Twelve 20-point wins, three by 40 or more and four games within three points: the NBA’s lopsided first 52 games in numbers

The first 52 games of the 2026-27 NBA season have been decided by an average of 13.1 points. Twelve were won by 20 or more, three by 40 or more, and only four came down to three points or fewer. By most of those measures this is one of the most lopsided opening stretches in more than two decades.

We compared this season with the first 52 regular-season games of each of the 22 seasons since the league went to 30 teams in 2004-05, and with every full season in that span. The numbers include Monday’s nine games and none of Tuesday’s four.

The numbers that stand out

Average margin of 13.1 points, second only to the opening 52 games of 2021-22 (13.2)
Three games decided by 40 or more points. No other season since 2004-05 had more than two in its first 52 games
Twelve 20-point games, tied with 2020-21 and 2025-26 for the most in an opening 52
Four games decided by three points or fewer, one more than last season’s three and the second-fewest of the 23 openers
More 20-point games (12) than games decided by five points or fewer (11)
Just two overtime games, Denver’s 141-135 win over New Orleans and Cleveland’s 127-125 win over Minnesota

The first 52 games, season by season

Season	Average margin	Decided by 3 or fewer	Decided by 5 or fewer	Won by 20+	Won by 40+
2026-27	13.1	4	11	12	3
2025-26	11.9	3	15	12	0
2024-25	11.4	8	17	9	1
2023-24	11.2	8	16	8	1
2022-23	10.5	11	16	9	1
2021-22	13.2	6	9	11	1
2020-21	12.6	10	15	12	2
2019-20	10.0	11	16	6	0
2014-15	10.8	6	14	5	0
2009-10	11.7	6	8	6	0
2004-05	12.0	9	12	11	0

Fifty-two games is a small sample, and the opening week has always produced a few routs while rotations settle. But the 40-point games stand out. Before this season, the most in any opening 52 was two, in 2017-18 and 2020-21. This season had three in its first four days.

The routs

Date	Result	Margin
Oct. 23	Atlanta 128, Charlotte 81	47
Oct. 21	Toronto 135, Chicago 92	43
Oct. 21	Portland 124, Phoenix 83	41
Oct. 26	Boston 134, Chicago 99	35
Oct. 25	Indiana 136, Brooklyn 109	27
Oct. 21	Minnesota 131, Miami 106	25
Oct. 21	Clippers 121, Sacramento 96	25
Oct. 25	Minnesota 117, Toronto 94	23
Oct. 21	Lakers 127, Golden State 105	22
Oct. 23	Minnesota 115, Orlando 93	22
Oct. 21	Memphis 123, Utah 103	20
Oct. 26	Golden State 134, Denver 114	20

Atlanta’s 47-point win came in Charlotte’s home opener. Toronto and Portland never trailed in their 40-point wins, and neither did Boston on Monday. Chicago is the only team to lose two games by 20 or more. Those two losses add up to 78 points, more than its league-worst point differential of minus-75, because the Bulls are plus-3 in their other two games. Minnesota is on the winning side of three of the 12, more than any other team, and its only loss came in overtime.

A trend that started before this season

This is not just an October quirk. Over full seasons, games have been getting less close for years, and 2025-26 set the high mark for the 30-team era in both average margin and share of 20-point games.

Season (full)	Average margin	Share decided by 5 or fewer	Share won by 20+	Overtime games
2004-05	10.3	29.6%	11.8%	6.4%
2009-10	11.1	25.5%	13.8%	5.9%
2014-15	11.1	27.2%	14.2%	6.2%
2019-20	11.4	26.3%	16.7%	6.6%
2021-22	12.4	25.1%	18.9%	4.7%
2023-24	12.6	23.3%	19.1%	4.8%
2024-25	12.7	25.1%	21.1%	4.9%
2025-26	13.3	24.5%	22.8%	4.4%
2026-27 so far	13.1	21.2%	23.1%	3.8%

In 2004-05, about one game in eight was won by 20 or more. Last season it was closer to one in four and a half, and this season’s early rate of 23.1% is slightly higher again. Over the same span the share of games decided by five or fewer fell from 29.6% to 24.5%, and overtime became less common, down from 6.4% of games to 4.4%.

The comebacks are still there

The blowouts have not stopped big rallies. Six of the 52 winners came back from 15 or more points down. The biggest was Philadelphia’s, from 29 down to beat Cleveland 114-106 in LeBron James’ home debut on Oct. 22. The 76ers did not lead until a 13-0 run in the fourth quarter. It was the largest comeback in franchise history in the play-by-play era, which starts in 1997-98, and the 10th-largest by any team in that time.

PHILLY ERASES A 29-POINT DEFICIT TO WIN THEIR HOME OPENER 🚨

It's the largest @sixers comeback and 10th-largest NBA comeback of the play-by-play era 🤯 pic.twitter.com/6tgwE6p3IW
— NBA (@NBA) October 23, 2026

Video: NBA / X.

Winner	Result	Largest deficit overcome
Philadelphia	114-106 vs. Cleveland	29
Denver	141-135 (OT) vs. New Orleans	23
Detroit	121-113 vs. Boston	22
Lakers	132-123 at Utah	18
Chicago	132-125 at Milwaukee	15
Cleveland	127-125 (OT) vs. Minnesota	15

Denver’s 23-point rally against New Orleans, with Jamal Murray scoring 42 points, tied for the third-largest in franchise history in the play-by-play era and was the biggest the Nuggets have made at home in that span. The closest game of the season so far was Utah’s 120-119 win over New Orleans on Oct. 23. The Pelicans have been on the wrong end of two of the 11 games decided by five or fewer, that one and a 123-120 home loss to Indiana, and their third loss was the overtime game in Denver. They are 0-3 by a combined 10 points.

What comes next

Four games on Tuesday night will start the next 52: Brooklyn at Boston at 7:30 p.m. ET, Detroit at New York and Sacramento at San Antonio at 8 p.m. ET, and Portland at the Lakers at 11 p.m. ET (6 a.m. Wednesday in Cairo). History does not say much about whether the margins will hold. The full-season average finished below the opening-52 figure in 12 of the 22 seasons since 2004-05, and every opener that averaged 12.5 points or more (2015-16, 2020-21 and 2021-22) ended lower. But in each of the last four seasons, the full-season average finished higher than the opening one.