NBA Power Rankings: Knicks may be a disaster; Warriors are dominating the West

28. Toronto Raptors

It's been anything but a banner start to the season for the Toronto Raptors. Sure, injuries have played a big role in the team's struggles through the first few weeks of the season with each of their three key players (Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett) all missing time at various moments. However, this season was never truly about wins and losses. From an objective point of view, this first complete season of their retooling was always going to revolve around the team's development of their core and supporting players.

And that, at least for now, is so much more important to the Raptors than wins and losses for the moment. At the same time, this is where the early-season injuries hurt the Raptors. Toronto needs to be healthy for their front office to evaluate their roster. And roughly through the first month of the season, the Raptors haven't been healthy. At least in their books, that has to be considered a huge "L" for the team. Until this team is fully healthy, it's going to be hard to come to any type of conclusion about this team's immediate future.

27. New Orleans Pelicans

At this point, you have to feel for the New Orleans Pelicans. This is a team that has been completely decimated by injuries. At this point, with the uncertainty that revolves around Zion Williamson, the Pelicans are tinkering on the side of complete disaster. Through just the first month of the season, the Pelicans have had to survive without five of their top 6 players. That's absurd and downright unbelievable. But even as the Pelicans begin to get healthier over the next few weeks, it's going to be hard for them to dig out of this early-season hole.

Soon or later, if the Pelicans continue to stack up the losses, there are going to be some big questions that will need to be answered. The first will revolve around Brandon Ingram's future but there are other big-picture questions that could also be discussed in the front office. On paper, the Pelicans have quite a talented roster. But there's a very good chance that the lack of health could end up spoiling any shot they had of putting it all together this season.