Opening night of the 2026-27 NBA season is in the books, and it was a wild one -- a fitting start for what figures to be a wild season. It started with the Pistons storming back from down 22 points to stun the Celtics. LeBron James and the 76ers followed that by spoiling the Knicks' ring night with a supremely impressive victory at Madison Square Garden.
And in the nightcap, the Thunder served Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs a fat slice of humble pie. Naturally, the takes are going to be flying after one game, silly as that is. So I figured I would get ahead of them and address how much truth, if any, there might be in these Game 1 overreactions.
There is actually some truth to this because expectations have accelerated so quickly in San Antonio, and with that comes much greater scrutiny. The Spurs just aren't going to get away with a performance like the one they offered in a relatively resounding 116-104 opening-night loss to the Thunder in the same way they would have last year, when they were playing with house money. Victor Wembanyama was the No. 1 player in our CBS Sports Top 100 player rankings.
He's the Vegas favorite to win MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. When he goes 1 for 13 for 12 points in a marquee matchup, as he did in the loss to OKC on Tuesday, he's going to get roasted for it. Victor Wembanyama just had the worst shooting night of his career:12 points1/13 FG0/4 3PBrutal. (h/t @BrickCenter_) pic.twitter.com/KZQLAMtzpK People are going to take a showing like this and say Wemby was crowned too early, that we need to slow down the hype around him and the Spurs, that Oklahoma City is still the better team and would have won the conference finals last year had Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell been healthy.
But that doesn't mean the Spurs aren't every bit as good as we all project them to be or that Wembanyama has somehow been overhyped too soon. He does need to figure out a way to get to a consistent scoring spot, but even on a highly unusual off-night offensively, he recorded 13 rebounds and six blocks. Oklahoma City is just really freaking good, too.
This certainly looked to be the case on opening night in an extremely impressive 106-100 victory over the Knicks. The offensive balance reflected a unit that has been playing together for years, evidenced by every starter getting double-digit shot attempts with hardly any feeling forced. Tyrese Maxey -- as he should be -- was the most aggressive scorer.
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