The Portland Trail Blazers and the No. 20 spot in NBA.com’s weekly power rankings has been one of the greatest love stories of our time this season. As Dave Deckard pointed out last Tuesday, it seems almost every week this season, the Blazers have found themselves in that familiar place in the countdown.
However, after starting the new year on a tear and reaching .500 with three straight wins this week, the Blazers are moving up again. NBA.com’s John Schuhmann moved the Blazers up to No. 18 in the latest rankings. Schuhmann highlighted how good Portland has been in January and how the team is starting to get healthier.
The Blazers are a league-best 8-2 in 2026, ranking in the top eight on both ends of the floor this month. Half of those wins have come against teams – San Antonio, Houston (x 2) and the Lakers – with winning records. L.A. was without Luka Dončić on Saturday, but the Blazers were without Deni Avdija for that game and the two that preceded it. Offense has been a real struggle (101.4 points scored per 100 possessions) with Avdija off the floor, but Caleb Love had 22 points and seven assists off the bench against L.A., his 14th straight game in double-figures.
Jerami Grant returned from a 14-game absence on Thursday, but he and Jrue Holiday both missed the Blazers’ win in Sacramento on Sunday night, when Avdija returned from his three-game absence. So while the Blazers have outscored their opponents by 13.3 points per 100 possessions in 133 minutes with Avdija, Grant and Holiday all on the floor, they still haven’t all been available since Nov. 14 (Game 12). Matisse Thybulle hasn’t played since October and Scoot Henderson still hasn’t begun his third season.
The Blazers get to enjoy a three-day break before playing a back-to-back at the Moda Center on Thursday and Friday. They play the Miami Heat first, then the Toronto Raptors.
