Man, 2016 was a weird time to be a basketball fan. Honestly, we were all still reeling from Cleveland coming back from down 3-1 against that 73-win Warriors team. Then the offseason hit like a freight train. Kevin Durant jumped to Golden State, and suddenly the whole league felt like it was playing for second place. But if you look back at the 2016 2017 nba standing, the year was about way more than just a superteam in the Bay Area.
It was the year of the triple-double. It was the year Isaiah Thomas became the "King in the Fourth" at 5-foot-9. It was also the year we realized the Eastern Conference was kinda turning into a game of musical chairs behind LeBron James.
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The West Was a Gauntlet (Mostly)
Let's talk about the Golden State Warriors for a second. They finished 67-15. That’s elite, obviously, but they actually won six fewer games than the year before. Did they get worse? Heck no. They just didn't need to try as hard because KD was basically a cheat code. They finished first in the Western Conference, but the San Antonio Spurs were right on their heels for a long time, finishing with 61 wins. This was the first year of the post-Tim Duncan era, and Kawhi Leonard was playing like an absolute monster.
The 2016 2017 nba standing for the West looked like this at the top:
- Golden State Warriors (67-15)
- San Antonio Spurs (61-21)
- Houston Rockets (55-27)
- LA Clippers (51-31)
- Utah Jazz (51-31)
James Harden and Mike D'Antoni basically reinvented offense in Houston that year. Harden moved to point guard and started dropping 11 assists a night. It was beautiful and chaotic. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder finished 6th with 47 wins, which sounds "fine," until you remember Russell Westbrook averaged a triple-double for the first time since Oscar Robertson. He dragged that roster—which was basically him and some guys who could jump high—into the postseason by sheer force of will.
Portland snagged the 8th seed with 41 wins, just barely beating out a Denver Nuggets team that was just starting to realize this Nikola Jokic kid might be pretty good.
Chaos in the Eastern Conference
The East was... different. For most of the season, everyone assumed the Cleveland Cavaliers would just cruise to the top. They had LeBron, Kyrie, and Love. They were the defending champs. But they got bored. Or tired. Or both. They stumbled down the stretch, losing their last four games of the season.
Because of that "LeCoast" energy, the Boston Celtics actually snuck into the number one spot in the 2016 2017 nba standing for the Eastern Conference.
Boston finished 53-29. Isaiah Thomas was putting up 28.9 points per game and became a legitimate MVP candidate despite being the shortest guy on the court. It was a feel-good story until it wasn't. Cleveland and Toronto both finished with 51 wins, but Cleveland took the 2nd seed because of tiebreakers.
Here is how the East shakes out if you're looking for the specifics:
The Washington Wizards were a legit problem that year, finishing 4th with 49 wins. John Wall and Bradley Beal were arguably the best backcourt in the league not named Steph and Klay. Then you had a massive drop-off. The Atlanta Hawks (43 wins), Milwaukee Bucks (42), and Indiana Pacers (42) filled out the middle.
The most "2017" thing ever? The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat both finished 41-41. Chicago got the 8th seed because they owned the tiebreaker. Miami had started the season 11-30. They went 30-11 in the second half. They were the hottest team in the league and still missed the playoffs. Life is cruel.
Stats That Don't Make Sense
Looking back at the 2016 2017 nba standing, some of the individual numbers are just stupid. Russell Westbrook finished with 42 triple-doubles. Think about that. In more than half the games he played, he hit double digits in three categories. He won MVP, though people still argue today that Harden deserved it because the Rockets won more games.
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- Scoring Leader: Russell Westbrook (31.6 PPG)
- Rebound Leader: Hassan Whiteside (14.1 RPG)
- Assist Leader: James Harden (11.2 APG)
- Blocks Leader: Rudy Gobert (2.6 BPG)
Giannis Antetokounmpo won Most Improved Player. He became the first player in NBA history to finish in the top 20 in total points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. That was the "Oh, he's a alien" moment for the league.
The Playoff Reality Check
The regular season standings suggested some parity, but the playoffs proved that was a lie. The Warriors went 16-1 in the postseason. That’s the best playoff record ever. They swept the Blazers. They swept the Jazz. They swept the Spurs (after Zaza Pachulia's controversial closeout on Kawhi).
Cleveland wasn't much better for the rest of the East. They went 12-1 on their way to the Finals, only losing one game to a feisty Boston team that was playing without an injured Isaiah Thomas.
The Finals was the third straight meeting between Golden State and Cleveland. It was hyped as the "rubber match," but with Kevin Durant on the Warriors, it wasn't a fair fight. Warriors in five. KD got his first ring and the Finals MVP, averaging 35 points on ridiculous efficiency.
Why These Standings Matter Today
If you're digging into the 2016 2017 nba standing, it’s usually because you're looking at the pivot point of modern NBA history. This was the peak of the "Superteam" era. It triggered a massive arms race. Teams like the Rockets and Thunder started trading every pick they had just to try and keep up with the Warriors' firepower.
It also marked the end of an era for some legends. Dirk Nowitzki was still hanging on, but the Lakers were officially in the post-Kobe wilderness, finishing 26-56. The "Trust the Process" Sixers were finally seeing daylight with Joel Embiid playing 31 games before getting hurt again, but they still only won 28 games.
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To really get the most out of this data, you have to look at the "What Ifs." What if Miami had made the playoffs? What if Kawhi doesn't get hurt in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals? We'll never know, but the records tell a story of a league that was being pulled in two directions: the brilliance of individual historic seasons and the utter dominance of a single powerhouse.
Your Next Steps for NBA Research
- Compare these records to the 2015-16 season to see the "Durant Effect" on win totals.
- Look up the "30-11 Miami Heat" run; it's one of the greatest anomalies in NBA history.
- Check out the MVP voting breakdown to see just how close the Harden/Westbrook race actually was.
The 2016-17 season wasn't just a bridge between eras; it was the moment the league's pace and space revolution truly took over.