The NBA is finally back, and viewers were treated to some great games in the opening days. Four of the best teams in the Western Conference faced off on Tuesday, and 24 teams had their season debuts on Wednesday.
The natural tendency is to overreact to the first salvo in what is a very long season. Rather than fighting that urge, I'm leaning into it.
Here are the most noteworthy things that we learned over the first two days of the season.
NBA POSITIONAL RANKINGS: PG | SG | SF | PF | C
Victor Wembanyama is a lock to win Rookie of the Year over Chet Holmgren, Scoot Henderson
Wembanyama's debut was up-and-down. He was plagued by foul trouble and largely ineffective through the first three quarters of the game, scoring just six points.
But he took over in the fourth, scoring nine points on two dunks and two jumpers. He also showed his defensive impact, blocking a Kyrie Irving jumper in the early portion of the game. He finished with a solid stat line of 15 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block.
Despite that so-so start, Wembanyama's case for Rookie of the Year got stronger after the first night of games. Henderson was ineffective, scoring 11 points and committing four turnovers, and Holmgren was getting pushed around by the Bulls' centers throughout his debut.
Andre Drummond is manhandling Chet Holmgren. Shoving him on every screen, giving him back-to back welcome to the NBA moments. pic.twitter.com/0i2wzg8MK4
— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) October 26, 2023
Dereck Lively II, who went head-to-head with Wembanyama, had perhaps the best debut of any of the rookies, scoring 16 points off some beautiful feeds from Luka Doncic and grabbing 10 rebounds. The Mavericks have needed better big man play, and Lively might be able to give it to them this season.
The Lakers will struggle with LeBron James on a minutes restriction
Entering his 21st season, James was still easily the best player on the Lakers in their 119-107 loss to the Nuggets on Tuesday. But he only played 29 minutes, which will be the new norm for him this year, according to Darvin Ham.
It is going to be tough for the Lakers to win with James on a minutes restriction. They were outscored by 19 points in the minutes in which he was on the bench.
D'Angelo Russell showed the same problems with shaky shot selection as he did in the playoffs. Anthony Davis disappeared in the second half, scoring zero points. Rui Hachimura looked more like the Wizards version of himself than the guy who lit it up in the playoffs.
The Lakers are still a very top-heavy team, which makes them a tough playoff out, but their role players gave them very little in the opener. If Ham is going to lean heavily on them during the regular season, then it's tough to see the Lakers as a home-court advantage team in the playoffs.
Devin Booker is ready to be the Suns' point guard
There was some consternation about the Suns needing a more traditional point guard after trading Chris Paul to the Warriors. Booker took over some of those duties in the playoffs, and he showed in the Suns' 108-104 victory over the Warriors that he can handle that job in the regular season as well.
Booker was individually magnificent in that opener, scoring a game-high 32 points and recording eight assists. He was dominant in crunch time, scoring or assisting on the team's last 15 points.
Booker doesn't get the credit he deserves as a passer. He was making all of the right reads down the stretch, throwing a cross-court dime to an open Josh Okogie in the corner, hitting Eric Gordon for a dagger 3-pointer and threading the needle on a jump pass to a diving Jusuf Nurkic for a layup.
Booker's control of the game was reminiscent of Paul's during the Suns' NBA Finals run in 2021. The team wasn't even at full strength, missing Bradley Beal, and Kevin Durant had an uncharacteristically poor shooting night.
None of that mattered. The Suns are going to be very good with Booker leading the charge.
Chris Paul is going to be great for the Warriors — coming off the bench
Paul had a better debut than his stat line suggests. He shot just 4-of-15 from the field, including 0-of-6 from deep. But he did manage to get to the line seven times, score 14 points and record nine assists.
Paul got the Warriors into their sets well, finding open teammates and also putting pressure on the rim with more drives than we've been accustomed to seeing from him. He limited the team's turnovers, which has been a huge issue throughout the Steve Kerr era.
Despite those positives, the Warriors lost because they could not rebound. They gave up 17 offensive rebounds, allowing 27 second-chance points to the Suns.
Many of those rebounds came with taller players simply jumping over Paul and Stephen Curry. Those two are too small to play together, especially with the Warriors being undersized at every other position.
Paul is going to fit in fine with the Warriors, but they need more size in the lineup. He's probably going to be the odd man out when Draymond Green returns.
Paul's biggest job will be to act as a floor general for second units, per ESPN's Kendra Andrews. That has been a huge problem area for the team, and he's going to be great in that role.
