We're only one week into the 2025-26 NBA season, and the fireworks have already started. You have to go down 11 spots on the scoring leaderboard to find someone averaging less than 30. Zion Williamson is back to dunking over DPOY frontrunners again. The top-10 list from seasons past has been obliterated by a literal alien in San Antonio. Storylines abound, and while it's too early to tell where this rollercoaster of a season might go, we can always try.
These are the biggest overreactions and hot takes to the first week of NBA action.
1. This is the Thunder vs. Spurs era
I've already said my piece about Wemby's rise having already happened, and to reiterate that would be repetitive and trite. Instead, the conversations about the earlier-than-expected Wemby Era should be turned instead first to the identity of who will define it alongside San Antonio.
Through one week, the Oklahoma City Thunder have been without their second-best scorer and player in Jalen Williams, and have still managed to not miss a single beat. Say what you want about their competition thus, but the Hawks, Rockets, and Pacers (s/o to Bennedict Mathurin by the way, good lord) could have legitimately taken down anyone in the league talent-wise, especially a team missing their second-best player. But if it wasn't for Wemby, SGA would be the far-and-away MVP leader (40 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists per game) while he's technically on a cold streak from 3 (22 percent shooting). You know the rest of the Thunder roster at this point, and at this point, we can trust GM Sam Presti to pivot perfectly should anyone get too expensive for OKC to keep around.
Meanwhile, Wemby is clearly the best player on either team, and Stephon Castle is looking more like his true running mate with every passing game. The Thunder might have the overall roster nod for now, but between Wemby's rapid final ascension, the personal rivalry between him and Chet Holmgren, and the growth of San Antonio's supporting cast, the late 2020s to mid-2030s -- barring injury -- look to be defined by the Thunder and the Spurs.
2. Embiid will fail to make the 2026 All-Star team
One way or another, the Philadelphia 76ers will start to phase Joel Embiid out. His bounceback game against the Hornets (20 points, 50 3FG%) certainly looks better on paper than his clunker to start the season (4 points, 1-of-9 shooting), but even under a minutes restriction, Embiid simply doesn't look in shape and ready for a full season's worth of NBA basketball. He looks slow and uninterested, and beyond a tall pick-and-pop escape hatch on offense, hasn't shown much to encourage on tape.
On the other hand, the Sixers' backcorut duo of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe look like a pair of Ferraris. Maxey is shooting 61.1 percent from three and is averaging 34 points per game, while Edgecombe has officially taken the lead over Cooper Flagg in the Rookie of the Year race early while looking like the second coming of Dwyane Wade, but with a spot-up 3 this time around. These two are real, and all indicators say that fellow guard Jared McCain will be as well once he returns. The Sixers should be ready to move on from Embiid, at least as a primary option, and that means featuring him less. The time for Joel Embiid's peak has run out, and if the cliff isn't already here, it's rapidly approaching. In fact, if it wasn't for his massive contract and the team's lack of draft capital, I might have even anticipated a potential trade coming down the line at some point.
3. The Warriors are for real
Sitting at 2-1 with what we will look back on as high-quality wins over the Lakers and Nuggets, the Golden State Warriors seem immortal. Their current headlining core of Al Horford (39), Steph Curry (37), Draymond Green (35), and Jimmy Butler (36) are as dusty as dusty gets, but what every analyst is forgetting is that the games of all three have aged like fine wine. Steph can keep shooting until he's 50 and whatever he might have lost in quickness is easily made up for in his off-ball IQ. Green has seemingly rediscovered his shooting form (40 percent through three games) and remains the piece that truly unlocks Curry's potential as a cutter. Butler is still an incredibly capable secondary scorer, averaging 22 points per game on solid shooting splits and Al Horford might actually be the best center the Warriors have had since Andrew Bogut.
Throw in Jonathan Kuminga's higher basketball IQ this season and a sneaky collection of some of the highest-quality role players in the league, and the 2025-26 Warriors continue to prove that as long as you put Steph Curry in striking distance by some point in the third quarter, he can still strike abject fear into the hearts of any team in the NBA.
Oh, and by the way, that opening night thrashing of the Luka Doncic-led Lakers? That was Steph's worst night from three so far this season, and even counting that in, he's averaging over 33 points on 52.5/45.7/100.0 shooting splits. And to make it worse, he's also averaging three steals and over a block per game. If maxim dictates the Warriors go where Steph does, then they're going way up come springtime.
4. LeBron has the opportunity to be the most efficient he's ever been
Luka Dončić is averaging the highest usage rate (39.5), minutes (38), and points (46) per game in his entire career. So is Austin Reaves — 30.0 USG, 37.3 minutes, 34 points. Where in the world is LeBron James supposed to fit in when he returns to the court? After all, all three of these players absolutely need the ball in their hands to operate at their best, and knowing how much attention LeBron demands as a player and personality, it's almost inevitable that this Lakers experiment is going to collapse. Right?
And that's where you'd be wrong. Yes, LeBron is a playmaker who dominates the ball. But he is also remarkably efficient, holding a longer unbroken streak as the NBA's Player Efficiency Rating (PER) leader than anyone not named Michael Jordan. In that entire time, James has only led the league in usage rate once in his entire career, while also remaining remarkably consistent. And yes, advanced stats are poorer indicators of player success than they are purported to be. But they do tell a story. And in LeBron's case, that story is of a hyperefficient creator who always knows how best to utilize the talent around him.
To summarize, there are calls on LeBron potentially being nothing more than a high-value trade chip with Austin Reaves' rise to prominence in his absence. And granted, even while I'm more inclined to agree with CBS Sports' Sam Quinn on the matter, LeBron will be facing a reduced role upon his return to the court. But even in that role, I am more excited to watch James play than I have been in a while. He's still arguably the best pure driver of the basketball in the sport, one of its best passers, and one of its best shooters as of late. LeBron has not yet had the opportunity to work with a creator of Doncic's caliber, nor a third option of Reaves', and to think that he's not smart enough to see that is just bad journalism and analysis.
5. Jayson Tatum deserves retroactive MVP love
Yes, we all threw up in our mouths when Jayson Tatum started texting Kobe's number and mimicked his championship photo. Yes, we all laughed in Tatum's face a bit when he rode the bench for Team USA. And yes, the Celtics did have three straight seasons where they seemed to get along without him just fine (7-1 with Tatum out during their 2023-24 championship season).
But any thoughts on Jaylen Brown being a true "1A" player for Boston must be thrown out the window after three straight losses to open the season. Granted, all three were against legitimate playoff hopefuls, and none featured a point differential worse than minus-10 for the Celtics. And Jaylen Brown has performed admirably, to the tune of nearly 30 points per game on 49/50/76 shooting splits (41 points against the Pistons).
But without Tatum in the lineup, Boston simply can't put points up on the board. While their defense is admirable (top five in opponents' points per game and field goal percentage), Boston is dead last in points per game themselves. And while they aren't necessarily bottom feeders efficiency-wise, the Celtics are also dead last in assists per game. This team's offense simply hasn't moved well without Tatum in the lineup, an issue only exacerbated by them having said farewell to two of the highest-IQ big men in the league over the offseason.
Perhaps if their fates were reversed, Tatum would need Brown as much in this scenario, as neither are floor generals by any sense of the word, but the Celtics especially need Tatum's services back now. And if you fed into the narrative that sought to downplay or depreciate the legitimacy of Tatum's impact on this team, consider yourself proven wrong.