The NBA loves streaking! It’s been going on all over both conferences — some bad streaking, and some good. A lot of it is wrapped up in the dramatic start of the 2025 NBA Cup, which will see group play end this week. On top of that, one of the best point guards ever is hanging it up. We’ll dive into all of that with this week’s NBA Rewind. But we start with the extended version of the NBA Stock Report, a Monday staple in The Bounce. That’s our free NBA newsletter that you can sign up for and receive every day in your inbox. Let’s rewind!
NBA stock report extended
📈 Oklahoma City Thunder (17-1). The season is still young, but the Thunder are setting the bar so much higher than their historic championship run last season. They’ve won nine in a row, and they’re dominating opponents in a way that makes last season look elementary. In 2024-25, the Thunder set the record for margin of victory at 12.87 points per game. That beat the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers’ record of 12.28. This season? Their margin of victory sits at 16.94. That’s absurd!
They already have 13 double-digit wins. Remember, the Thunder also set the record for that last season with 55. They’re on pace for about 59 double-digit victories this season, which doesn’t even sound real. Their 17-1 record has them on pace for 77 wins, which would obviously obliterate the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors’ record of 73. OKC has done all of this without the team’s second-best player, Jalen Williams, who is still recovering from offseason surgery on his right wrist. A lot could slow down, but for now the Thunder look to be in prime position to end Adam Silver’s parity.
📉 Golden State Warriors (9-9). To their credit, the Warriors had a tough road trip, and they managed to go 3-3 on their journey. But they’ve lost three straight, including the final two games of that stretch in Orlando and Miami. Then they finally played at home and lost to the Portland Trail Blazers. They got smoked in the second half and blew a double-digit third-quarter lead. They couldn’t stop Caleb Love, and it was their downfall. The Warriors haven’t been the same team we saw after the Jimmy Butler trade last season. And while their defense has been good (10th), they aren’t consistent enough on that end of the floor to overcome a mediocre offense.
Actually, calling this offense mediocre might be too complimentary. They rank 23rd in offensive rating. Sure, Steph Curry has missed four games, but that’s not enough time away for the Warriors to be horrific on that end. They’re the second-worst team at taking care of the ball. They’re terrible at shooting inside the arc. Golden State doesn’t even score 105 points per 100 possessions with Steph off the floor. This team needs to get it together and find some easier buckets.
Brandon Ingram and the Raptors have shot their way to second place in the Eastern Conference. (Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)
📈 Toronto Raptors (12-5). The Raptors have won seven straight, have the third-longest current winning streak in the league, and are second in the Eastern Conference. We have to see what happens with R.J. Barrett, who injured his knee Sunday night. But the Raptors look great on both ends of the floor. They have the fifth-ranked offense, which shouldn’t be too surprising. They added Brandon Ingram to the mix at last season’s trade deadline, but he didn’t play until this season. There is a lot of offensive talent on this roster, and it’s been pretty healthy, something the Toronto couldn’t say last season.
The surprise is how they’re executing on defense, where the Raptors rank 11th after finishing 17th last season. They force a lot of turnovers and are one of the best at defending the 3-point line. This is still a young roster, and it will be tested by opponents putting their best shooters in a position to light Toronto up from deep. But nobody thought this Raptors team would be near the top of the East in the first quarter of the season.
📉 Minnesota Timberwolves (10-6). The Wolves have won seven of their last 10 games, and they have a top-seven net rating in the NBA. So why would they be trending down? Their loss to the Phoenix Suns on Friday night was incredibly concerning. Minnesota hasn’t beaten a good team this season, and allowing a 9-0 run in the final 69 seconds of that game likely cost it a chance to move on in the NBA Cup. The Wolves struggle to pay attention to details in crunch-time situations. Anthony Edwards completely choked on both ends of the floor against the Suns, including missing two free throws that would have given his team a three-point lead.
Minnesota’s only good win is against Portland, which is under .500. The Wolves are 10-0 against below-.500 squads and 0-6 against non-losing teams. And they’ve had the second-easiest schedule in the NBA so far.
📈 Miami Heat (11-6). Four straight wins for the Heat have them fourth in the East. And their high-powered, higher-octane offense has teams exhausted playing against them. Miami is “only” 13th in offensive efficiency, but it has adopted a push-the-pace approach while losing nothing on the defensive end. The Heat have the fourth-best defense in the NBA despite being a horrible defensive rebounding team. Only the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards are worse at securing defensive rebounds. So they’re not ending possessions properly, and yet they still dominate on that end.
Bam Adebayo has missed seven games, and Tyler Herro is expected to make his season debut on Monday. So the Heat’s offense could get a lot better, and I wouldn’t expect the defense to drop off. It’s just a matter of whether the self-proclaimed best-in-shape team can sustain this brand of basketball. They could get injuries from it, or it could just wear them down. Regardless, the re-emergence of Jaime Jaquez Jr. and the addition of Norman Powell have the Heat overwhelming opponents.
