Here we are with a small capsule on each team, covering their last five years. You can look at individual team records season by season under the "Regular Season: ALL" tab. Once again, thank you to Kostas for all his stats grabbing. Editor note: Apologies for any facts and things wrong, my memory is only so good and we don't have great records between 2022 and 2024... We'll start with the West, as West has been best, and in descending order of best divisions by conference.
Team headings are: All time record ranking -- team abbreviation -- all time winning percentage.
[ RDA Historical "Regular Season: All" | Past division by division reviews | Five Years: East]
WEST: Northwest
#1 DEN (0.605) 🏆
Inarguably the best team in RDA’s young history, DEN not only boasts the best regular season record off all time, a sterling 0.605 over 846 categories competed in, but is also our only two-time Finals participant. DEN took home the first ever RDA trophy in 2020 and narrowly lost the most recent 2023 title game to ORL—by 0.001 FT% or four rebounds. After a Durant-less 2019 where they finished in the bottom ten-ish for our first season, DEN has steadily grown during the regular season from ninth-best record to last year’s top regular season team—they were second-best in 2022. While Chuck is ever the jokester, there’s nothing more serious than this franchise’s winning ways. It’s likely DEN will be the team to beat for awhile as they feature a LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and James Harden-led core—along with Damian Lillard and Joel Embiid—that is looking to bring another title to the Rocky Mountains.
#2 POR (0.597)
In a division that features likely the three best teams in RDA, POR is actually the second-best regular season team of all time, with one regular season wins crown in 2020 as proof of their success. Surrounding three stellar seasons in 2020-22 however, are slightly more average results in 2019 and 2023, where they finished just inside the playoff picture. Still, as one of the only two RDA teams with 500+ total category wins, POR has the winning history, and forward facing roster, to challenge for their first title. Owner J.T. has the luxury of building around Nikola Jovic and Luka Doncic, who are all-everything MVPs that are firmly in their prime. It would seem nearly impossible that a title isn’t in the cards for POR, even as they battle it out for regular season supremacy year after year.
#4 OKC (0.566)
The numbers are lying a little bit here, as OKC has won at a 0.713 clip over the last three RDA season, as they’ve finished first, first, and fourth in wins between 2021-23. There’s an argument that OKC has been the best regular season team of all time in RDA, as their first two years was spent in the cellar scheming and collecting assets. That has led to the only two-time regular season crown winner ever, and OKC shows no signs of stopping their dominance. With a roster loaded from top to bottom—including multiple number one overall picks in recent years—OKC still has a cupboard of first rounders, as well as the kind of youth that can keep them atop RDA for a decade. The only thing eluding this franchise is a ring, but perhaps they could start with their first Finals appearance as well.
In addition to all that, Zeya has been the reigning RDA commissioner for a few seasons now, taking over capably for Son and fulfilling a crucial role for any successful fantasy league. Thank you Zeya!!!
#17 UTA (0.511)
After an initial season where they were a top-three team, UTA has been mired in mediocrity. Following that 2019 success, UTA slipped down to sixteenth, repeated it again, and then bottomed out as the fifth-worst team in 2022. Exit Shane as owner last season—following Viz, who left two years before—and enter Trieu, who was co-owning the BKN franchise. With a new decision maker at the helm, UTA got busy with the rebuild and managed to get some forward momentum going, moving up to just outside the playoff picture in 2023. With three super teams ahead of them, it’ll be hard to challenge for a Northwest title but UTA is up to the task and are still about league average overall, which should make them a consistent playoff presence.
#28 MIN (0.378)
A powerhouse in our first RDA season, MIN looked like it would be a constant in the championship conversation. Instead, since then, MIN has gone completely the other way, going from the fine wine and easy life on RDA Mount Olympus to the bottom of the league—as the worst team in 2021, and bottom five every year since. This is all by design of course, as MIN is hard tanking and has the future assets to prove it. The massive rebuild is coming MIN fans, as owner Jesse has a plan in place, right? Right? The race is on to see which of the traditional bottom five teams—TOR, PHI, MIN, MIA, PHX—can rebuild the fastest. At least MIN has had one glory filled season for their fans to reminisce about. Encore, encore!
WEST: Southwest
#10 SAS (0.554)
The penny stock that made good! In 2019, SAS was terrible, as they were the third-worst team in RDA’s inaugural season. With great drafts and plenty of trades—this entire Southwest division loves to trade, as we’ll see—SAS had a worst-ish to best-ish trajectory, finishing just outside the top five teams in the past four seasons. That kind of successful track record has SAS firmly established as an unmovable force in RDA. The only thing that eludes Aaron now is a championship, as SAS has already been to a Finals, in 2021. Disregarding that first awful 2019 season, SAS has been playing 0.618 ball, which would make them easily the best team in RDA—DEN is the current all-time leader with 0.605 over five seasons. Can SAS level up and get a ring?
#13 MEM (0.544)
The undisputed King of Trades—or at least trade offers—the mighty Grizz has shed its all-big ball, all the time early years and diversified a bit into the other four categories. They only have one hulking center now—two if you count Andre Drummond—and actually have some outside shooting! With a few seasons in top ten-ish territory, MEM has consistently made the playoffs—until this most recent 2023 season, when they were the nineteenth ranked regular season team—and proven that the general Grit and Grind formula works. The question for MEM will now be if they can push past better than average. Their low end has been firmly established, but what is this franchise’s actual ceiling?
