National Basketball Association

From Warriors to Lakers: Surprises and busts of first quarter of NBA season

Updated Dec. 2, 2021 11:49 a.m. ET

By Melissa Rohlin
FOX Sports NBA Writer

We've reached the quarter mark of the NBA season and have an early sense of which teams are exceeding our expectations and which are falling far below them.

Sure, there are 60 more games for teams to turn things around. But 20 games is a big enough sample to take a close look at what's happening around the league.

Here are the biggest surprises and busts at this early — yet telling — juncture of the season.

THE SURPRISES

Phoenix Suns

You might be wondering why a team that reached the NBA Finals last season is on this list. Shouldn't they be expected to compete again, especially given that they returned the key pieces on their roster?

Perhaps, but even though the Suns were two wins shy of their first championship in July, there seemed to be an endless slew of asterisks attached to their success.

Could the Suns have gotten past the Lakers in the first round if LeBron James and Anthony Davis had been healthy? If Kawhi Leonard hadn't suffered an ACL injury during the postseason, would the Suns have beaten the Clippers in the Western Conference finals?

This season, the Suns have more than proven that their ascent to the top of the league was no fluke. (After all, they weren't projected to make the playoffs last season.)

Now they've won a franchise-record-tying 17 straight games, the longest streak of any team the past two seasons, including beating the Golden State Warriors 104-96 on Tuesday despite Devin Booker suffering a left hamstring injury in the second quarter.

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Even more impressive, they've had this type of success amid a league investigation into majority owner Robert Sarver, who has been accused of racism and sexism throughout his 17 seasons with the team. The Suns have tuned out the noise. They've come closer together. And they're showing everyone that they're dangerous.

Chris Paul is leading the league in assists with 10.1 per game on his quest to win his first championship, showing that even in year 17, he's one of the most determined players in the league.

Deandre Ayton is averaging 16 points on 63.4% shooting and 11.5 rebounds per game, proving that he isn't going to let contract drama affect his play.

And Booker has continued his rise to superstardom, though he's averaging fewer points this season (23.2) than last (25.6). Everyone on this Suns team is doing his part, from the main guys to the bench.

The Suns are tied with the Warriors for the top record in the league at 18-3. They have the second-best defensive rating (103.5) and the seventh-best offensive rating (110.7).

They're unequivocally one of the best teams in the league — no asterisks attached.

Golden State Warriors

Stephen Curry and Draymond Green heard all of the criticism the past two years. They were aware that everyone was questioning whether they'd ever be great again. They knew people were saying the Warriors' dynasty was finished.

They've responded by making everyone who dismissed them feel incredibly ignorant for having the audacity to overlook their championship DNA.

So far this season, Curry is unequivocally the MVP, Green is the Defensive Player of the Year, and the Warriors are tied with the Suns for best record. They have the top net rating in the league (12.6), the best defensive rating (99.8) and the second-best offensive rating (112.4).

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It's an incredible transformation for a team that missed the playoffs the past two seasons after losing Kevin Durant in free agency in 2019 and Klay Thompson to ACL and Achilles injuries.

Curry seems to only get better with age, and Green is as locked in and focused as ever, which makes for a deadly combination for the rest of the league. What's more, Thompson is expected to return sometime in December, adding one of the top shooters of all time to a team that is already soaring.

The Warriors have their mojo back, and fans get to watch one of the best shows on Earth reclaim a spot atop the league, an incredible treat for everyone, including the wide-eyed doubters.

Chicago Bulls

The Bulls shook things up this offseason, acquiring DeMar DeRozan from the Spurs, Lonzo Ball from the Pelicans, and Alex Caruso from the Lakers to join Zach LaVine.

All of a sudden, a team that hadn't been to the playoffs in four straight seasons is looking like a championship contender. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Bulls. They were supposed to struggle while integrating new pieces. But things have come together much more quickly than anyone anticipated.

The Bulls have the second-best record in the Eastern Conference at 14-8, sitting only 1.5 games behind the first-place Brooklyn Nets (15-6).

When I recently asked Caruso why things are going so well, he didn't hesitate in his response. "We've got a bunch of people with stuff to prove," he said.

There's DeRozan, who didn't make the All-Star team the past two seasons with the Spurs. He has reemerged in peak form and is the sixth-leading scorer in the league, with 25.9 points a game.

There's Caruso, who left the Lakers in free agency because they declined to match the Bulls' offer. He's leading the league in steals, with 2.2 per game.

There's Ball, who was dismissed as overrated when he didn't meet expectations after the Lakers selected him second overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. He's proving that he can shine elsewhere.

And there's LaVine, whose greatness has been consistently questioned because he failed to reach the playoffs the past seven years with Minnesota and Chicago. He's poised to shatter that barrier this year.

THE BUSTS

Los Angeles Lakers

Many expected the Lakers to return to the NBA Finals after they acquired Russell Westbrook to play alongside James and Davis. They had four likely future Hall of Famers (including Carmelo Anthony) and were hailed as the league's newest superteam.

So far, though, they haven't been super at anything.

The 12-11 Lakers have gone from having the league's best defense last season (106.8) to ranking 16th in that category (107.9). As for the offensive wizardry fans imagined, with Westbrook pushing the tempo and James and Davis working their magic, it has failed to materialize. The Lakers are a whopping 22nd in offensive rating (106.2).

Sure, James has missed half the team's games because of ankle soreness and an abdominal strain. And on Tuesday, the Lakers suffered another blow when James entered Health and Safety Protocols. He's expected to miss several more games.

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But shouldn't Westbrook and Davis be able to shoulder the load in his absence? One of the main reasons the Lakers acquired Westbrook was to lessen the burden on James, who is 36 years old and in his 19th season.

From the start, the Lakers claimed that this season would be a work in progress, especially considering they returned only James, Davis and Talen Horton-Tucker from last season's roster. They expected there to be some bumps with so many new players.

But no one expected the Lakers to be on pace to make the play-in tournament.

Philadelphia 76ers

A quarter of the way through the season, Ben Simmons is still on the 76ers' roster, even though he hasn't played in a single game since requesting a trade and saying he needed mental health assistance.

With Dec. 15 approaching (on that date, most recently signed free agents are eligible to be dealt) and the Feb. 15 trade deadline on the horizon, that could change soon.

The 76ers, who finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference last season, are now in ninth place, with a record of 11-10. They opened the season red-hot, at 8-2, but then Joel Embiid tested positive for COVID-19 and missed nine straight games. Without Simmons to help, the team flailed in Embiid's absence.

Now that Embiid is back, the 76ers are looking to turn their season around, but it's difficult to envision that happening with all the uncertainty and acrimony surrounding the Simmons situation.

The Sixers can only hope that some struggling team is now desperate enough to offer a superstar it was previously unwilling to swap for the Sixers' disgruntled one. Embiid needs some help.

Denver Nuggets

This team has been bitten by the bad luck bug in 2021.

First, Jamal Murray tore his ACL in April, derailing the team from a deep playoff run. Since then, the Nuggets lost Michael Porter Jr. because of a back surgery, and he's expected to miss the rest of the season, according to The Athletic.

Reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic is playing at an incredibly high level, but without help, the Nuggets went from being potential contenders to treading water, with a 10-10 record putting them ninth in the West.

Luckily for the Nuggets, their problems are contained. Jokic, who is only 27, is a bona fide superstar. And Murray (24) and Porter (23) have long careers ahead of them. The Nuggets will be a very tough team again in the future.

That said, things aren't looking too good for them this season.

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.