It’s Thanksgiving week, which means that NBA fans everywhere are about to gather around crowded tables and fire off scorching hoops takes in between bites of pumpkin pie. At 15-20 games in for each team, we finally have enough data to identify which fan bases should feel thankful—and which ones will be taking out their basketball grievances on unsuspecting relatives.
So to kick off this week’s survey of the most important trends throughout the league, I’m unveiling the inaugural NBA Thanksgiving Index, a brand-new metric that ranks all 30 teams based on how bountiful their seasons have been thus far. Then we’ll look at some of the most notable teams on both ends of the spectrum. Without further ado …
This chart is derived from a comparison of each team’s current winning percentage with its projected winning percentage based on preseason over/under totals. Think of it as a holiday mood thermometer. Some fan bases, like the ones in Detroit and Phoenix, should be giving thanks, while others in places like Dallas and Indiana might be cursing the basketball gods.
The Detroit Pistons’ powerful two-man game is coming to fruition.
The Pistons have the longest winning streak in the league, at 13 games. Their head coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, is the current favorite to win Coach of the Year. We talked about their two-way paint domination last week, but there’s something else driving the best story in the league right now: the pairing of Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren. They may not be Stockton and Malone just yet, but these young fellas are rapidly becoming one of the most dangerous duos in the NBA.
Cunningham and Duren are already the most common pick-and-roll combo in the league right now, and their formidable two-man game is the bread-and-butter action at the heart of the improving Pistons offense, which has ranked fifth in efficiency during their winning streak and seventh over the full season. It’s the kind of reliable tool that gives a team an identity.
Cunningham’s one of the strongest attacking guards in the sport, and Duren’s screens—some of the most stout picks on the planet—are the perfect way to get Cade going downhill. After the screen, Duren transforms into a monstrous roll man capable of either catching lobs or sealing up the heart of the floor for the benefit of his attacking teammates. His force down low is the single biggest reason Detroit continues to lead the league in paint points per game.
He and Cunningham have linked up for 23 total dunks already this season—that’s the most of any shooter-passer combo in the league so far. And here’s the scariest part: These dudes are just getting started. Cunningham is 24, and Duren is 22. The future is bright in the Motor City.
The Phoenix Suns are thriving with thievery.
Out West, it’s time to give Suns head coach Jordan Ott some flowers. His arrival in the desert this season seems to have sparked the biggest turnaround in the conference. After they traded Kevin Durant to the Rockets, the Suns’ preseason over/under win total was a measly 30.5. Well, the Suns are already up to 11 wins and are sitting at sixth place in the West. The team has gone 9-3 in November while ranking in the top 10 in both offense and defense.
In particular, the rise of the Phoenix defense is one of the most important stories out West. Only the Thunder and Pistons are forcing more turnovers than the Suns this season, and their sudden ability to get tons of steals is the solar power that’s dramatically upgraded their defensive profile.
Last year, Phoenix ranked 28th in the NBA in steals per game; this year, it ranks second. What happened?
Some of it has to do with personnel. With Durant, Tyus Jones, and Bradley Beal out of the picture, Ott’s rotations now feature a much younger, more handsy crop of perimeter defenders, and he is using these guys differently, which is where the tactics come in.
The Suns are one of the teams that’s increasingly picking up opponents in the backcourt. Their average pickup distance last year was 38.7 feet. This year, it’s 47.6.
So far, it’s working. Teams like the Blazers are finding out the hard way. In its 17-point road triumph in Portland last week, Phoenix logged a total of 19 steals. Nineteen! Second-year menace Ryan Dunn had five by himself, but Jordan Goodwin, Devin Booker, and Dillon Brooks each had three. Steals were also the driving force behind the Suns’ furious comeback to beat the Timberwolves last Friday.
When you also add in the paint protection of Mark Williams, the Suns defense is simply a different animal this year. It must be said that Phoenix has had a relatively weak schedule thus far, but its fans still have reason to be optimistic. Booker plus a good defense is a Thanksgiving recipe worth savoring.
We wouldn’t forget about Canadian Thanksgiving.