#18 NOP (0.511)
Khang debuted in RDA with a blast, shaking up a franchise that was basically non-existent. A lot of razzle dazzle later, NOP, who started off in 2019 as the sixteenth best team in 2019 is…now ranked sixteenth coming off the latest 2023 season. So, same same? Interspersed in all that mojo is a top-ten season in 2020, but also an eighteenth finish right afterwards in 2021. Was the initial burst of success a mirage? Or does Khang have more up his sleeve to transform NOP into an actual title threat?In a division that is very even and filled with active owners, NOP has to fight every year to even be competitive in the Southeast.
#19 HOU (0.494) 🏆
Another franchise not afraid to hit that “make offer” button, HOU has long been one of the most fun franchises to follow. Trader Joe has reshaped HOU many times and it often feels like every major holiday—or minor—is motivation for Joe to plug in the phone lines and start working the wire. After two tank-tastic years in 2020-21, when HOU was acquiring assets, the new-new-new look team has been quite good, finishing 2022 as the sixth best team and 2023 as top-tenish in the regular season. Interestingly, similar to NOP, there has been a lot of shaking and baking, but at the end of the day, HOU started off our 2019 inaugural season as the twelfth best team and finished 2023 as the eleventh. Oh but let's not forget HOU's 2022 title winning run, which gave the team a forever place in RDA history. With a veteran-laden roster, HOU is definitely still in win-now mode too.
#22 DAL (0.455)
Every other division features an all time bad team, except for the Southeast, where the “worst” regular season team all time is not bad at all. While having only made the playoffs once, DAL has exhibited professionalism and competency each and every season, and has also swung for the fences on a mega-trade or two. It’s hard to say DAL hasn’t had a successful history in RDA, but they are definitely a slight step behind their peers in this division. Strangely, this is the third team in the Southeast that has nearly the exact same record starting off five years ago as they do now. In 2019, DAL was the the twenty-first ranked team, and then in 2023, they finished as the twenty-first ranked team again! The three seasons in-between were slightly more successful, but DAL has topped out as the fifteenth best regular season team, leaving us wondering how they can take their franchise up a notch.
WEST: Pacific
#5 GSW (0.565)
The potential dynasty that never was. GSW flirted with top-five status in their early years, compiling a 0.626 record in 2019-20, with top ten finishes in each of their first four seasons. Overall, GSW’s first season was still their best, as they were a top five team and would’ve challenged for a title. However, as they’ve slowly lost championship contender steam, GSW hit the reset button in 2023 and dropped to the cellar, compiling a 60-100-2 season and finishing in the bottom-seven. Still, all those early years of success has GSW ranked as a top five team historically so we’ll see what Brent has up his sleeve to return this proud franchise back to glory--nine first rounders in the next five drafts is a nice start!
#6 SAC (0.564) 🏆
A true rags to riches story, SAC was one of the worst teams in our first RDA season—they were bottom five at 0.378—and didn’t get much better in their sophomore year before suddenly vaulting into the top four the following season. That 2021 culminated in a championship as SAC came out of nowhere to grab RDA’s second ever ring. What did Pai do?! Draft a historic franchise player? Pull off some mega-trades? Sacrifice something to the fantasy gods? Whatever he did, it worked as SAC has compiled a 0.665 winning rate in their last three seasons and are true contenders for the foreseeable future. The pride of the Pacific is right here Sactown!
#12 LAC (0.549)
With a terrible 0.399 first season—seventh worst in 2019—LAC looked like they would be the lesser of the two Los Angeles teams. Since then however, LAC has been excellent, winning at a 0.591 clip and turning in top ten-ish regular seasons regularly, with a top-five finish in 2021 as they combined with SAC to power the Pacific that year. With an established history of steady success, LAC is looking to make that next step up as a franchise as M.I.A. Joe has turned into Vocal Joe, and maybe one day Championship Joe?
#25 LAL (0.439)
Across the city, the once kings of L.A.—literally once, as LAL has had only one winning season—are in free fall, perhaps by design. LAL have dropped steadily from their top-eight showing in 2019 to the very bottom of RDA. Here are their regular season rankings year to year: 8, 18, 23, 24, 30. (Note the nice Kobe jersey numbers symmetry there, it’s a shame for LAL Bryant never wore #1…) While the on-court product hasn’t been pretty, the lovely Stan Son Championship Trophy certainly is, as our first commissioner had the honor bestowed upon him previous to taking his expertise to bigger audiences and platforms. If Son can one day bring that eponymous trophy home to LAL, a statue could be in order as well. Until that day, LAL can look forward to winning the lottery?
#30 PHX (0.294)
When you start at the bottom…you can stay there? This PHX franchise has had some mixed ownership history and they’ve been the second-worst team in RDA twice, while never finishing above twenty-fifth. Fun fact: PHX has won 242 categories over five years, while best in class DEN has won 505 over that same span. Poor Mick inherited a mess and will really have to come up with a far reaching plan to pull PHX out of the doldrums--with only one first rounder in the next three years as well. Perhaps some solar power from the desert can help turn this pitiful franchise around? “May thy [backboards] chip and shatter!”