NBA teams typically wait until the first-quarter mark of a new season to diagnose problems.
Who has that kind of time? Who needs that kind of time?
The 2026-27 campaign is barely two weeks old, and it's already possible to point toward a problem area for everyone. Granted, some of these might not be season-long issues, but plenty have the potential to become that if not properly addressed.
Atlanta Hawks: Half-Court Offense
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With a slew of long-limbed stoppers and open-floor athletes, the Hawks can be all kinds of disruptive on defense and a terror in transition. But when they need someone to create something out of nothing against a set defense, the sledding can turn tough pretty quick.
Atlanta's half-court offense has managed just 0.91 points per play, per Cleaning the Glass. That's a bottom-third scoring rate across the Association (22nd).
Offensive creativity isn't exactly an on-paper strength for this roster, but the bigger issue so far might be a lack of spacing. Only two of the Hawks' five starters are clearing even 30 percent from three-point range.
Boston Celtics: Questionable Ceiling
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When the Celtics swapped out Jaylen Brown for Paul George and draft picks this offseason, the prevailing thought was that this now clearly Jayson Tatum-led team had a chance to still be pretty good. Unspoken in that praise, of course, was that the expectation used to be greatness—not pretty goodness.
And if the Celtics are now just a single-star team, it's fair to wonder whether this group significantly lowered its ceiling over the summer.
Boston's 5-2 record and top-third net rating (plus-6.7, ninth) wouldn't show that, but the competition faced welcomes skepticism. So far, the Celtics have wins over the hungover Knicks, the struggling Magic and the lowly Nets and Bulls. Otherwise, they're 0-2 with a minus-24 scoring differential against the Pistons and Rockets.
Brooklyn Nets: Competing Priorities
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The Nets have this season's youngest roster. They have seven different first-round picks from the past two drafts. This might be the youth-iest youth movement around.
Yet, their three minutes leaders are all in their age-27 seasons or older. Their offense runs first through 31-year-old Julius Randle and 28-year-old Michael Porter Jr.—two of the more logical trade candidates in the league. The developmental minutes and touches that could go to the young players are too often winding up with (arguably) veteran placeholders.
It might be one thing if this equated to a competitive formula for the club, but Brooklyn has one win in seven games and no discernible identity.
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Charlotte Hornets: Shotmaking
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You know the basic premise of the sport? The whole put-the-ball-in-the-basket thing? Yeah, that's what the Hornets are having a tough time figuring out.
The Hornets rank dead-last in field-goal shooting (40.5 percent) and 29th in three-point percentage (29.6). While they're at least accurate from the free-throw line (81.5 percent, sixth), it's a wasted weapon, because they don't earn enough trips there to capitalize on it (30th in attempts).
The good news is things will get better with Coby White having just debuted and Kon Knueppel nearing the final stage of his hamstring strain recovery. The not-so-great news is that a lot of the bricklayers responsible for this clang-heavy start will remain big parts of the plan even when this group is full-strength.
Chicago Bulls: Rebuilding Timeline
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Because the Bulls took such an agonizingly long time pulling the plug on their last (ostensibly competitive) core, they don't have nearly as many long-term resources in place as their fellow cellar-dwellers. Caleb Wilson already looks like a crown jewel, at least, and Matas Buzelis has his own hype train, but that might be it in terms of no-brainer building blocks.
So, while Chicago is taking all of the unavoidable lumps that come with an organizational reset, it lacks the abundance of hope sources a squad in this predicament would like to have. There is no obvious prize in front of the eyes, but there is the typical worry of what this level of losing can do to the psyche of a team.
The Bulls have tried to insulate their youth with some culture-setting veterans, but Norman Powell gets over his skis as a primary option, and Nic Claxton is stuck on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. Leonard Miller conquering consistency or Noa Essengue finding a niche would at least help build some long-term hope.
Cleveland Cavaliers: Peytn Watsn
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That's not a spelling error, folks. Rather, it's a creative-ish jab at the lack of offense—no "O"—from costly Cleveland newcomer Peyton Watson.
Remember, the Cavs sacrificed plenty to task the 24-year-old swingman with filling their hole at the small forward spot for good. Because he was a restricted free agent, they had to cough up Max Strus, a future first-round pick (unprotected) and a 2027 second-rounder for the right to give Watson a four-year, $88 million deal.
