In a surprising turn of events, it’s the Philadelphia 76ers who are atop the Atlantic Division, and not the Eastern Conference favorite New York Knicks. Everyone else in the division has a losing record after the first week, with the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets winless.
Philadelphia 76ers (2-0)
Did anyone really envision the third pick of the 2025 NBA Draft coming out of the gates like VJ Edgecombe has? The 20 year old shooting guard has been a very nice complement to Tyrese Maxey in the Philadelphia backcourt, averaging 24.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in his first two games. In the team’s opening game at Boston, Edgecombe dropped 34 points on the hapless Celtics, then followed that up with 15 against the visiting Charlotte Hornets.
While it’s early, it looks like the 76ers might have the right stuff to move past the Paul George project and are a healthy big man away from possibly thinking about life post-Joel Embiid (c’mon you know it’s inevitable, at least injury is. There’s a lot of history in Philadelphia – is it time the veterans become history in favor of new blood? Maxey leads the team with 28 points and nine dimes. He and Edgecombe are tied for second at six rebounds apiece, not Embiid.
Last season the Sixers looked as cracked as the Liberty Bell. But now, it looks like maybe they’re running the steps like Rocky Balboa.
New York Knicks (2-1)
Arguably the shoe-in favorites to win the conference and represent the East in the 2026 NBA Finals, the Knicks looked good from the first two opening tips, but they couldn’t stand the Heat in Miami, succumbing to a hot game from Norman Powell, who had 29 points.
Jalen ‘The King of New York’ Brunson has thrived under new head coach Mike Brown, who’s given the team the green light to play much faster than Tom Thibodeau’s teams. The Brunson Burner is responsible for 30.3 points and is shooting 45.3 percent from the floor.
However, the Knicks defense still bears resemblance to Thibs’ focus on being stoppers. Mikal Bridges seems to be thriving on both ends, averaging 16 points, 56.3 percent from the field, 50 percent from three, with 1.7 blocks and one steal averages.
Toronto Raptors (1-2)
It’s been speculated that the Raptors could be a sleeper team in the Eastern Conference, but in two of their first three games, they have looked more asleep than sleeper. Their lone win came in their first game, in Atlanta, where they humiliated the Hawks by 20 points on Atlanta’s turf.
Then they returned to Toronto to face the Milwaukee Bucks, but gave way to the Blue Jays and their banner night in the first game of the World Series. A trip to Dallas had Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram trying to keep pace with the trio of Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, and Cooper Flagg.
Barnes, Ingram, and R.J., Barrett are all averaging above 20 points per game … but they’ve got to get more people involved in order to be the dark horse team that people are purporting them to be.
Boston Celtics (0-3)
No one expects much from Boston this season, despite the real MVP of the organization – Jaylen Brown. You know it’s a bad atmosphere when Al Horford couldn’t see himself staying in Beantown for the 2025-26 campaign. How bad? Jayson Tatum has verbally and physically challenged his recuperating timetable, but ownership put the brakes on that saying Tatum will not be back this season.
As you might expect, Brown is averaging 32 points a night through three games, albeit losses. It’s hard to understand why his name has consistently been the first one mentioned in Boston trade rumors over the past few years.
We could really see the emergence of Payton Pritchard (14.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, five assists, and 75 percent from the line) this season, not necessarily at Brown or Tatum level, but this former Oregon Duck is poised to make some noise.
Brooklyn Nets (0-3)
With the moves that general manager Sean Marks made (he still has a job?), the keys to the Barclays Center were seemingly handed to Michael Porter, Jr. – who immediately immersed himself in the New York area high life as a wide-eyed sightseer and vlogger. Is that perhaps the reason that they have yet to taste victory under Porter?
Erstwhile, former Net Cam Johnson is living the true high life in Denver – both at 5280’ and seems settled right into Porter’s old role (and house).
But don’t tell Cam Thomas that this isn’t his team – he may have eminent domain (IYKYK) at Barclays, and he’s already off to another strong start to the season, only to be disrespected again by pundits. Thomas leads the Nets with 29.3 points.
However, Porter’s got his fingers in almost every other statistical category – 19.7 points, six rebounds, and four assists. Now if they could just assimilate to one another on the court and in the locker room as they have to the party scene.
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Tracy ‘T-Money’ Graven is the Senior NBA Analyst for BackSportsPage.com owner of TMoneyMedia.com and also has his posts on SubStack at allballs.substack.com
He has written the NBA, appeared as a guest on NBA Radio, and the last 25+ years for HoopsWorld, Swish Magazine, HoopsHype, the Coach Scott Fields Show, NBARadioShow.com, and also tackles the NFL and NCAA. He’s spent 25+ years in locker rooms in Orlando, Boise (CBA, G League), San Antonio, Phoenix, Denver, Oklahoma City, and Atlanta.
He has raised five kids, and now currently resides in the heart of SEC Country near Knoxville, Tennessee – home of the 2024 Men’s Baseball World Series Champion Tennessee Volunteers.
Reach him on Twitter at @RealTMoneyMedia
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