As a number of teams tip off their 28th game of the NBA season on Thursday night, we have officially hit the one-third mark of this campaign, so what better time — after the league crowned its Cup champion on Tuesday — to take stock of an MVP race that is as stacked with top-end talent as it has ever been.

The San Antonio Spurs toppled the defending league champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Cup, and surge in the power rankings as a result.

A history-making performance by Cooper Flagg pushed him to No. 1 in USA TODAY's NBA rookie rankings. He isn't the only player to move up (or down).

Ranking NBA rookies: Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel in a race for highest mark in draft class grades originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks and Orlando Magic are headed to Las Vegas for the semifinals of the NBA Cup, but they're far from the only teams making waves of late.

Analysis: Memphis is one of the 80 percent free-throw shooting teams, with Ja Morant shooting 92.4 percent to begin the season. On the flip side, Morant is shooting only 19.4 percent from 3 on 4.8 attempts per game. No player who has played at least 10 games in a season has ever made worse than 20 percent from 3 on at least 4.0 attempts per game.

There aren't many teams struggling more than the Indiana Pacers so far this season. The team is dead last in offensive rating and is second to last in NBA.com

HoopsHype ranks the five players who have appeared most often in trade rumors over the previous week, led by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.