Sports Illustrated has published a first-game verdict on all 30 teams, and the opening slate confirmed what the summer trades promised: this is a league in motion. New York raised a title banner and lost. Boston reshaped its roster and lost. Oklahoma City reopened the wound of a playoff defeat and won going away.
A handful of nights that already feel decisive.
LeBron spoils the Knicks’ banner night
The headline act was in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday 20 October, where the Knicks hoisted their first championship banner in 53 years and then watched LeBron James, Jaylen Brown and Tyrese Maxey walk out with a 106-100 win. The 41-year-old James, opening his record-extending 24th NBA season, finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and six assists in a connector role, letting Maxey (28 points) take over the scoring.
Brown, playing his first game in Philadelphia colours after being swapped to the 76ers in the summer, added 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Jalen Brunson led the home side with 21 and Karl-Anthony Towns, in foul trouble early, managed 19 and 12.
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Luka and Kessler flatten the Warriors
A night later in Los Angeles, the Lakers made the loudest statement of the week. Luka Doncic scored a game-high 28 and Walker Kessler, acquired from Utah in the summer, went 12-for-12 from the field for 26 points in a 127-105 rout of Golden State. Austin Reaves added 23.
Stephen Curry had 16 of his 23 in the first quarter before being swallowed up. The night’s visual: Doncic banking in a half-court heave to beat the halftime buzzer after exchanging words with Warriors rookie Yaxel Lendeborg late in the second quarter.
Paul George rewrites the Celtics record book
The Boston Celtics lost their opener in Detroit, but their big summer acquisition did not look like the problem. Paul George, acquired in the Brown trade, erupted for 38 points on 12-of-21 shooting, including 7-of-12 from three, plus five steals. It was the most points by any Celtic in a team debut, surpassing Kristaps Porzingis’s 30-point mark from 2023.
That it came in a defeat tells its own story about what the roster around George now looks like.
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Chet answers Wembanyama
Oklahoma City had the week’s clearest revenge game. In San Antonio, Chet Holmgren held Victor Wembanyama to 1-of-13 shooting as the Thunder won a chippy opener 116-104, five months after Holmgren’s four-point Game 7 at home against the same opponent. Holmgren refused switches to stay matched up on Wembanyama all night, finishing with 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks.
A De’Aaron Fox flagrant on Holmgren triggered a Thunder run of nine straight, and later a 13-0 burst that built a 26-point lead.
Anthony Davis announces himself in Washington
The Wizards do not often feature on an NBA opening-week highlight reel. On Wednesday they beat the Milwaukee Bucks 128-116 behind Anthony Davis, who scored 34 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in his Washington debut, tying Antawn Jamison’s 2004 franchise record for most points in a Wizards debut.
Trae Young, Davis’s new pick-and-roll partner, posted 20 points and 13 assists against a single turnover. Two trades, one night, and a long-suffering franchise suddenly looked like something.
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Who is already in trouble
The pattern across SI’s 30-team sweep is less about dominance than about rosters that still have obvious holes. Dallas lost to Houston despite Cooper Flagg’s 32 points on 10-of-17 shooting. Denver’s rookies ate heavy minutes in a loss to Oklahoma City, with the supporting cast around Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray again flagged as the problem. The Knicks will defend their title with Towns in foul trouble as their most pressing early issue.
The 76ers next play the Boston Celtics on 24 October at TD Garden, with Jaylen Brown returning to face Paul George for the first time since the trade.
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