play1:59Stephen A.: Wemby can take the Spurs to the conference finalsStephen A. Smith analyzes Victor Wembanyama’s 40-point performance vs. the Mavericks.
play1:05What did we learn from the Rockets’ loss on opening night?Kendrick Perkins discusses the Rockets’ loss to the Warriors and how they can learn from their mistakes.
play0:30Shaq delivers personal message to Deandre AytonShaquille O’Neal implores Deandre Ayton to do better after the Lakers’ performance vs. the Warriors.
Tim BontempsCloseTim BontempsESPN Senior WriterTim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.Follow on XBrian WindhorstCloseBrian WindhorstESPN Senior WriterESPN.com NBA writer since 2010 Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years Author of two booksFollow on XOct 24, 2025, 11:22 AM ET
Stephen A.: Wemby can take the Spurs to the conference finalsStephen A. Smith analyzes Victor Wembanyama’s 40-point performance vs. the Mavericks.
What did we learn from the Rockets’ loss on opening night?Kendrick Perkins discusses the Rockets’ loss to the Warriors and how they can learn from their mistakes.
Kendrick Perkins discusses the Rockets’ loss to the Warriors and how they can learn from their mistakes.
Shaq delivers personal message to Deandre AytonShaquille O’Neal implores Deandre Ayton to do better after the Lakers’ performance vs. the Warriors.
Shaquille O’Neal implores Deandre Ayton to do better after the Lakers’ performance vs. the Warriors.
After a promising opener, a major question faces the Houston Rockets
A messy offseason gives way to a strong start for Jonathan Kuminga
It was one game, but prior Lakers concerns were confirmed
A thrilling start to the NBA season came to a screeching halt on Thursday, when Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former player and coach Damon Jones were arrested as part of FBI investigations into illegal sports betting and rigged poker games.
With that in mind, we checked in with league coaches, scouts and executives on what stood out across the opening week of the regular season. Nothing, though, matched the buzz around the league after Victor Wembanyama’s evisceration of the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night — a performance that felt like a warning to the rest of the NBA.
Bontemps: Wembanyama, who missed the back half of last season after a deep vein thrombosis diagnosis, had a busy summer off the court. But when he spoke to the media at the start of training camp, he made sure to emphasize that for whatever people saw on social media, he wasn’t spending the summer relaxing.
“I can assure you, nobody has trained like I did this summer,” Wembanyama said. “And this is my best summer so far. I can tell the progress is just incredible. I feel better, I look stronger and the scale says I’m heavier. So, everything is a green light.”
In the wake of Wembanyama’s impressive 40-point showing in Dallas, those preseason comments now feel like an early declaration of what was to come this season. It could have been taken as Wembanyama being arrogant, but he said it in a simple, matter-of-fact tone, both because it is just what he truly believes, and because he is capable of doing things virtually no one else has ever contemplated, let alone been able to achieve.
After watching him toy with Dallas, there was a clear recognition that if he keeps going like this it’s going to take a lot of luck to slow him down.
“He’s clearly gotten bigger, stronger, more aggressive, playing with more force,” a Western Conference scout said. “And he’s going to take over the whole f—ing league if he stays healthy.”
Stephen A.: Wemby can take the Spurs to the conference finals
Stephen A. Smith analyzes Victor Wembanyama’s 40-point performance vs. the Mavericks.
Last season only 40% of his shots were in the paint. In the preseason, albeit a small sample size, that number soared to 75%. After averaging six free throws per 100 possessions last season, it leapt to 11.8 per 100 in the preseason.
So when Wembanyama dropped 40 in the season opener in Dallas, stealing the show from No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg’s debut with a tour de force of basket attacks, it verified the hand he started to show the league.
Wembanyama took just two 3-pointers, his fewest in a game since his rookie season. (He took fewer than five 3s once all season.) He had 11 free throws against the Mavericks. That happened once in a regulation game last year.
“Their answer is on the roster, I’m a believer in Reed Sheppard and he will step into that role [alongside Thompson],” a veteran executive said. “You can focus on what he can’t do, but I’ve followed him since he was a teenager and all he’s done is overcome doubters. Just give him time.”
“Sheppard is such a target on defense, it’ll be tough to play him at times,” a league scout said. “He doesn’t have good awareness, he doesn’t show good feel and he’s often out of position. He does have good hands.”