It's early, obviously, but Cleveland's return on investment has been nonexistent. Watson has unsightly shooting rates from the field (37.1 percent) and from three (16.7) and a ghastly net differential (minus-25.7, seventh percentile, per Cleaning the Glass). Adding injury to insult, he also just missed a game with a hamstring issue—a worrying development given how much trouble his hamstring gave him last season.
Dallas Mavericks: The Disconnected Timeline
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Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving have already produced some beautiful basketball in their short time together. It hasn't stopped speculation about an Irving trade, even as the Mavericks are telling teams "they don't even want to field your call," per NBA insider Marc Stein.
This is, by the sounds of it, all the result of outside noise. But outside noise still has a way of sneaking inside and uncomfortably lingering, especially when there's such an obvious reason for it to exist.
Flagg and Irving are a great basketball fit; they just happen to be an atrocious timeline fit. Flagg's 20th birthday will arrive only a few months before Irving's 35th. Maybe if the Mavs had everything they need to compete, they could justify trying to keep this duo intact, but they don't. This is mostly a young roster, as it should be given Flagg's long-term trajectory—which clearly doesn't align with Irving's.
Denver Nuggets: Non-Elite Offense
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The Nuggets are, almost by design, set up to struggle on the defensive end. They have more sieves than stoppers, which is why they haven't finished above the bottom-third in defensive efficiency since 2023-24.
And they're mostly OK with that. It's not ideal, obviously, but it's something they've been able to work around on the strength of their world-class offense.
But that's the issue: the offense isn't world-class right now. It's barely adequate, honestly, with Denver sitting a colossally disappointing 16th in offensive efficiency. A lot of factors play into that, including Nikola Jokić struggling with his range, and Cameron Johnson, Aaron Gordon and DeMar DeRozan all lacking their typical efficiency.
Detroit Pistons: Support Scoring
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Stop me if you've heard this a time or 20, but Cade Cunningham could really use an offensive co-star. The Pistons don't even have an 18-point scorer alongside their MVP, and the only other player clearing 14 a night is shooting specialist Duncan Robinson.
Shout out to the pride of Williams College and all (Go Ephs!), but a contender counting on Robinson as the No. 2 option is not a contender that needs to be taken seriously.
This situation probably looks worse than it actually is—and it hasn't kept the club from racing out to a 6-1 start—since 2025-26 All-Star Jalen Duren has been sidelined by a hamstring strain. That said, concerns about scoring and creation help for Cunningham were raised even when Duren was making his All-Star ascension, so it might fall on the front office to find an external fix.
Golden State Warriors: Getting Stops
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A five-game winning streak has quieted a lot of those doom-and-gloom tales of this team's demise spawned by its 0-3 start.
It has also showcased that this offense can be plenty potent with Stephen Curry doing Stephen Curry things, Yaxel Lendeborg casting an early ROY bid, Brandin Podziemski making shots and the bench getting buckets out of De'Anthony Melton, Brandon Williams and Georges Niang.
What this surge hasn't done, though, is solve some of the bigger questions about this defense. It lacks size on the interior and can run short of length and athleticism on the perimeter. Depending on the lineup configuration, it might be lacking in both at certain times.
If the offense isn't actually this good—it didn't crack 110 points in either of its first two contests—then the defense better not be this bad (22nd in efficiency, worst among teams with winning records).
Houston Rockets: Backcourt Shooting
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Credit the Rockets for forcing me to get nitpicky here. Houston hasn't had the easiest schedule to start, but it definitely has made things appear that way. The Rockets have seven wins to show for eight trips to the hardwood, and they're sitting atop the entire league with a plus-12.8 net rating.
That makes problems hard to identify with this team, but it surely hoped for better shooting from guards Fred VanVleet and Reed Sheppard. Both are sitting below 39 percent from the field, and both are saddled with sub-32 three-point percentages.
They're still finding ways to impact winning, of course. The playmaking problems that plagued last season have all but evaporated, and the canyon these two have put between their averages in assists (10.8 combined) and turnovers (2.6) is a big reason why.
Indiana Pacers: Tyrese Haliburton's Hamstring
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The Pacers had two big reasons to believe this season would be a lot more like their 2024-25 triumph (50 wins and an NBA Finals berth) than their 2025-26 misery (19 wins and brutal luck at the draft lottery). Well, it was really like two reasons rolled into one: the return of Tyrese Haliburton and his ability to weaponize new center Ivica Zubac.
