Keaton Wagler are truly exciting guards for Ty Lue to build his offense around long term, both super skilled in their own ways as scorers, shooters, and creators.

Bradley Beal, Gradey Dick, Rui Hachimura, Brandon Ingram, Max Strus, Kobe Sanders, Brook Lopez build out the bones of an NBA rotation. Baba Miller, Yanic Konan Niederhauser are interesting prospects.

Unless this offense explodes in some newfound ways, its hard to see the path to this roster racking up wins in such a competitive league.

30. Sacramento Kings

Darius Acuff is headed to a star-starved team as any in Sacramento, which results in as much opportunity as Acuff could ask for to prove his game translates.

The Kings have good individual talents, maybe they package a few for more future picks. Zach Lavine, Domantas Sabonis, Malik Monk are still on the roster, though that may not last for long if the Kings continue to rebuild. Sacramento will see what they have in De'Andre Hunter, Precious Achiuwa and have some interesting young prospects in Emanuel Sharp, Nique Clifford, Alex Karaban. Maxime Raynaud proved to be a good value pick for Scott Perry.

The next steps for Sacramento are building a team identity that finds an edge over the average team, building winning habits for the long haul.

Read the full 2026-27 NBA Power Rankings with The Top-10 in Part 1 before The Top-20 in Part 2.

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Published
Ryan Kaminski
RYAN KAMINSKI

Ryan is a basketball scout data analyst who has been covering the Orlando Magic, NBA, and NBA Draft with a focus on roster building strategy, data analytics, film breakdowns, and player development since 2017. He is credentialed media for the Orlando Magic along with top high schools in Central Florida where he scouts talent in marquee matchups at Montverde Academy, IMG Academy, Oak Ridge, and the NBPA Top-100 Camp. He generates basketball data visualizations, formerly with The BBall Index. He has two B.A.s from Florida State University in Business Management and Business Marketing. Twitter/YouTube/Substack: @BeyondTheRK

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