NBA regular-season grades for every East team: Two teams in ‘A+’ club, ‘B+’ for Knicks and failure for 76ers

It’s postseason time in the NBA. The playoff bracket is set, and the Play-In Tournament starts Tuesday night. The 2025 NBA champion will be crowned in two months. But before we get into the playoff madness, let’s take a deep breath and reflect on the past six months. 

The 2024-25 NBA regular season wrapped up Sunday, and the finalized playoff picture in the Eastern Conference does not look exactly how we thought it would entering the season. The Cavaliers ran away with the No. 1 seed in the East, while the Pistons surprised the league by earning a top-six finish and automatic playoff berth. The Celtics and Knicks looked strong for most of the season, but the 76ers had their campaign go completely off the rails thanks to Joel Embiid’s knee issues.

So with every team in the league having played 82 games, we’re going to look back at the regular season and hand out grades for every team in the East.

• Record: 40-42
• The basics: 17th in offense, 18th in defense, 18th in net rating (-1.1)

The Hawks had seven winning streaks of at least three games and seven losing streaks of at least three games and are back in the Play-In Tournament for the fourth season in a row. In terms of the overall result, it was another average season in Atlanta, but this campaign did feel a bit different thanks to the development of their young wing trio: Jalen Johnson was on Most Improved Player trajectory before getting hurt, Dyson Daniels might win MIP and is in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year and No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher is right in the mix for Rookie of the Year.  — Jack Maloney

• Record: 61-21
• The basics: 2nd in offense, 4th in defense, 2nd in net rating (+9.4)

The Celtics’ lackluster midseason stretch has quickly been forgotten. They won 19 of their final 22 games to reach the 60-win mark for the second consecutive season and the 15th time in franchise history — an NBA record. Furthermore, they’re the first defending champion to win 60 games since the Golden State Warriors did so in 2017. The Celtics appear to be peaking at the right time, and are the betting favorites to get out of the East (-145 at BetMGM) despite not having the No. 1 seed. About the only concern heading into the playoffs is Jaylen Brown’s balky knee, which recently required painkilling injections.  — Jack Maloney

• Record: 26-56
• The basics: 28th in offense, 23rd in defense, 26th in net rating (-7.3)

For a team that was ostensibly tanking for much of the season, the 2024-25 Nets played extremely hard. Coach Jordi Fernandez was unafraid to get weird defensively, and the whole team was unafraid of making aggressive mistakes. I can’t go higher than a C+ for a team this deficient offensively, and I understand why some of their fans wanted them to tank harder — the franchise has a lot riding on this draft lottery, and those dang wins allowed the Sixers to pass them in the race to the bottom — but, much more than this time last year, it feels like Brooklyn has started to build something new. Now let’s see how the Nets use their cap space and draft picks. — James Herbert

• Record: 19-63
• The basics: 29th in offense, 24th in defense, 27th in net rating (-9.1)

Injuries once again handicapped any hope of development for the Hornets. They finished with two fewer wins than a season ago, though expectations were low when Brandon Miller and Grant Williams both suffered season-ending injuries. It’s difficult to accurately assess this Hornets team when several key starters were sidelined for most of it, but there is a sliver of hope on the horizon. On paper, when this team is fully healthy it’s a play-in contender. LaMelo Ball is one of the most creative scorers in the league, Miller showed flashes in the 27 games he played and Charlotte has several other quality role players that work on this team. Depending on where the Hornets’ pick lands in the draft, this could be an exciting team next season. Or, Charlotte could once again find itself suffering from injuries to someone like Ball, which would then mean seriously wondering what the future looks like. — Jasmyn Wimbish

• Record: 39-43
• The basics: 20th in offense, 19th in defense, 20th in net rating (-1.6)

The Bulls are a middle-of-the-road team. Consistently average, always in the play-in with no real chance of making any sort of playoff run, just middling. You could argue that every trade the Bulls have made over the last two years got poor returns, yielding just a single first-round pick — which was actually just reclaiming their own from the Spurs for this year’s draft. They finally moved off Zach LaVine’s enormous contract, and turned the keys over to the likes of Coby White and Josh Giddey. And while that duo has been electric since the All-Star break, with the Bulls posting the 10th-best net rating in the league during that time (+4.8), it’s still not the type of core that’s going to seriously contend — even in the weaker Eastern Conference. Rookie Matas Buzelis has been another bright spot after getting consistent playing time with LaVine gone, but the Bulls are still lacking that franchise centerpiece and in a draft year where Cooper Flagg was certainly gettable if they fully tanked at the start of the season. It’s another season where I’m left wondering what is Chicago’s plan going forward. — Jasmyn Wimbish

