The 2025-26 NBA season is less than two weeks old, but we’re already seeing some things (good and bad) that have caught us off guard and differ from what we expected in the offseason.

Who knows whether these early surprises will continue to, well, surprise. But a few games are a big enough sample size for three members of The Athletic NBA staff to highlight these eye-openers and discuss what they may mean going forward.

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Which Eastern Conference team has surprised you the most so far?

Zach Harper: The Philadelphia 76ers are 4-0! Paul George hasn’t played yet. Joel Embiid is on a minutes restriction and grumpy about it. And yet, the Sixers have not been stopped. I don’t think you can dismiss their success because of the schedule either. Boston is still dangerous, and the Sixers charged back to beat them. Orlando was the consensus third-best team in the East coming into the season, and the Sixers lit them up without a ton of resistance.

I went into this season wondering if Nick Nurse would make it through November. But the Sixers have shown a resilience that wasn’t there last season. They’ve gone with a super quick backcourt, and the results are huge. Tyrese Maxey can’t be stopped right now and VJ Edgecombe already looks like a no-doubt hit in last June’s draft by the Sixers at three. Stacking up wins right now will help them, at minimum, be a Play-In Tournament team. And the way they’re looking, the Sixers are shooting for higher goals.

Law Murray: The Orlando Magic are big disappointments right now for two reasons — one you’d expect and one you wouldn’t. You expect the Magic to be poor shooting the basketball, but for it to be the case again is just sad. Desmond Bane is sub-30 percent from 3.