The 2025-26 NBA season is officially one month old, so naturally it’s time to take stock of what we’ve seen so far. The Oklahoma City Thunder are proving that championship hangovers can be avoided, as they sit at 17-1, comfortably in first place in the West. It’s a record so impressive it’s already got people thinking about the possibility of them breaking 73-win record set by the Warriors in 2016. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, the Washington Wizards have won just one game this season, and are in jeopardy of going the entire month of November without a single victory.
The Lakers have gotten out to a hot start thanks to Luka Dončić entering the season determined after a transformative summer. Dončić leads the league in points and has the Lakers out to a 12-4 start, most of which has been without LeBron James who just made his season debut Nov. 18 after dealing with sciatica. In the East, the Pistons are dominating with a 14-2 record, while the Knicks haven’t exactly gotten out to the commanding start many expected. They’re still 9-6, but are 1-5 on the road with a defense that ranks 18th in the league. They’re taking more 3s under Mike Brown than they ever did in the Tom Thibodeau era (43.0 3PA/G), and while they’re making them at a decent rate (36.6%), it won’t matter if they can’t stop anyone on the other end.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what’s transpired over the last month. So let’s dig in and hand out some One-Month Superlatives based on what we saw over the first four-plus weeks of the 2025-26 NBA season.
Most likely to win his first MVP: Luka Dončić
It’s not going to be easy, Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Giannis Antetokounmpo have certainly made sure of that. But Dončić is leading the league in scoring, and he hasn’t shot the ball this well since the year he finished third in MVP voting in 2024. He’s got four 40+-point games already this season, is looking more engaged on defense and is averaging nearly a triple-double.
Dončić (who currently has the third-best MVP odds at FanDuel at +400) has always been able to stuff a statsheet, but he’s never been this dominant to start the season. He typically uses the first two months to get into shape, but he entered the season motivated and already in midseason form. His production hasn’t wavered in the two games LeBron has returned, and the Lakers have essentially given Dončić the keys to the kingdom. If he manages to get this team to a top-four seed while carrying this same level of production, it will be difficult to ignore him for Most Valuable Player.
Hey so the Raptors are 12-5, and are on a seven-game winning streak. They’ve got wins against the Bucks, Cavaliers and 76ers (twice) in the month of November, and boast the fifth-best offense in the league. The trio of Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes is vibing together better than many anticipated, and it’s resulting in a team that is not only scoring a ton, but also has a great deal of length and versatility on defense, too. It’s a defense that ranks seventh in the league, in part because it allows the third-lowest 3-point percentage. Toronto is taking advantage of a weakened Eastern Conference in a season where the race at the top is wide open. While everyone else was talking about other teams who were well positioned to dominate, the Raptors are actually doing it without much fanfare.
The Clippers are the oldest team in the league, and if you needed any evidence of that, the recent season-ending injury to Bradley Beal, in which he has a fractured hip, certainly underlines that. Losing Beal is unfortunate, but even if he were healthy, I don’t think it would’ve helped a Clippers team that has a bottom-tier offense, and an even worse defense. Kawhi Leonard being sidelined for 10 games certainly hasn’t helped matters, but even when he was healthy, L.A. went just 3-3 to open the season.
What’s wrong with the Clippers? Discussing the disastrous start of the most disappointing team in the NBA
Jack Maloney
James Harden is doing his best to carry this team on his back, but at 36 years old his back has to be hurting him as he ranks 10th in the league in minutes, and his usage and points per game are the highest they’ve been since his last year with the Houston Rockets. It’s always a championship or bust expectation for the Clippers because of how this team is constructed, and so far they’ve been a massive bust with a 5-12 record.
I could insert a whole highlight reel of Wembanyama’s exploits over the last month. In fact, here’s just a compilation of every time he’s made me say, “How did he do that?!” this season, but each time it gets more extraterrestrial.
It’s a shame we’ll be without Wembanyama for a few weeks as he recovers from a calf strain, which could in all likelihood take him out of the running for end-of-season awards.
The Bulls’ start to the season reminds me of a sparkler. Once you light one, you stand there wondering for a few minutes if it’s going to work properly, then the big burst of sparks shoots out to your surprise. You revel in the prettiness of the colors and lights, and then about a minute later it fizzles out and you’re left wondering why everyone gets so excited about them in the first place. Chicago started out with a five-game winning streak and were atop the Eastern Conference as many proclaimed, “The Bulls are back!” They’ve since proceeded to go 4-7 over their next 11 games and sit seventh in the East.