📉 Charlotte Hornets (4-12). The Indiana Pacers were reeling before they faced the Hornets. Charlotte obliged by giving them a victory. The LA Clippers desperately needed a win. The Hornets let James Harden go for 55 points and lost. The Hornets have lost six straight games and are 1-9 in their last 10. Charlotte is 18th in offense and 24th in defense, so I guess it technically could get worse. But there is almost zero veteran presence to help reel in the team’s young core when things start to unravel. Kon Knueppel’s amazing start can only distract fans for so long. Just ask LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller.
📈 Detroit Pistons (14-2). I wanted to highlight different teams this week, but the Pistons extending their win streak warrants a mention. The timing of their win streak is virtually identical to their historic losing streak two years ago. In 2023, they lost their 13th straight game in Indiana on Nov. 24. On Monday night, they have a chance to tie a franchise record with their 13th straight win. Monday is Nov. 24. And their game is in Indiana. I guess what I’m saying is I fully expect the Pistons to win 28 straight games to balance the universe.
📉 Washington Wizards (1-15). I went into this season knowing the Wizards would be a bad team, but liking enough of their young core to believe they’d be fun to watch as they learn the NBA ropes. Well, nothing about their development and tanking process this season has been fun. Aside from Alex Sarr taking a massive step forward and Cam Whitmore having some nice dunks, this team has been brutal. We’re 16 games into the season, and they’re rocking a 14-game losing streak.
The Big Story: The Point God leaveth
Chris Paul announced over the weekend that he will retire at the end of this season. His 21st NBA season is off to a rough start. He’s simply not producing at a level we’re used to, even when you adjust his numbers for minutes and pace in the reduced role he’s playing for the Clippers. CP3 is shooting just 28.2 percent from the field and 28.0 percent from 3. He’s putting up 2.5 points and 3.8 assists in 14.8 minutes each night. Maybe he’d have a better rhythm if he were starting and playing twice as many minutes, but Paul is not finding any consistency.
Considering he’s 6 feet tall and 40 years old, a massive dip in performance is understandable with all the miles Paul has put on his odometer. Some might love seeing him finish his career this way. At least on the internet, CP3 inspires extreme reactions. Former Clippers video coordinator and current basketball media person Mo Dakhil went on SiriusXM NBA Radio on Sunday and told a story about how Paul would have the video team load up his iPad with film after games. This was back when you might have coaching staffs do that, but CP3 was maniacal about his preparation. I posted that on an Instagram story and got a response from a random follower.
“All of that to not win a championship.”
I mean … sure? CP3 hasn’t exactly presented a charming personality to some very-online basketball fans. He’s a complainer on the court. He tries to work every angle and find every tiny advantage to win. He’s been incredibly successful in his career, and yet not nearly as successful as he would have to be to have his personality excused for “being a winner.” When you break down the accolades, he’s through the roof as an all-time player:
- 12-time All-Star
- 11-time All-NBA (four firsts, five seconds and two thirds)
- Nine-time All-Defense (seven firsts, two seconds)
- Six-time steals champion
- Five-time assist champion
- Five-time finisher in top-five MVP voting
- 36th all-time in points
- Second all-time in assists and steals
- 15th all-time in games played
- 18th all-time in minutes played
That is an unreal resume. And yet, he only made the NBA Finals once, and his Phoenix Suns blew a 2-0 lead when they got there in 2021. Lots of great players — bona fide, first-ballot Hall of Famers — failed to win a championship. But CP3 played one of the most perfect versions of a point guard we’ve ever seen, and he did it for a very long time. People don’t have to like him. They don’t have to cheer for him. But to dismiss him and his career is to fail to understand what an all-time great basketball player is.
The Week Ahead: NBA Cupdate
This is the final week of NBA Cup group play, and we’ve never felt more drama than this. OK, that’s a little hyperbolic. The part about the drama, not the part about the final week of group play. The 2025 NBA Cup is starting to shape up. A couple of teams are already officially eliminated from the knockout round, either as a group winner or the wild card. And one team has already clinched its group.
Three more nights of NBA Cup group play this week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday) will send us into the elimination rounds, which begin Dec. 8. Here’s everything you need to know as we lean heavily into these colorful courts almost every night this week. Reminder: Each group winner advances, along with a wild card from each conference, for a total of eight teams in the knockout rounds.
East Group A:
- Toronto Raptors (clinched) | 3-0 | +53 | Home to Indiana (Wednesday)
- Cleveland Cavaliers | 2-1 | +33 | at Atlanta (Friday)
- Atlanta Hawks | 1-1 | +8 | at Washington (Tuesday), home to Cleveland (Friday)
- Indiana Pacers (eliminated) | 0-2 | -31 | at Toronto (Wednesday), home to Washington (Friday)
- Washington Wizards | 0-2 | -63 | Home to Atlanta (Tuesday), at Indiana (Friday)
What’s important this week? As we all expected, the Raptors have clinched this group with room to spare. A big win over Indiana would give them a great opportunity to host their first elimination game. The Pacers are officially out, and the Wizards are logically eliminated. So it’s coming down to Cleveland or Atlanta jockeying for the wild card in the East. First, Atlanta has to avoid the embarrassment of losing to Washington. Then on Friday, a big win for either the Cavs or the Hawks would put them in a strong position to get the wild card. Point differential is huge for both.
