It’s December, winter is coming, and this is the most important part of the NBA Regular Season. It will not stop on Christmas or New Year’s Eve.

The journey of the 30 teams to the playoffs will continue without stopping until the All-Star Game in February.

So, let’s look at the teams that disappointed or surprised us at the start of the season.

The Fails

Dallas Mavericks: 1

Grade 1 for a team that should fight for the title but today they are a disaster. They have many problems that we talked about in past weeks. (NBA Inside 2)

Los Angeles Clippers: 2

The Clippers are similar. The team is built badly, and it is too old for today’s NBA. There are some good moments from superstars like the James Harden’s 55 points game against Charlotte that gave one of the only 5 wins this season.

This bad start means there is no hope for a Chris Paul’s title in the last year of his career.

Washington Wizards/ Brooklyn Nets: 3

For the Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets, we expected this season. They want to lose and tank for the 2026 Draft that promises many talents.

Having said that, for both teams we expected improvement from some players. The two Front Offices wanted to see if players can be part of the future project but only Alex Sarr and Cam Thomas raised the bar. The other players today have shown that they aren’t ready to take a step over.

Not Good Enough

Charlotte Hornets: 4

Charlotte has a lot of potential, but the North Carolina team is not playing its best yet. They are stopped by constant injuries to important players, like LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller.

Rookies Kon Kneuppel and Ryan Kalkbrenner joined them but like every year Charlotte is still at the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

Milwaukee Bucks: 5

Milwaukee looked like a strong team at the start of the season.

For Ryan Rollins and AJ Green this is the breakout season, but weeks passed, and problems came back for the Bucks.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is absent cause of an injury and also Myles Turner has difficulties with the new team after ten years with the Indiana Pacers.

For these reasons the team have a record of 9-12 with a negative streak of 8 losses in a row in November.

Good Start

Orlando Magic: 6

The Orlando Magic gets a passing grade, and we think their season is going up. The team is starting to play as expected and in the last ten games, they won 8.

Paolo Banchero will be back soon and with him Orlando must confirm its good form. They need to continue to climb the Eastern rankings because they have the possibilities to clinch a good position for the Post-season.

Minnesota Timberwolves: 6.5

Minnesota gets a 6.5 because they are exactly where we expect them to be, the problem is that they stumbled too often at the beginning of the season.

The team is complete like every year, the duo Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle work well, other players are good too, especially an inspired Jaden McDaniels.

The problem is always Rudy Gobert. He is very strong at defending the rim, but he is useless in all other areas of the court.

It will be hard for Minnesota to repeat the last seasons, so if they want to return in Conference Finals, they need more consistent results.

Excellent

Phoenix Suns: 7

Nobody expected the Phoenix Suns to start so well. Kevin Durant left in the summer basically for many future draft picks and Jalen Green. Green that has only one game played so far in this season due to injuries.

In the trade with Houston, Dillon Brooks was included and in this new shirt he became a weapon both offensively as in defense. He’s helping Devin Booker to take the Suns on the top.

The real strength of Phoenix is in the deep rotation of all players; their characteristic are the young age and athleticism.

Toronto Raptors: 8

In Canada, there is surely the most surprising team of this season start.

The Toronto Raptors are led by a trio with almost 20 points on average: Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes. Also, there is a reliable playmaker, Immanuel Quickley, and Jacob Poeltl as center.

Only young players come from the bench, and they always give their help.

Finally, as often happens, it is always difficult for opponents to win in Toronto and this will be fundamental in the playoffs.

The Best

Detroit Pistons: 9

We are talking about the top team in the Eastern Conference; they play well and with great intensity. On the roster, Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren form a perfect duo. Around them, there are valid players that fit in the Pistons system.

In Detroit, they have not lived such a happy start to the season for many years, from now are the players that must continue this way to make the fans dream.

They lost only 4 games in the whole season where they had a streak of 13 consecutive wins that helped raise the team’s morale.

This season, the Detroit Pistons do not feel defeated against any opponent.

Oklahoma City Thunder: 10

The Thunder are by far the best team in the NBA. They have an impressive record of 20 wins and 1 loss.

They have the best defense with a huge difference over the second team, the Houston Rockets.

On the other side of the court, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 32.6 points in 33 minutes on average. Around him, there is Chet Holmgren with more options in his offensive game and a surprising A’Jay Mitchell with 16 points on average from the bench. All this added to the return of the second offensive choice, Jalen Williams back in business in this week.

On average, they win every game by 17 points because they are also the third-best attack in the league with 122.1 points per game.

In Oklahoma City, the atmosphere is relaxed, the players have fun, and the leadership of Mark Daigneault is very appreciated.

Now in their heads, there is only that record of 73 wins and 9 losses by Golden State in 2016.

For many, that was the best team ever with an unbeatable record. Before the arrival of these Thunder.