Sheppard defended 11 drives in the Rockets’ opening loss to the Thunder, and he was blown by five times, according to ESPN Research.
Bontemps: Although Houston didn’t win the game, and likely won’t have VanVleet back at any point this season after he tore his ACL last month, the Rockets came out of Tuesday’s loss having earned a ton of respect from the NBA cognoscenti.
That was led by the performance Sengun had. Not only did he have 39 points, but his five 3-pointers on Tuesday were a remarkable contrast to the 21 triples he made all of last season.
What did we learn from the Rockets’ loss on opening night?
And while rival teams are not expecting Sengun to make several 3-pointers every night, the big man looked comfortable enough that opposing scouts and executives did buy it as a real development.
Sengun also earned plaudits for his vision and shot creation. And whether Thompson, Sheppard or another player is Houston’s answer at point guard, Sengun will spend plenty of time as the Rockets’ offensive hub. Going up against the best team in the league Tuesday night, it produced big-time results.
Bontemps: Kuminga’s contract negotiations as a restricted free agent provided drama all summer long in the Bay Area. But for all the noise that came along with those negotiations, if Kuminga can play like he did Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers — playing with energy and effort, sharing the ball and working on defense — he can be more than useful for Golden State.
“Forget the shooting. Forget the couple plays where he scored, forget when he guarded Luka,” they said. “But he was playing with a smile on his face. I just haven’t seen much of that from him. It’s always been him having a chip on his shoulder and looking like he’s proving himself. He’s guarding a couple positions, playing hard.
Windhorst: You won’t see Al Horford Friday night when the Warriors play in Portland; he won’t play back-to-backs and he’s going to have limited minutes by design in the regular season. But while Kuminga’s contract situation dominated the conversation around the Warriors over the summer, Horford’s addition was sometimes overlooked. But not by those in the know.
“Horford was one of the best signings in the league over the summer, it broke our hearts because we wanted him badly,” an Eastern Conference executive said. “And they got him for $5 million.”
Well, $5.6 million, but the point remains. For a team that needs size but craves shooting and versatility, Horford is an ideal fit.
Deandre Ayton had an ineffectual 10 points and six rebounds in 34 minutes, and no other player reached double figures outside of Doncic and Austin Reaves. Marcus Smart struggled mightily off the bench. The supporting cast was a combined 5-for-17 from 3-point range and had little hope of doing anything to slow Golden State down defensively.
“[Reaves] was good until he ran out of gas because he had to do so much, but outside of them I couldn’t tell you who their third best player was.”
With ESPN’s Shams Charania reporting that James is targeting a mid-November return, the Lakers will be without the league’s all-time leading scorer for around 15 games to start the season. Can the Lakers survive in the brutal West until James returns without digging themselves too big of a hole?
“They have a chance because Luka doing that isn’t a one-off performance,” the scout said of Doncic’s 43-point night against the Warriors. “They need some of these other guys to step up. So can they survive it? Yes. They’ll have games where some of these guys hit shots. But you look at their roster, and it’s 1-2-3 — and 2 is out — and then a huge gap.”
Windhorst: Lakers coach JJ Redick tried to nip the idea that James’ body language was an issue in the bud. He said the day after the opener that James was very active and helpful in the Lakers’ full study after the loss. It was a clear “nothing to see here” maneuver even if it was totally true. Be that as it may, the Lakers clearly miss James on the floor.
“I know it’s crazy to say, but their 40-year-old is maybe still their best transition player,” one West scout said. “When he’s not out there they are less dynamic.”
Doncic might be their centerpiece and offensive leader, and Reaves might improve on his 20 points per game average from last year. But James is still an offensive engine — and his absence is already felt.
“One thing you can say for LeBron that’s been true for more than 20 years,” the scout said, “is he always generates easy baskets for himself and his teammates.”
CloseTim BontempsESPN Senior WriterTim Bontemps is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com who covers the league and what’s impacting it on and off the court, including trade deadline intel, expansion and his MVP Straw Polls. You can find Tim alongside Brian Windhorst and Tim MacMahon on The Hoop Collective podcast.Follow on X
CloseBrian WindhorstESPN Senior WriterESPN.com NBA writer since 2010 Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years Author of two booksFollow on X