NBA awards: Expert picks for MVP, Defensive Player, Rookie of the Year, more with no unanimous selections

• Record: 64-18
• The basics: 1st in offense, 8th in defense, 3rd in net rating (+9.2)

For just the third time in franchise history the Cavaliers finished with 60+ wins in the regular season. The 64 wins are the second most ever in franchise history, coming in right behind the 2008-09 Cavs, who finished with 66 wins en route to an Eastern Conference finals appearance. The Cavaliers are hoping this team can go a bit further than that LeBron James-led team did, and they have every right to think they can. Donovan Mitchell has molded his game perfectly to fit this team, allowing his teammates to shoulder more offensive responsibility. Evan Mobley has emerged as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate once again, while taking massive leaps on the offensive side of the ball thanks to Kenny Atkinson giving him more freedom to handle the ball and run the offense. Darius Garland has turned into a 3-point mercenary, and they’re all backed up by a second unit that ranks eighth in the league in scoring. Cleveland has proven to be the best regular season team in the East. Now we’ll need to see if that success translates to the postseason. — Jasmyn Wimbish

• Record: 44-38
• The basics: 14th in offense, 10th in defense, 12th in net rating (+2.1)

If you would’ve told me at the beginning of the season that the Pistons would secure a top-six seed in the playoffs I would’ve called you a liar. No one could’ve predicted this massive jump in improvement from a year ago where Detroit set the record for the longest losing streak in league history and won just 14 games overall. But a year later, here we are. Cade Cunningham is an All-Star. Malik Beasley is a Sixth Man of the Year candidate. Tobias Harris and Tim Hardaway Jr. have been the positive veteran scorers this team has needed for some time. Jalen Duren’s a walking double-double with incredible efficiency around the rim. J.B. Bickerstaff has been like a breath of fresh air for this Detroit team, and now the Pistons are getting ready for their first playoff appearance since 2019. And the fact the Pistons are doing a lot of this without Jaden Ivey (who only appeared in 30 games before a serious injury) is reason to be incredibly optimistic about this team’s future even past this season. — Jasmyn Wimbish

• Record: 50-32
• The basics: 9th in offense, 14th in defense, 13th in net rating (+2.1)

Tyrese Haliburton just creates high-quality shots on possession after possession and almost never turns the ball over. Like he did in 2023-24, Haliburton played at an All-NBA First Team level for around half of the season; it was just a different half this time. I’m not sure how high Indiana’s defensive ceiling is in the playoffs, but in the regular season it made an enormous jump on that end without any big roster changes. The Pacers’ defensive shot profile was less extreme than it was last season (when it allowed more shots at the rim and fewer 3s than anybody else), and they sent opponents to the line far less often. Much of the credit here should go to Andrew Nembhard and Pascal Siakam for plugging holes all over the floor. — James Herbert

• Record: 37-45
• The basics: 21st in offense, 9th in defense, 16th in net rating (+0.4)

There wasn’t much joy in Miami this season. The Jimmy Butler saga hung like a cloud over the organization until he was finally traded to the Golden State Warriors ahead of the deadline. And even though he had only played in half of their games to that point, and caused much consternation, they were a much worse team once he left. Their 10-game losing streak in March was the longest under Erik Spoelstra, and their 37 wins are their fewest in a season since 2015. They snuck into the Play-In Tournament thanks to how bad the Eastern Conference is, but that’s no solace. Even if they manage to grab the No. 8 seed, the Heat have no chance against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. — Jack Maloney

• Record: 48-34
• The basics: 10th in offense, 12th in defense, 11th in net rating (+2.4)

Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded another 30/10/5 campaign to become the first player in NBA history to have three such seasons, but he was the only constant for the Bucks in a roller-coaster season. They started 2-8, turned things around and won the NBA Cup, played under .500 ball for two months in the second half of the season, then closed on an eight-game winning streak to avoid the Play-In Tournament. For a fourth consecutive season, injuries will be an issue in the playoffs. This time, they could be without Damian Lillard for at least the start of the first round due to a blood clot. — Jack Maloney

• Record: 51-31
• The basics: 5th in offense, 13th in defense, 8th in net rating (+4.0)

Congratulations are in order for the Knicks: For the first time since Pat Riley was their coach, they’ve finished two consecutive seasons with 50-plus wins. Offensively, this year’s iteration has been even better than anticipated — with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns sharing the floor, New York scored 105.7 points per 100 possessions in the halfcourt, a higher mark than any team outside of Cleveland managed in 2024-25, per Cleaning The Glass — and, in theory at least, there’s still room to grow. As a result of Brunson spraining his ankle in March, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby grew into more prominent roles, much like Isaiah Hartenstein and Donte DiVincenzo did last season. This should make the Knicks even harder to guard now that they’re at full strength, but serious questions remain about the defense, particularly because Towns and Mitchell Robinson played just 47 total minutes together. There is little evidence to suggest that they’re in the same tier as the Cavaliers and Celtics. — James Herbert

• Record: 41-41
• The basics: 27th in offense, 2nd in defense, 17th in net rating (-0.2)

It is mind-boggling how great the Magic are on defense and how poor they are on offense. The addition of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope didn’t help with their 3-point shooting, as they finished the year dead last in 3-point percentage. The injury bug bit hard, as Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs all missed chunks of time. But despite the injuries and poor offense, that second-ranked defense kept the Magic afloat. They ended the year on a 7-2 run, holding their opponents to under 100 points three times, and only two other teams held opponents to fewer rebounds on a nightly basis. This team is still sorely lacking 3-point shooting, but the defense wins them a ton of games. I’m not sure how effective this team can be in the postseason with a stagnant offense, but you can bet it’s going to be a low-scoring affair regardless of whom they play. — Jasmyn Wimbish

• Record: 24-58
• The basics: 23rd in offense, 26th in defense, 25th in net rating (-6.3)

This was a disastrous season for the Sixers, whose dreams of competing at the top of the Eastern Conference gave way to a tanking campaign to boost their chances of keeping their first-round pick, which is top-six protected. The Phoenix Suns‘ existence is the only reason the Sixers weren’t the runaway winner for the most disappointing team in the league, though at least in Philadelphia they can blame injuries. Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey only played 15 games and 294 minutes together. Embiid finally underwent surgery on his left knee earlier this month, and will be reevaluated in six weeks. Both he and the team hope that the procedure will help get him back to his best, but that remains to be seen. — Jack Maloney

• Record: 30-52
• The basics: 26th in offense, 15th in defense, 24th in net rating (-4.1)

Fun fact: From Jan. 13 onward — a 43-game sample — the Raptors allowed just 109.9 points per 100 possessions, the third-best mark in the league. Sure, much of this is due to incredible shooting luck (opponents made a league-low 32.8% of their 3s in that span), but, hey, it’s notable. Anyway, given the lineups that Toronto was throwing out there near the end of the season, 2024-25 was a bit reminiscent of the “Tampa Tank” four years ago. The Raptors finished with the league’s seventh-worst record that year, too, which led to them landing Scottie Barnes in the lottery. This time, though, the core is much younger. For a rebuilding team, there’s a fair bit of talent here, but they’re in a bit of a weird spot: The roster is expensive, and they don’t have a surplus of future draft picks. — James Herbert

• Record: 18-64
• The basics: 30th in offense, 28th in defense, 30th in net rating (-11.8)

If the goal was adding more draft capital at the deadline and maximizing lottery odds, mission accomplished! The Wizards should be happy, too, about the improvement of No. 2 pick Alex Sarr over the course of his rookie year. Nothing exactly went wrong this season, but it’s not as if there are a ton of amazing development stories here, so it’s hard to justify a better-than-average grade. Washington has a bunch of interesting young players, but it’s still in the early stages of its rebuild and, if it doesn’t add Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper in June, it won’t necessarily have The Guy next season, either. — James Herbert