The Bulls caught some teams who underestimated them by surprise in the first week, then once everyone else settled into the season they exposed a defense that now ranks 20th in the league. There’s some positives here, though. Josh Giddey is playing like an All-Star. Matas Buzelis is flourishing with a far bigger role than the one he had his rookie season and Ayo Dosunmu is looking like a Sixth Man candidate. The Bulls are functioning far better than they have been in any of the last three seasons. But taking the entirety of the first month into account, this looks more like a fun, young team with upside more than a serious threat in the East that could disrupt things.
Disgruntled star most likely to get traded: Ja Morant
In the first four weeks of the season, we’ve gotten Morant arguing with his head coach, the Grizzlies suspending Morant for a game because of said dispute and then Morant saying he’s lost his joy for basketball. There’s since been reports that the Grizzlies may explore the trade market for the mercurial star guard, though given his poor play so far, an immediate landing spot doesn’t come to mind. This could all just be a rough adjustment period between Morant and first-year coach Tuomas Iisalo, but if things don’t start trending upward for the 6-11 Grizzlies, a change could be on the horizon. And given the checkered history Morant has created in Memphis, it wouldn’t be surprising if he’s the big-name star that switches teams by the trade deadline in February.
The Utah Jazz have their franchise point guard. George isn’t just averaging career-highs across the board (22.8 points, 7.1 assists, 3.9 rebounds), he’s been amongst the most efficient finishers at the rim and in the mid-range. He’s converting 74% of his shots at the rim, which ranks in the 84th percentile amongst combo guards, per Cleaning the Glass. That’s ahead of Anthony Edwards and Donovan Mitchell. He’s shooting 48% on mid-range shots, which outpaces someone like Devin Booker, one of the most elite mid-range scorers in the league. George has been more efficient, but his shot selection has also improved, as has his facilitation and court vision. He’s averaging over seven assists, and becoming a more balanced guard who can distribute as well as he can score.
Most underrated rookie: Derik Queen
In a close loss against the Dallas Mavericks recently, the 6-foot-10 Queen put up 20 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds. We’ve grown more accustomed to seeing big men show off guard-like skills, whether its how they handle the ball or shoot it, but very seldom do we see many of them with the court vision and passing prowess that Queen possesses. In fact, the only two that come to mind would be Nikola Jokić and Alperen Sengun. file Queen into that same category now. In the last five games, Queen’s 5.4 assists is fourth-most amongst big men behind Jokić, Sengun and Nic Claxton. And these aren’t just dribble handoff assists, or a simple a desperate pass out to a shooter because he’s getting swarmed in the paint, Queen is quarterbacking things out on the perimeter, calling for screens, putting the ball on the deck and kicking it out to the corner like he’s the starting point guard for the Pelicans
Just look at this:
Queen’s finally been upgraded to the starting lineup in the last five games, and in that span he’s averaging 17.6 points, eight rebounds, 5.4 assists and shooting 49.2% from the field. If Zion Williamson manages to stay healthy, a frontcourt of those two should be a scary sight for the rest of the league.
Most drama-filled team: Dallas Mavericks
The Mavericks are 5-13 and yet have dominated the headlines in the first month of the season primarily because they fired former general manager Nico Harrison. It was a move that was long overdue, but it took fans chanting “Fire Nico” while Mavericks’ forward PJ Washington shot potential game-tying free throws in a loss to the Bucks for team governor Patrick Dumont to pull the plug. Since Harrison’s ousting, attention has now turned to the rubble left in his wake, with trade rumors surrounding Anthony Davis, Klay Thompson, D’Angelo Russell — basically everyone not named Cooper Flagg. On the bright side, Flagg has looked every bit the “generational star” he was billed as in the last week or so of games. That’ll distract from the otherwise turmoil filled season its been for the Mavericks just two seasons removed from an NBA Finals appearance.
This needs no explanation. Just look at this thing.
I hated this court when the mock up was released, and watching it for live game action made it even worse. It’s such a bright green that strains your eyes, and the shade of it made it reflect off the players, giving them all a green tint.
I get the league wanted to give the NBA Cup some fun flair, but this was just an awful attempt at that, and I hope we never have to see it again after the group stage.
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