Unfortunately, Haliburton's return from a torn Achilles lasted just four games before a strained hamstring got in the way. It's also, unfortunately, emblematic of the major injury issues Indiana has already encountered. On Monday, the Pacers became the first team since 1948 to use six or fewer players this early into a season.
They shouldn't be this banged-up again, but Haliburton's absence is the real worry. He gives this team an identity with his pace, penchant for passing and ability to come through in the clutch.
Since 2022-23, Haliburton's first full season in Indy, the Pacers have fared 4.2 points better per 100 possessions with him than without.
Los Angeles Clippers: Turnover Trouble
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With Kawhi Leonard back north of the border, and Brandon Ingram yet to debut, the Clippers have zero margin for error on the offensive end. They are squeezed for scoring options with Darius Garland their lone player averaging 14-plus points.
So, they need to maximize the value of every possession. So far, they're doing the opposite. Only the shorthanded Hornets have a worse turnover percentage than the Clippers' 19.9 percent.
It's hard to blame Garland, when he's balancing primary scoring and table-setting duties, or Keaton Wagler, when he's a teenaged rookie, but they have been two of their worst offenders. Together, they're responsible for nearly eight giveaways a game.
Los Angeles Lakers: Scoring Support
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The Lakers have built their offensive blueprint—if not their overall identity—around squeezing every ounce of production out of Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves.
And to an extent, the plan is working with Reaves posting personal bests in multiple categories, and Dončić averaging a wholly absurd 38.3 points.
"Obviously, he's one of the best scorers to play this game, if not the best," Giannis Antetokounmpo told reporters after being on the wrong end of Luka's latest 40-point outburst. "... Of all-time. I feel like some people are scared to say that, but he's got to be up there."
The worry, though, is what happens on nights when Dončić and Reaves don't have it rolling. The only other double-digit scorers are Walker Kessler (who gets spoonfed his scoring chances) and Ziaire Williams (who's shooting an unsustainable 47.6 percent from distance).
Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton and Sandro Mamukelashvili need to be the scoring threats L.A. thought it was signing this summer.
Memphis Grizzlies: Due For Regression
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It feels like a million and one unpredictable things have already happened this season. It also feels like Memphis' 6-0 start was the least predictable of the lot.
Even if you wondered whether this club could be feistier than expected, you didn't expect to see a juggernaut.
That's probably because, record aside, this really isn't a juggernaut. It could be a decent team, very possibly a play-in participant, but it's not this world-beater.
Rather, it's rolling due to some unsustainable shooting luck (42.2 percent from three compared to 31.2 by the opposition) and some monster outbursts from 29-year-old journeyman Ty Jerome (40-plus points in two games; 25 points on 27 shots in two others). Memphis will cool off at some point, and only then will folks see the real makeup of this team.
Miami Heat: Defense
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This should be Miami's best side. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo comprise one of the most defensively versatile frontcourt combos ever created. Davion Mitchell is a dogged defender and a venomous head of the snake. Andrew Wiggins has been frustrating premier wing scorers for years.
This roster entered the season with significant questions about its ability to score and shoot from the perimeter. But so far, it's the defense holding back the offense. The Heat are sitting 27th in defensive efficiency, and the three teams behind them have three wins between them.
"We're not playing hard enough," Antetokounmpo told reporters after the Heat's 138-117 loss to the Lakers on Monday. "We've got to play hard, have some pride. Individual pride, first of all, and then we've got to keep one another accountable and trust one another defensively. Right now we don't trust one another. We're not giving that extra effort."
Milwaukee Bucks: The Incumbents
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As painful as it was to trade away Giannis Antetokounmpo, the best player in franchise history, the Bucks have to be thrilled with what they've gotten back from the Heat so far.
Tyler Herro has near-star numbers, Jaime Jaquez Jr. looks efficient as ever, Kel'el Ware is almost averaging a double-double in under 20 minutes, and Kasparas Jakučionis is showing great feel on the ball.
Nearly all of Milwaukee's newcomers are finding a niche. The problem is the returning Bucks have mostly disappointed.
Kyle Kuzma has never been less accurate from three. Myles Turner isn't hitting shots from anywhere. Ryan Rollins looks like his 2025-26 breakout never happened. Ousmane Dieng hasn't forced his way into the regular rotation. Gary Trent Jr. isn't finding regular minutes, either.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Anthony Edwards' Knee
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Over their first four games, the Timberwolves appeared well on their way to wearing the Best Show on Hardwood label.
