The NBA is full of surprises every year, and the start of the 2025-26 campaign is proving to be no exception. The conventional wisdom heading into the season is already being proven wrong after two weeks, and the parity that has defined the last seven years of the league seems more entrenched than ever. While the Oklahoma City Thunder continue to be the juggernaut we expected, so much else about the early season has been unanticipated.
I had the Philadelphia 76ers and Chicago Bulls at No. 22 and No. 23 respectively in my pre-season power rankings, and right now they are on top of the East with two losses between them. I had the Minnesota Timberwolves as a legitimate title contender, but they’re only 3-3 entering the week. I certainly didn’t expect the San Antonio Spurs to look this good.
Here’s a look at the biggest surprises in the NBA so far at the start of the 2025-26 regular season.
The Sixers don’t need a fully healthy Joel Embiid to contend in the East
The Sixers’ season seemed to be riding on the health of Joel Embiid coming into the year, and that’s never a good bet. Last time we saw Embiid in peak form back in Jan. of 2024, he scoring a point per minute and playing like a top-2 player in the world. Philadelphia crashed and burned without Embiid as he was sidelined with injuries for most of last year, finishing 24-58. The Sixers finally got a little bit of luck in the draft lottery, moving up No. 3 when they would have surrendered their pick to the Thunder if it came in outside of the top-6. Lead executive Daryl Morey used the selection to take Baylor guard V.J. Edgecombe, and it’s a big reason why Philly is outperforming expectations so far.
Edgecombe has been the NBA’s best rookie thus far, averaging 20.3 points, five rebounds and five assists on 60.7 percent true shooting and 42 percent three-point shooting entering the week. Edgecombe is already one of the NBA’s most explosive athletes, and he’s proving his rim finishing, spot-up shooting, and defensive playmaking are ready to go from day one. For as great as Edgecombe as been, it’s still Tyrese Maxey driving the Sixers’ success right now. Maxey is playing like an All-NBA player so far, trailing only Luka Doncic in points per game while also putting up the best facilitating numbers of his career with a 33 percent assist rate. Kelly Oubre has been sensational as a wing scorer so far, and Adem Bona is giving the team fantastic rim protection while Embiid works his way into shape. We haven’t even mentioned Paul George yet, the NBA’s 15th highest paid player, who hasn’t played yet. Philly is already 5-1, and if Embiid can slowly play his way back into shape and George eventually takes the floor, this team could be a legit threat to win the East just when it seemed like they were cooked.
The Rockets offense is elite strictly through rebounding
The Rockets enter the week with the NBA’s best offense, scoring a ridiculous 126.5 points per 100 possessions, which would crush the all-time record (122.2) set by the 2024 Boston Celtics if it holds for the whole year. Scoring like that is almost certainly unsustainable for Houston, but I do think they can be one of the league’s top offenses last year after finishing No. 12 on that end last season. The Rockets are shooting the cover off the ball right now: 45.4 percent from three entering the week, best in the league, after shooting 35.3 percent from three (No. 21 in the NBA) last year. Adding Kevin Durant and giving minutes to Reed Sheppard has changed Houston’s shooting outlook, and it’s clear Alperen Sengun and Tari Eason are improved shooters if they won’t keep shooting at their current scorching clips. The bigger reason Houston’s offense is so good right now is because of their work on the glass, and that does feel sustainable. The Rockets’ 42.1 percent offensive rebound percentage right now would crush anything in the NBA over the last decade.
Steven Adams is the league’s best offensive rebounder, and he still has a solid spot in this rotation even if head coach Ime Udoka is tinkering with his fifth starting spot. Sengun, Amen Thompson, and Jabari Smith Jr. are also crashing the offensive glass hard. It feels possible this really could be a top-5 offense this year given the shooting and rebounding success, and that’s a big surprise for an average offense that lost Fred VanVleet this season. If Houston’s defense can also return to the elite form it showed last year, they will really be cooking.
