US media brings the NBA new season strength list! The Lakers overtook the Warriors and Mavericks, but the Clippers missed the top ten

On October 8, there were only the last two weeks left before the start of the new NBA season. The American media officially revealed the latest strength list. The Rockets fell off a cliff and the Lakers soared rapidly.

The new NBA season is coming, and well-known American media have also brought the latest one, the top 10 rankings of the US NBA power rankings for the 2025-26 season, and this ranking has also caused heated discussions. The Rockets' ranking has dropped rapidly, and the Lakers' ranking has risen, surpassing the Warriors and Mavericks.

We can see that the ranking situation is like this. The Thunder, Nuggets, and Knicks rank in the top three of the new season's strength list. The fourth and fifth are the Cavaliers and Rockets respectively. The sixth to tenth are the Timberwolves, Lakers, Magic, Mavericks, and Warriors respectively. So in what aspects is this ranking highly controversial?

The Thunder are ranked first as the championship, and the Nuggets, as the team that poses the most threat to the Thunder, are ranked second. It is not a big problem, but the Rockets' ranking has dropped from third to fifth. It can only be said that Van Jordan's influence is still very, very great. Without a core point guard, the Rockets' strength has plummeted. They have been overtaken by the Knicks and Cavaliers. It is really impossible without a main point guard. Because the Rockets only tapped Shepard for their internal potential, but now it turns out that he does not have the ability to carry this team.

This young man is indeed a waste of the Rockets' No. 1 pick. The Rockets also discovered a two-way contract player JD Davison. However, although this person is relatively good, he is still an ordinary two-way contract player. It is not easy to carry the team's backcourt. This is what we said, why the Rockets' ranking has dropped, and Van Jordan's influence is still very great.

In addition, James and the Lakers have become the biggest winners in this issue of the list. In the last issue of the list, the Lakers did not even make the top 10, and now they have reached the seventh place in the league, which shows that the Lakers are still the absolute favorite team to compete for the championship. The most important thing is that James and the Lakers have not yet resolved the issue of LeBron's contract renewal. The fact that James can be ranked so high without renewing his contract has proven a lot of things, that is, the Lakers are too powerful.

And you can also find that the Lakers are currently ranked 5th in the Western Conference, higher than the Warriors and Mavericks. The Warriors got Horford to form a team of the Big Four Curry, Butler, Dream Green and Horford. However, the average age is too high. The age of the starting lineup has reached 35.8 years old, so it was surpassed by the Lakers. Although James is 42, his teammates around him are very young.

The Mavericks are actually very capable when healthy. Irving has thick eyebrows, Klay Thompson, the new No. 1 pick Flagg, and a group of very capable bench lineup. James decided to make four and may even choose them as his goals. As a result, they are not as good as the Lakers now. It can only be said that the Lakers really have too much potential, and the outside world is very optimistic about them.

In addition, according to the current ranking, the Clippers are not among the top seven in the Western Conference. It may not be that easy to enter the playoffs. It seems that after some off-court controversies, it will be difficult for Kawhi and Harden to lead the team to compete for the championship. Although these two people are good, the problem is whether their team can compete for the championship with peace of mind. Now it seems that due to the yin and yang contract problem, the Clippers have no chance of uniting to compete for the championship. They are far inferior to the Lakers.