The last undefeated team in the league is the Memphis Grizzlies, and that alone makes their rise in NBA power rankings worth more than a routine weekly update. A 6-0 start does not guarantee anything in November, but it does say something real about how quickly a team can separate itself from the pack. In a league that has averaged 111.9 points per 100 possessions and 101.2 possessions per team per 48 minutes this season, Memphis has done more than survive the opening stretch. It has turned it into a statement.
That is what makes the move into the top five feel justified. According to John Schuhmann’s weekly rankings for NBA.com, the Grizzlies’ start puts them in rare company. Only 21 teams in 22 years of the 30-team expansion era have opened a season with six straight wins. That is not just a good start; it is an uncommon one, the kind that immediately changes how the rest of the league has to view you.
The context makes the jump even sharper. Last season, Memphis finished 12 games out of the Play-In Tournament. That is why a 6-0 opening matters so much: it is not merely about record, but about trajectory. A team that spent last year well outside the postseason picture is now sitting at the top of the league’s early conversation, and that is the sort of turnaround that power rankings are built to capture.
There is also a broader league picture around them that helps explain the movement. The Rockets and Celtics were scheduled to meet on Monday after Houston had already produced one of the week’s cleanest responses, beating the Thunder by 21 points after Alperen Sengun returned on Saturday. Before that, the Rockets had lost for the first time without him on Friday. Detroit’s week was less flattering: the Pistons were outscored by 38 points in the second and third quarters in New York on Tuesday and lost to the Knicks. These are the kinds of early-season swings that make rankings fluid, but Memphis has created its own separation by avoiding the kind of slippage that usually arrives first.
The important question now is not whether the Grizzlies deserve attention. They clearly do. The question is whether this start is a fast burst or the beginning of something more durable. A 6-0 record does not answer that by itself, but it does buy a team more credibility, more margin and a little more skepticism from the teams chasing it. For now, Memphis is not just undefeated. It is the league’s last undefeated team, and in the early-season logic of NBA power rankings, that matters a great deal.