They weren't just wildly entertaining with LaMelo Ball orchestrating the offense; they looked like legitimate contenders with the apparent impact this summer's changes had on Anthony Edwards.
And then, because the injury bug has serious main character syndrome this season, the run was over. For now, at least. Edwards had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, and Minnesota hasn't been the same since.
The hope is the procedure happened early enough for Edwards to make it back in time to rediscover his form and help the Wolves howl come playoff time. The worry is they'll dig too big a hole without him, and he won't be the same after a lengthy layoff.
New Orleans Pelicans: Clutch Situations
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The Pelicans have lost four games this season. They had fourth-quarter leads in three of them and were down single-digits in the final four minutes of the other.
This team has enough talent to compete. It just may not have enough something—could be talent, could be direction, could be chemistry—to perform when it matters most.
New Orleans has so far made a mess out of late-game situations. This club is 1-3 in clutch games—five-point differential in the final five minutes—and holds a minus-16.8 net rating over 24 clutch minutes.
New York Knicks: Offense
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When the Knicks are at their best, they're a two-way force. Last season, while laying the groundwork for their drought-snapping championship run, they were one of four teams with top-seven efficiency ranks on offense and defense.
This season, they've got a decent defense (10th in efficiency) and a pretty dismal offense (21st). Uncharacteristic shooting woes feel like the primary culprit.
Jalen Brunson is shooting worse than 40 percent from the field. OG Anunoby is barely clearing 30 percent from deep. Mikal Bridges is barely involved in this attack (6.1 points per game) and looks awful when he is (30.8 percent shooting overall, 26.9 percent from three). The track records say they're due for a bounce-back, but this offense will continue to struggle until that happens.
Oklahoma City Thunder: 🤕
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What just happened to the Thunder feels too cruel to put into words. They were riding high as heavyweight title contenders, and then pow!: dislocated ankle and fractured fibula for Jalen Williams, torn labrum for Cason Wallace, patellar tendon tear for Chet Holmgren.
"This isn't a common situation, but it's our situation," team president Sam Presti put it.
Yet no roster, not even one as deep as this, can just next-man-up its way into replacements for an All-NBA swingman, an All-NBA 7-footer and an All-Defensive point-of-attack stopper. Holmgren should at least return around the new year, but the other two? Just hope for the best, I suppose.
Orlando Magic: Possession Differential
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Orlando has offensive issues. A lot of them. This isn't a good scoring or shooting team. Its stars have worrying redundancies in strengths and weaknesses. No one constantly wows as a creator or passer.
The challenge for the Magic, then, is to get as many bites at the apple as possible. But that might be where they're earning their worst marks. They aren't controlling the basketball (26th in turnover percentage) or the glass (28th in rebounding percentage).
So, they're left playing a math game the numbers say they can't win. They are averaging 105.4 combined field-goal and free-throw attempts; for their opponents, the average is 114.1. It might take best-in-the-business efficiency to overcome this gap, and Orlando is delivering nothing of the sort.
Philadelphia 76ers: Still Developing Chemistry
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The 76ers are built to overwhelm opponents with star power and offensive eruptions. This NBA economic environment is designed to discourage superteams, yet Philly has fielded a starting five featuring two former MVPs and two All-NBA selections from last season.
Naturally, the Sixers are just steamrolling any and everyone in their path, right? Well, not exactly. In fact, they've been one of this season's worst first-quarter teams (26th in net rating) and a pretty forgettable offensive team overall (19th in efficiency).
The fact that this team still holds a 7-1 record (and a top-10 net rating) speaks to what can happen when this kind of star power is assembled. Still, the Sixers are clearly finding their way with this new-look group. Them being this good while figuring things out on the fly highlights just how high their ceiling sits.
Phoenix Suns: Defensive Generosity
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The Suns have dropped four of their first five games. They've also allowed at least 122 points in all but one. Even by modern NBA standards, that's a pretty obscene level of hemorrhaging points.
Now, there's surely some level of misfortune here. Phoenix's opponents are shooting 41.1 percent from three. That number almost assuredly won't hold.
But the Suns aren't helping themselves. They get sleepy off the ball. Their closeouts are too often late (sixth-fewest shot contests). Their ball pressure has been lax, too (fifth-fewest deflections). And they've been dreadful on the glass (30th in defensive rebounding percentage). It's all bad.
Portland Trail Blazers: Atypical Shooting Woes
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Complaints are hard to find—or even manufacture—for the Trail Blazers. Not even their most optimistic fans could've seen this coming: a 5-1 start with four road triumphs and a top-five net rating.
