Spurs surge to No. 1 as NBA.com’s Week 4 rankings reshuffle the top three

NBA.com’s Week 4 power rankings delivered a clean snapshot of the early season hierarchy: San Antonio at No. 1, Oklahoma City at No. 2 and Minnesota at No. 3. The common thread is simple enough. All three have built strong records quickly, and all three are forcing a reset near the top of the league’s unofficial weekly board.

San Antonio’s rise is the sharpest move. The Spurs climbed from No. 4 to No. 1 after extending their winning streak to eight games, reaching 8-2 in the process. That is enough to separate them from the pack in a ranking exercise that is meant to reward current form, not preseason expectations.

The Spurs’ spot at the top is not just about the streak itself. It is also about what the team has done during it. NBA.com notes that San Antonio has ranked in the top three on both ends of the floor over the run, with an offense and defense that have stayed balanced enough to support the surge. The article also points out that the team’s 8-2 start matches its mark from a year ago, but this version carries a better point differential through 10 games.

Victor Wembanyama remains the central figure in that climb. The piece opens by linking San Antonio’s No. 1 status to Wembanyama and the Spurs’ eight-game run, then adds that he had just authored a 50-point, 20-rebound, five-block game in the previous week’s discussion. That context matters because it shows why the ranking changed now: San Antonio has not merely won games, it has produced the kind of individual and team results that can move a club to the top of a weekly list.

There is still some caution inside the Spurs’ writeup. NBA.com notes that the starting lineup has not logged huge minutes together, and that the group was outscored in at least one recent game against Sacramento. Even so, the broader profile remains strong enough to make No. 1 the correct short-term reward.

Oklahoma City is right behind at No. 2, up from No. 7 last week. That kind of jump usually signals either a strong week or a lot of teams falling around it. In this case, it is both. The Thunder are 8-2, one of five teams with only two losses, and they backed up the ranking move by beating Memphis and Washington by a combined 70 points over the weekend.

The Thunder’s start has come despite injuries, which gives the ranking a little more weight than a clean health-and-roll first month. NBA.com’s breakdown emphasizes the way Oklahoma City has looked dominant again, even while working through those absences. The defense has stayed sharp enough to support the climb, and the weekend margin only reinforced that impression.

Minnesota rounds out the top three after moving up from No. 12, a leap that reflects both recovery and momentum. The Timberwolves are 8-3, and their profile is built on recent form: four straight wins after losing two of their first three games without Anthony Edwards.

That split is the key to understanding their placement. Minnesota did not start cleanly, but the article makes clear that the early losses came during a difficult opening stretch, including a sequence of five games in seven days. Since then, the Wolves have beaten Houston on the road for the Rockets’ first home loss of the season and then ended New Orleans’ four-game winning streak two nights later.

The defensive numbers also support the rise. Minnesota owns the best defensive rating among the three teams in the top three, and its net rating sits near the top of the league. That combination helps explain why the Timberwolves moved so far, so fast, even if the first week or two looked uneven.

The broader point of the Week 4 rankings is that the Western Conference is owning the top of the board early. San Antonio, Oklahoma City and Minnesota are all in place, and each arrives there by a different route: an eight-game surge, a statement week through injuries, and a midstream correction after an uneven start. The next test is whether any of them can turn a hot opening month into something more durable when the schedule stiffens.