Canadians typically celebrate their own Thanksgiving in October, and Raps fans have to be especially thankful for a key turnaround that began on the last day of that month, when Toronto won in Cleveland 112-101. Since Halloween, the Raptors have won 12 of 13 games while pairing the league’s fifth-best offense with its second-best defense. Those metrics scream playoffs—especially in the Eastern Conference, which is desperate for more quality teams to emerge.
Darko Rajakovic is a legit COY candidate. His squad is playing hard and together—just look at how Toronto has improved since last year:
Toronto Raptors NBA Rankings, Last Year vs. This Year
On offense, big-time efficiency improvements from Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett have helped the Raptors go from the 24th-ranked shooting team last year to third this year. Then there is Brandon Ingram, who is finally playing for Toronto after being acquired last season. Ingram had 37 huge points last night as Toronto completed a season sweep of the Cavs. Yes, that’s right—we’re barely a month into the season, and the Raptors have already beaten Cleveland three times.
There is some early-season luck driving that impressive jump, and I don’t expect Toronto to end up as one of the best shooting teams in the league. Still, this is the best stretch of Raptors hoops since 2019.
The single-season wins record is in play for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder have won 94 percent of their first 18 games. That’s a 77-win pace, and man, while that seems impossible to sustain, their roster depth is obscene and their key indicators are downright scary. No team in NBA history has ever had a season-long net rating larger than plus-13.4, which was recorded by the iconic 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. This year’s Thunder are at plus-16.7, which is absolutely ridiculous.
It all starts with defense. The Thunder defense is like Tiger Woods at the 2000 U.S. Open—they are on a completely different plane of competition. Every other team has been allowing at least 110 points per 100 possessions so far this season. The Thunder are allowing 103. The gap between them and the second-ranked Pistons defense is seven points per 100. That’s the same gap between the Pistons and the 22nd-ranked Bucks.
And OKC isn’t just winning games; it’s blowing everyone out. Aside from their lone loss in Portland, every Thunder game this month has been a double-digit win.
Now, here’s an important caveat. OKC has enjoyed the weakest schedule in the league thus far, and skeptics can point to the fact that it now faces the toughest remaining slate as a result. So what? The Thunder are a juggernaut, and they’ve done it all without Jalen Williams, who has yet to play a minute this season. Plus, as the season goes on, an increasing share of the association will start to “posture for draft position” ahead of the juicy 2026 NBA lottery.
As of this writing, FanDuel has OKC’s over/under for wins this season at an absurd 67.5. Put me down for the over. I think that 70-plus is in play.
The Indiana Pacers’ bad time doesn’t have to last a long time.
On the opposite end of the index, two teams jump out. Both the Pacers and Clippers have had a rough start, but for very different reasons. It seems like an eternity ago that the Pacers were waking up one win away from the franchise’s first title. After losing Tyrese Haliburton to injury and Myles Turner in free agency, Indiana came into this campaign with modest expectations. Its preseason over/under for wins was 37.5, but after 17 games this year, the team is on pace to win 10 total games.
Why? Virtually every Pacer that matters has missed time this year, and at 2-15, there isn’t a lot of motivation for improvement. Still, there’s reason for Pacers fans to feel thankful this holiday season. Indiana reacquired its own 2026 first-round draft pick in a trade with New Orleans during the Finals, which means that there’s a light at the end of this dreary tunnel. The Pacers are positioned for a top pick in a loaded draft; if they can get Haliburton back, plug their hole at center, and inject a blue-chip prospect, this gap year could become a distant memory in a few seasons’ time.
This Los Angeles Clippers season is an unmitigated disaster.
Meanwhile, there are no such silver linings in Clipperland. Considering the circumstances, Clippers fans should feel the least thankful in all of the NBA. At 5-12, this squad will have trouble touching .500 this season, let alone eclipsing its preseason over/under win total of 49.5. It turns out that being the oldest team in the NBA isn’t that great. The Clippers are trotting out both a bottom-10 offense and a bottom-10 defense, and the entire roster, with the lone exception of James Harden, has been underwhelming. Unlike Indiana, the Clippers don’t even have the draft to look forward to: They owe their 2026 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
