Suns fall outside top-10 in Week 8 NBA Power Rankings

Dec 8, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Players gather after a flagrant foul to Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk (0) during the second half by the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Having lost four of their last five games, the Phoenix Suns took quite a fall in John Schuhmann’s Week 8 NBA Power Rankings.

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The Suns, who were ranked 10th last week, dropped all the way down to 14th, with the reasoning, “The Suns fumbled away a chance at a trip to Las Vegas and they’ve lost four of their last five games overall, having scored just 110.4 points per 100 possessions over that stretch. But help may be on the way.”

Schuhmann also provided some takeaways from the Suns performance last week.

For starters, he highlighted Phoenix’s turnover problem. Currently, the Suns are averaging over 15 turnovers per game, and these hurt them particularly hard in the In-Season Tournament as they turned the ball over 22 times against the Lakers.

Another point that Schuhmann made clear is that it has mainly not been their shooting that has been the issue. The Suns loss against the Kings on Friday marked the fifth different time that they had a higher effective field goal percentage than their opponent while still not winning the game. Only the Pistons and Spurs have also accomplished this.

All in all, his ranking seems fair considering the Suns do have the 14th-best record in the NBA. 

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the power rankings, the Los Angeles Lakers saw the biggest jump as they went from 12th to 7th following their In-Season Tournament win.

There is also a new #1, and that is the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are currently riding a six-game winning streak and hold the best record in the NBA.

Behind the Timberwolves are the Celtics at #2, the Nuggets at #3, the Thunder at #4, and the 76ers at #5.