East Group B:
- Detroit Pistons | 2-0 | +27 | at Boston (Wednesday), home to Orlando (Friday)
- Orlando Magic | 2-0 | +20 | at Philadelphia (Tuesday), at Detroit (Friday)
- Brooklyn Nets | 1-2 | -17 | Home to Philadelphia (Friday)
- Boston Celtics | 1-2 | -20 | Home to Detroit (Wednesday)
- Philadelphia 76ers | 0-2 | -10 | Home to Orlando (Tuesday), at Brooklyn (Friday)
What’s important this week? Brooklyn, Boston and Philadelphia are still technically in this. But the red-hot Pistons and the getting-hotter Magic will likely decide this group on Friday. The Pistons are getting healthy at the right time for the Cup march. And the Magic are getting their act together at the right time. Most likely, both teams will be 3-0 going into their Friday showdown. Between these two defenses, it’s going to be a fight in the mud.
East Group C:
- Milwaukee Bucks | 2-0 | +16 | at Miami (Wednesday), at New York (Friday)
- Miami Heat | 2-1 | +46 | Home to Milwaukee (Wednesday)
- New York Knicks | 1-1 | -2 | at Charlotte (Wednesday), home to Milwaukee (Friday)
- Chicago Bulls | 1-2 | -42 | at Charlotte (Friday)
- Charlotte Hornets | 0-2 | -18 | Home to New York (Wednesday), home to Chicago (Friday)
What’s important this week? The Bucks have never lost an NBA Cup group play game. However, Giannis Antetokounmpo is nursing a strained groin. He’s supposed to miss one to two weeks, and Milwaukee’s game in Miami would put him at about a week from the announcement of that timeline. Maybe he’ll come back and the Bucks will be rescued. Otherwise, the Heat have a tremendous opportunity to take this group. So many of us thought this would be New York or Milwaukee.
West Group A:
- OKC Thunder | 2-0 | +63 | Home to Minnesota (Wednesday), home to Phoenix (Friday)
- Phoenix Suns | 2-0 | +23 | at Sacramento (Wednesday), at OKC (Friday)
- Minnesota Timberwolves | 2-1 | +53 | at OKC (Wednesday)
- Sacramento Kings | 0-2 | -45 | Home to Phoenix (Wednesday), at Utah (Friday)
- Utah Jazz (eliminated) | 0-3 | -94 | Home to Sacramento (Friday)
What’s important this week? The Wolves blew a great opportunity when they lost to Phoenix, and now they have to win against OKC and hope the Suns lose to Sacramento. Most likely, this group comes down to the Suns and Thunder playing on Friday. Both should go into that game at 3-0, and a big win over the Kings would leave the Suns in a position to compete for a wild card regardless of the Friday outcome. As long as the Thunder don’t destroy them.
West Group B:
- Los Angeles Lakers | 2-0 | +19 | Home to Clippers (Tuesday), home to Dallas (Friday)
- LA Clippers | 2-0 | +2 | at Lakers (Tuesday), home to Memphis (Friday)
- Memphis Grizzlies | 1-1 | +9 | at New Orleans (Wednesday), at Clippers (Friday)
- Dallas Mavericks | 1-2 | -11 | at Lakers (Friday)
- New Orleans Pelicans (eliminated) | 0-3 | -19 | Home to Memphis (Wednesday)
What’s important this week? Tuesday’s game between the Lakers and Clippers will likely decide this group. Memphis is in a position to win the group if the Lakers lose out and the Grizzlies beat the Clippers on Friday. But this is probably a group that finishes with an LA team on top. The Lakers just got LeBron James back, and the Clippers have been reeling. Although Kawhi Leonard should hopefully be fine now.
West Group C:
- Portland Trail Blazers | 2-1 | -18 | Home to San Antonio (Wednesday)
- Denver Nuggets | 2-1 | +26 | Home to San Antonio (Friday)
- San Antonio Spurs | 1-1 | +10 | at Portland (Wednesday), at Denver (Friday)
- Houston Rockets | 1-2 | +10 | at Golden State (Wednesday)
- Golden State Warriors | 1-2 | -28 | Home to Houston (Wednesday)
What’s important this week? The Spurs, one way or another, will decide this group. Unfortunately for them, they don’t have Victor Wembanyama or Dylan Harper to help in their process. If they beat Portland, then the Blazers are probably done with the NBA Cup this year. If they beat Denver, the Nuggets will likely be done. If they beat both teams, then the Spurs win the group. A lot could happen here with the wild card, and San Antonio losing to both teams means the Blazers take the group because they beat Denver. The Blazers winning this group would be a massive accomplishment.
