Trae Young leads the NBA in assists after week one at 11.3 a game, with Jalen Johnson second

Trae Young leads the NBA in assists after the first week of the 2026-27 season at 11.3 a game, the only player above 10.5. In his first three games with the Washington Wizards he has 34 assists against seven turnovers, and his 34 assists are 44 percent of Washington’s 77 as a team.

Young opened with 13 assists and 20 points in a 128-116 home win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, October 21 (Game Center), and turned the ball over once in 38 minutes. He followed with 12 assists and 22 points on Friday, though the Toronto Raptors won 112-102 at Capital One Arena (Game Center). On Saturday in Chicago he had nine assists and a season-high 25 points, going 9 of 9 at the line, as Washington won 124-120 (Game Center). The Wizards are 2-1.

He is scoring 22.3 points a game, but the shooting has been uneven: 15 of 41 from the field and 8 of 26 from three. The passing has carried him, and his 4.9 assists for every turnover trail only Fred VanVleet among the top 10.

The NBA’s top 10 passers so far

The list counts every player who has appeared in at least two games, through Saturday, October 24, before Sunday’s slate. That covers 36 games: every team has played at least twice and 12 teams have played three times. Players level on assists per game share a rank. Total is assists over the season so far; High is the best single game.

Johnson’s 16 and the rest of the chase

Jalen Johnson owns the biggest passing night of the season. The Atlanta Hawks forward handed out 16 assists with 26 points and nine rebounds on Saturday, but Houston won 121-114 at State Farm Arena (Game Center). He is averaging 21.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 10.0 assists, a triple-double through three games, and the full story of that night is here.

Tyrese Haliburton is third at 9.5 for the Indiana Pacers after a 12-assist opener in New Orleans. Two big men sit in the top five: Domantas Sabonis adds 9.0 assists to his league-leading rebounding for Sacramento, level with Boston’s Jayson Tatum, who had 11 on opening night. Josh Giddey makes the list in 26 minutes a night for Chicago while scoring 5.7 points, and Houston’s Fred VanVleet has 16 assists without a single turnover.

The full numbers are on the league leaders and player stats pages.

What comes next

Young and the Wizards visit the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, October 26, at 7:00 p.m. ET (Game Center). Johnson’s Hawks play in Houston the same night at 8:30 p.m. ET (Game Center), and Haliburton can move up first, when Indiana visits the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. ET (Game Center).