School's out: Grading every NBA team's regular season

As the NBA's postseason tips off this week with the play-in tournament and ensuing playoffs, it's time to hand out regular-season report cards. These grades are based on how each team performed relative to my expectations and their objectives, as well as how this season altered their big-picture outlook.

The Hawks cut their losses on Trae Young before they could be backed into a contractual corner and built one of the league's youngest winning teams. They also own the more favorable first-round draft pick between New Orleans and Milwaukee, giving the playoff-bound Hawks around a 10% chance to win the lottery and a roughly 43% chance to land a top-four pick in a loaded draft class. Essentially, the Hawks nabbed a top-six seed and top-six lottery odds.

Atlanta will head into the summer with that draft pick plus Jalen Johnson, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, Onyeka Okongwu, Zaccharie Risacher, Corey Kispert, and Asa Newell all under long-term control - and without a single player set to earn even 20% of the salary cap in any season. Everything's coming up Hawks.

The Celtics created the future flexibility teams going through a "gap year" are supposed to create. They also won 56 games, claimed the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seed, and welcomed the return of Jayson Tatum early enough for the five-time All-NBAer to get his legs back heading into the playoffs, where Boston is the favorite to emerge from the East. Best gap year ever.

On one hand, the Nets achieved their tanking objectives (sharing top lottery odds with Washington and Indiana), and their expansive collection of rookies each showed promise at various points of the season. On the other hand, we're talking about a 20-win team that doesn't have a surefire building block, as none of those aforementioned rookies truly popped. Everything hinges on the lottery. Until then, Brooklyn gets a slightly less than satisfactory grade.

After recovering from a rough start and getting healthy, the young Hornets spent the second half of the season playing like contenders. Charlotte went 28-10 over its final 38 games, boasting the league's third-best record since Jan. 22. The Hornets finished the season with a top-five offense and a top-eight point differential while Kon Knueppel battled Cooper Flagg for Rookie of the Year honors. Between Knueppel, Brandon Miller, LaMelo Ball, Moussa Diabate, Sion James, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and head coach Charles Lee, the Hornets have one of the league's most enviable collections of young talent. Oh, and Charlotte owns 24 draft picks over the next seven years.

The play of sophomore Matas Buzelis, the fact Chicago finally accepted a rebuild, and the firing of former lead executive Arturas Karnisovas are the only reasons I didn't give the Bulls an F. Still, the team waited too long to accept its fate, sold low on veterans who probably would have fetched bigger returns a year ago, and was too late to join the most crowded tanking field in NBA history. The Bulls barely have any building blocks as they enter the lottery with a roughly 80% chance of picking between ninth and 11th, and they've already hamstrung their search for a new general manager.

The Cavs didn't live up to my expectation that they'd top the East standings, the league's only second-apron team fell 4.5 wins short of their preseason over/under (56.5), and their cover percentage against the spread was tied for last with the 65-loss Wizards. But Cleveland recovered nicely from an uninspiring start, and turning Darius Garland into James Harden gave the Cavs more certainty and size, which should help them in the playoffs. Donovan Mitchell continues to churn out incredibly efficient and underrated seasons.

Since the Mavericks are still recovering from arguably the worst trade in NBA history and had postseason aspirations (I projected them as a play-in team), the club loses points for its on-court performance. But Dallas scores high marks in other areas: The Mavs fired the disastrous Nico Harrison, salvaged something (up to five picks) from an Anthony Davis trade, and made the correct decision to tank in order to maximize their 2026 pick, since they don't control their own first-rounder again until 2031. Most importantly, Cooper Flagg looks every bit as advertised, giving the Mavs another chance with the type of franchise-changing talent some teams go decades without.

Nikola Jokic continued to play at an MVP level, Jamal Murray turned in the finest season of his career, and the Nuggets hit the over on their preseason win total despite injuries to Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, Cam Johnson, Peyton Watson, and Jonas Valanciunas. A season-ending 12-game win streak helped. So, why didn't Denver get an A on its regular-season assignment? If you watched the Nuggets throughout the season, you'll know the team spent much of the year in a sort of malaise, highlighted by its bottom-10 defense.

The Pistons completed one of the most stunning and inspiring two-year turnarounds in NBA history by winning an East-leading 60 games, while Cade Cunningham played like an All-NBA first-team-caliber superstar and Jalen Duren emerged as an All-Star big man. The only thing keeping Detroit's season from an A+ in my eyes was an underwhelming trade deadline for a shooting-starved team that has a real shot at reaching the Finals.