Josh Giddey is playing like an All-Star
The Bulls were the East’s last undefeated team by ripping off five straight wins before losing to the Knicks on Sunday. Chicago owes its shocking success so far to a strong bench, elite pace-and-space ball movement, and defensive three-point shooting luck, but there’s no doubt whose responsible for driving it. Josh Giddey is playing the best ball of his life, and he’s proving his post-All-Star break run last season was no fluke. Giddey has improved his three-point shot, gotten to the foul line more frequently, and is starting to cut down his turnovers some. The Australian gets the Bulls running at every opportunity, with hit-ahead transition passing, alley-oop lobs, and cross-court zingers all part of his playmaking package. I’m more impressed by Giddey’s scoring, especially his newfound determination to drive the ball to the rim and finish over smaller defenders. Giddey is huge for a guard at 6’8, and he’s finally playing like it. Watch the way he overpowers Miles McBride on this drive, and buries Mikal Bridges under the basket on another. Giddey is limited in his speed and leaping, but he’s starting to embracing strength-based creation as a scorer to complement his awesome passing. If Giddey’s improvement on open spot-up three-pointers holds, he could be an All-Star this year, and Chicago would suddenly be vindicated in trading Alex Caruso for him ahead of last season.
The Bucks look reborn as an East contender
The Knicks and Cavaliers began the year as the heavy favorites in the East, and two weeks of play shouldn’t be enough to change that. What I am willing to reconsider already is the biggest threat to those two teams. I picked the Magic to make the NBA Finals, which already looks like a disaster. The Pistons and Hawks haven’t been too impressive yet either. That leaves room for the Milwaukee Bucks to re-enter the inner circle of East contenders. Milwaukee enters the week with a top-5 offense thanks to leading the league in true shooting percentage, a blistering 63.4 percent mark as a team. The Bucks’ Point Giannis experiment is working out great so far. Antetokounmpo is posting a career-best 39.7 percent assist percentage, and surrounding him with shooters is opening up the paint for his ridiculously efficient scoring barrages. It’s not all Giannis, though. Ryan Rollins looks like a hidden gem as a tough defensive guard with improved three-point shooting and scoring off the bounce so far this season. Kyle Kuzma has given up his volume scorer dreams, and is again becoming the same gritty defenders he was on the Bubble Lakers. Myles Turner is playing solid two-way ball and keeping his three-point rate high, while AJ Green (NBA best 79 percent true shooting) and Taurean Prince (76 percent true shooting) have been on fire as shooters. I’m ready to move the Bucks into the first tier of East contenders, at least until Cleveland gets healthy and proves it can pull away, or the Knicks get their stuff together.
The Spurs are already this good without De’Aaron Fox
The Spurs’ undefeated run to open the season ended in shocking fashion against the Phoenix Suns, who somehow held Victor Wembanyama to only nine points by pushing him away from the paint, denying him the ball, and double-teaming at or before the catch. Wembanyama will have to face defensive adjustments all season, but he’s still 7’5 and more skilled and more athletic than any player that size has ever been. Wemby is ready compete in the West right now, but I’m even more surprised his supporting cast looks this competent without injured guard De’Aaron Fox in the lineup yet. Stephon Castle looks like a monster attacking the rim so far, and his scoring efficiency entering the week (63.7 percent true shooting) proves it. Dylan Harper is already an instant impact rookie thanks to his rim pressure (update: Harper is now out for weeks with a calf strain), and Harrison Barnes remains a solid veteran at age-33. If Castle’s leap is real — and he still needs to cut down the turnovers — the Spurs are set up pretty well to make noise in the West this season. Just imagine how this team looks with Fox pushing the pace in the open floor and adding an element of pull-up shooting to the mix. The Spurs are going to win because of Wembanyama’s defense more than anything else. As long as their shooting around him be average instead of terrible, I could see this team winning a playoff series in the West already.
Austin Reaves is looking like one of the NBA’s best scorers
Reaves’ numbers to start the season entering the week are nothing short of sensational: 31.1 points and 9.3 assists per game on 65.4 percent true shooting. He’s currently sixth in scoring, fourth in assists, and top-40 in scoring efficiency. Reaves is becoming the Lakers’ second-option next to Luka Doncic while LeBron James is out with a back injury, and he filled in admirably as the primary option when Doncic was injured, including leading the Lakers to win over the Wolves last week. Reaves’ scoring production has risen every year of his career, and now it appears he’s going to blow last season’s 20 points per game out of the water. He needs to be exceptional on offense to make up for the defensive concerns next to Doncic, and it’s happening. The Lakers arguably the best 1-2 scoring punch in the game right now, and it doesn’t even include LeBron this time.