What might be most impressive, though, is that we aren't seeing the Blazers at their best.
Maybe they won't run an .833 winning percentage all season, but they also probably won't see Damian Lillard keep posting the worst field-goal percentage of his career, Deni Avdija keep shooting worse from the line than he has since his rookie year, or Scoot Henderson keep toting around a sub-35 field-goal percentage and sub-20 splash rate from three.
Sacramento Kings: Acuff's Neon-Green Light
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The Kings are leaning into a youth movement that doesn't actually feature a ton of youth.
If they're losing faith in Nique Clifford (7.0 minutes a night), they might already be down to two keepers: Darius Acuff Jr. and Maxime Raynaud. And since the latter is sidelined by a knee injury, the former basically has free rein to run...well, everything.
Acuff is averaging 23.6 shots—as many as Luka Dončić and more than everyone not named Anthony Edwards. Acuff's 33.2 usage percentage is seventh-highest in the league. He is being utilized like a premier, heavy-volume producer.
He is not a premier, heavy-volume producer. Not as a 19-year-old rookie, at least. Acuff is shooting 40.6 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from deep. His assist-to-turnover ratio sits shy of the 2:1 mark you'd at least expect from such a high-mileage creator.
He is being given freedom to experiment with the full limits of his game, which could do wonders for his future, but might tank this offense in the present.
San Antonio Spurs: Spacing
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As soon as the Spurs committed to starting their three-guard lineup, concerns were raised about that trio's ability to maintain proper spacing. And those concerns have been validated—sort of.
San Antonio's starting five has been limited from long distance. That quintet has a collective 32.3 percent conversion rate, which ranks 20th among all starting groups. That's a tricky number to work around, even while this group has obvious perks for its playmaking, downhill finishing and chaos-creation on defense.
The surprising part of all this is that these struggles don't stem from the guards. In fact, De'Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle are all shooting better from three than they did last season. The problem is Victor Wembanyama (26.2 three-point percentage) and Devin Vassell (30) have seen the bottom drop out, and they were supposed to be the ones propping things up.
Toronto Raptors: Kawhi's Rocky Start
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Much like his first trip north of the border, Kawhi Leonard's return to Toronto felt like the possible key to unlocking the team's championship potential. And given how much season remains, maybe it will wind up serving that exact purpose.
But after two uncharacteristically inefficient outings to start the season (39 points on 37 shots), he was forced off the floor by a familiar foe: inflammation and swelling in his knee. It's at least the left knee this time and not his historically problematic right one, but it's also the kind of injury that has an uncertain recovery time and always the chance for things to linger.
Toronto's contending hopes have been tied to Leonard's return as either a superstar himself or a rock-solid co-star for an ascending Scottie Barnes. If Leonard doesn't get right, this formula will never compute properly.
Utah Jazz: ... Everything?
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This was supposed to be the season when everything came together for the Jazz. They weren't chasing ping-pong balls anymore; they were seemingly ready to pair their up-and-comers with their already-establisheders and serve as, at least, a thorn in the sides of the NBA's elites.
Yet, nothing has gone according to plan—and you could argue that dates back to Walker Kessler's exit in restricted free agency. That left a void on the interior, and injuries have prevented Jusuf Nurkić from filling it. Jaren Jackson Jr.'s MCL tear further thinned the frontcourt, while the backcourt has hardly seemed ready to play winning basketball.
Utah is tied for the league's worst record and sits fourth from the bottom in net efficiency (minus-11.7). In competitive terms, this club looks no different than the tankers of recent years, only this roster wasn't designed to chase draft lottery odds.
Washington Wizards: Role Changes
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The Wizards knew life would be different this season, and a lot of the newness has been for the better.
Trae Young may not be worth what Washington is paying him, and Anthony Davis could wind up overpaid too, but you can understand why the front office brokered discounted trades for both. On the court, each is a clear need-filler.
These changes haven't been a true rising tide, though. Alex Sarr seems confused about how he's supposed to fit now. Tre Johnson is a shooting specialist who suddenly can't make shots. Will Riley, maybe the most interesting Wizard after the All-Star break last season, can't even find regular floor time.
Washington is searching for the right combinations, and this will take time given the huge organizational shift away from tanking and hopefully toward play-in competitiveness or better. Some of the youth might get lost in the shuffle, but the Wizards have a few too many young players still looking for answers.
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