Injuries obviously played a part in Golden State's disappointing campaign, with Steph Curry missing half the season and Jimmy Butler being lost for the year due to a torn ACL. Still, this grade reflects the whole picture. The Warriors spent Curry's age-37 season looking every bit a mediocre play-in team. They finally got closure on the Jonathan Kuminga saga and took a worthwhile flier on Kristaps Porzingis, but they lose marks for their share of the blame in the former.

Kevin Durant churned out another All-NBA-caliber season, Alperen Sengun made another All-Star team, sophomore Reed Sheppard made a sizable leap, and the Rockets won 50-plus games despite losing starting point guard Fred VanVleet to a preseason knee injury. But ask a Rockets fan if they feel inspired by any of that. Durant's latest burner scandal still looms over the locker room, the half-court issues are as ugly as they were predictable without VanVleet, Amen Thompson's shooting remains a concern, and head coach Ime Udoka doesn't seem to trust Sheppard. The result isn't disappointing, but something about the process was.

The Pacers lost 63 games after I pegged them as a play-in team, yet I'm still giving them a passing grade. They appropriately tanked their hearts out while managing to maintain a shred of their competitive dignity most nights, and they set the table for Tyrese Haliburton's 2026-27 return by acquiring Ivica Zubac, an underrated two-way center on a bargain contract. That trade will lose some of its luster if the Pacers surrender their top-four protected pick, but I liked the deal regardless. And for what it's worth, Indiana has a 52% chance of keeping the selection.

A disastrous start to the season and the continued specter of a league investigation kept the Clippers from receiving top marks, but their campaign as a whole was positive. Months ago, fans worried the slumping Clippers might send a top-tier lottery pick to the defending champion Thunder. Instead, Kawhi Leonard dragged the Clips to a winning record while the team got younger and added much-needed draft capital in the process. By trading Harden and Zubac, the Clippers received Darius Garland, Bennedict Mathurin, two first-round picks, and a pair of second-rounders.

The Lakers exceeded both my expectations and Vegas' by securing a top-four seed in the tough West, but let's not get carried away. Deandre Ayton was never the right big man for a Luka Doncic-led team, and horribly timed injuries to Doncic and Austin Reaves sunk the Lakers' playoff hopes before the postseason tournament even tipped off. Plus, the futures of Reaves and LeBron James are still up in the air.

The Grizzlies' tank mostly went according to plan, some of their youngsters provided glimmers of hope, and the team leaned into its rebuild by trading Jaren Jackson Jr., adding to what was already one of the NBA's most impressive stashes of draft capital. That's all more positive than the Grizzlies' record would suggest, but Ja Morant's still on the books and Memphis still needs lottery luck. Although there's some intriguing talent in the building, there's no one resembling the type of generational prospect that makes tanking worth it (yet).

The Heat enjoyed one of the most memorable moments of the season when Bam Adebayo scored 83 points. Meanwhile, newcomer Norman Powell earned an All-Star selection and Jaime Jaquez Jr. is a Sixth Man of the Year candidate. However, the team's overall performance was somewhere between boring and satisfactory. Miami is off to the play-in tournament for a fourth straight season.

The Bucks spent virtually the entire season playing bad basketball while denying reports of Giannis Antetokounmpo's discontent until the feud between team and (injured) player went public. Milwaukee missed the playoffs, resolved nothing on the Giannis front, and will now receive the less favorable first-rounder between its own pick and New Orleans' pick. Ryan Rollins' development was a nice story, and the lottery could deliver a much-needed jolt of young talent, but it's slim pickings in terms of positives.

The Timberwolves remain a solid two-way team capable of making another deep playoff run if healthy, but Anthony Edwards' late-season knee injury (which made him ineligible for All-NBA consideration) put an unfortunately appropriate bow on an uninspiring season in Minnesota. Only the Cavs, Warriors, and Wizards performed worse against the spread than the Wolves, who boasted a losing record against winning teams.

Rookies Derik Queen and Jeremiah Fears Jr. gave Pels fans reason for hope, but Queen would've had to look like an undeniable star to make this season a success for New Orleans, which traded unprotected control of its 2026 first-rounder (or Milwaukee's) to acquire him. The offensively gifted but defensively challenged big man didn't hit that high a note. In other news, Zion Williamson enjoyed the second-healthiest season of his career while Trey Murphy III and Saddiq Bey had great years, and the Pelicans still lost 56 games in a campaign where all that losing had no draft-related benefit.

In a season many Knicks fans (and ownership) view as Finals or bust, there's been lots of angst over the starting lineup's uninspiring play, the team's overall defensive ceiling, and the inconsistent production of Mikal Bridges. But how many nits can we really pick? The Knicks still cruised to 53 wins while maintaining top-seven marks on both ends of the court, and they got to the playoffs relatively healthy. Now their real season begins.

The defending champs looked somewhat mortal for a stretch after teasing 70-plus-win potential earlier in the season, and that's about all there is to criticize. The Thunder finished with the best record for the second straight year and posted the fifth-best point differential of all time despite Jalen Williams missing more than half the season. On an individual level, the year will probably end with a second straight MVP award for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, while Chet Holmgren earned his first All-Star selection and should finish as runner-up (to Victor Wembanyama) in Defensive Player of the Year voting.

A season-ending loss to Boston's third-stringers - which cost Orlando home-court advantage in the play-in - was a perfect microcosm of both teams' campaigns. Desmond Bane averaged 20-plus points on 49-39-91 shooting, Paolo Banchero came on strong down the stretch, and third-year guard Anthony Black enjoyed a breakout season, yet the Magic were the East's most disappointing squad. Injuries to Franz Wagner, Black, and Jalen Suggs (what else is new?) played a role, as Banchero, Wagner, and Suggs only suited up for 19 games together. Still, Orlando didn't make the Bane trade just to remain a play-in team while questions lingered about the fit between Banchero and Wagner. Anything short of a surprising playoff run makes this season a failure.

Given how well the season started, how deflating Joel Embiid's latest postseason setback was, and the fact that Paul George served a 25-game suspension while continuing to fall well short of his contractual expectations, I understand the urge to deem this season another Philly failure. But consider the big picture: The Sixers finished right around where we predicted, Tyrese Maxey made the all-important leap from All-Star to superstar, and VJ Edgecombe proved himself a worthy building block.

After the disastrous Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal era, the new-look Suns rewarded their fans with the league's most pleasantly surprising campaign. The arrival of Dillon Brooks and the emergence of youngsters like Collin Gillespie and Oso Ighodaro helped Devin Booker pace a grimy West postseason team that enters the play-in tournament with home-court advantage. For an asset-starved club with zero expectations - and one without the benefit of a first-round pick - Suns fans couldn't have asked for much more.

I don't think the Blazers drastically altered their long-term trajectory, but they were a solidly competitive team that got real contributions from their 25-and-under talent, most notably first-time All-Star Deni Avdija. From an asset management standpoint, it also helps that big-money veterans Jrue Holiday and Jerami Grant played well. Now, how do the Blazers get out of the muddy middle?

Rookies Maxime Raynaud and Nique Clifford look solid enough, and that's about where the positives end. The Kings spent a good chunk of the season as the league's worst team, but they failed to find any takers for their flawed veteran stars, traded one of their few players worth keeping (Keon Ellis), and then shrank their lottery chances with a randomly competitive 10-14 stretch to end the year. As recently as March 9, the Kings occupied the last-place spot that comes with a guaranteed top-five pick. A month later, Sacramento finished the season tied for fourth-worst, bringing its odds of a top-five pick down to about 50%.

No team overshot its preseason win-loss over/under like the Spurs, who went from playoff hopeful to bonafide championship contender in the span of a few months. Victor Wembanyama was a credible MVP threat by the time San Antonio's stunning 62-win season ended, while it seemed like every youngster on the roster took a meaningful step forward. Flying somewhat under the radar, De'Aaron Fox fit right in, while Keldon Johnson turned into one of the league's best and most efficient reserves.

A surprisingly hot start made the Raptors' final result feel underwhelming, as did their pitiful record against good teams. But if you told Raptors fans six months ago that their squad would be a top-five seed, Scottie Barnes would have a career year on both ends, Collin Murray-Boyles would look like a defensive terror, and Brandon Ingram would help solve some of Toronto's half-court woes, they'd be thrilled. Figuring out how to get from here to contention is the hard part.

For the Jazz, the point of this season seems to have been to secure their top-eight protected pick and acquire a veteran star who could help them win next year. Check and check. There's a less-than-1% chance that Utah's pick falls outside the top eight. Meanwhile, the acquisition of former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. gives the Jazz a chance to compete next season once he's paired with Lauri Markkanen, the rising Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, potentially Walker Kessler, and another top prospect.

Like Utah, Washington set out to retain its top-eight protected pick, which the 65-loss Wizards did by securing the worst overall record and a top-five guarantee. Also like the Jazz, the Wizards clearly wanted to set an early tone for their return to relevance next season, which they did by acquiring Anthony Davis and Trae Young without trading any of their own first-rounders. I'm not as convinced by Washington's plan for next year as I am by Utah's, but at the very least, a top prospect will be walking through the door to join the likes of Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Will Riley, Bub Carrington, and Bilal Coulibaly.

Joseph Casciaro is theScore's lead NBA reporter.