The first 14 games of 2026-27 in numbers: two 45-point nights, 4.5 more fouls a game and a cold start for the top rookies

The 2026-27 NBA season is 14 games old, and the first two nights have already produced two 45-point games, two 40-point blowouts, a perfect 12-for-12 debut and a rookie class that has barely found the rim. Cleveland and Denver open on Thursday, so 28 of the 30 teams have now played once.

Here is what the first 14 box scores say, from the scoring leaders to the whistle.

The numbers that stand out

• Two 45-point games on the same night: Anthony Edwards in Miami and Ty Jerome in Memphis, both on Wednesday
• 14 games of 30 or more points in 14 games played, from 13 different teams
• Fouls are up 4.5 per team per game and free-throw attempts are up 5.5 on last season’s averages
• Average winning margin: 17.8 points. Six of the 14 games were decided by 20 or more, and two by 40 or more
• The top 10 picks from the 2026 draft who have played are a combined 29-for-99 (29.3%) from the field

Two 45s, one night

Edwards scored 45 on 16-for-29 shooting with nine threes and 10 rebounds in Minnesota’s 131-106 win over Miami. He scored 41 in last season’s opener at Portland, which makes him only the third player with 40 or more points in more than one season opener. Wilt Chamberlain did it four seasons in a row from 1959 to 1962, and Michael Jordan did it in 1986, 1989 and 1995.

Jerome’s 45 came from much further off the radar. His previous career high was 33, set with Cleveland on Jan. 24, 2025, so he beat it by 12 points in a season opener. He played only 15 games last season because of injuries. On Wednesday he went 17-for-25 with a true shooting percentage of 80.1%, the most efficient of the 14 games of 30 or more so far. Edwards was at 72.1%.

TY JEROME'S CAREER HIGH WAS 33. HE OPENED THE SEASON WITH 45.

45 PTS, 17/25 FG, 5/10 3PT, 6/7 FT, 80 TS%

68% FROM THE FIELD. NOBODY SAW THIS COMING. pic.twitter.com/Cb9M91saTS

— Every Bucket (@EveryBucketNBA) October 22, 2026

Video: Every Bucket / X.

Player	Team	Points	FG	3P	TS%
Anthony Edwards	MIN	45	16-29	9-17	72.1
Ty Jerome	MEM	45	17-25	5-10	80.1
Paul George	BOS	38	12-21	7-12	77.5
Paolo Banchero	ORL	35	10-12	3-4	91.9
Giannis Antetokounmpo	MIA	35	13-19	0-2	69.6
Anthony Davis	WSH	34	11-20	1-3	65.0
Julius Randle	BKN	33	11-18	3-5	72.2
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander	OKC	32	13-27	3-7	55.6
Cooper Flagg	DAL	32	10-17	1-4	70.4

Banchero’s line is the one that gets lost. He scored 35 on only 12 shots, made 12 of 16 free throws and added 10 assists, but Orlando still lost 132-125 to Atlanta. Five more players reached 30: Nickeil Alexander-Walker (31), and Pascal Siakam, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr. and Darius Garland with 30 each.

The whistle is louder

The biggest change so far is not in the scoring. It is in the fouls. These are averages per team per game across the 14 games, compared with the full 2025-26 regular season.

Per team, per game	First 14 games	2025-26 season	Change
Points	114.3	115.6	-1.3
Personal fouls	24.4	19.9	+4.5
Free-throw attempts	29.0	23.5	+5.5
Free throws made	22.2	18.4	+3.8
Turnovers	16.7	14.5	+2.2
Steals	9.5	8.4	+1.1
Three-point attempts	35.8	37.0	-1.2
Three-point percentage	33.1%	36.0%	-2.9 pts
Field-goal percentage	45.6%	47.1%	-1.5 pts

The league’s officiating points of emphasis for this season target off-arm push-offs, two-handed shoves on screens, grabbing off the ball and reckless closeouts on shooters, and the first two nights look like a crackdown. Chicago (47) and Toronto (46) combined for 93 free-throw attempts in one game, and Washington shot 41. There were also 17 technical fouls and five flagrant fouls in the 14 games.

Fourteen games is a tiny sample, and points of emphasis have often faded as past seasons went on. Shooting also tends to be colder in October. For now, though, teams are getting more points at the line and fewer from three.

Blowouts on night two

Toronto’s 135-92 win over Chicago was the Bulls’ worst season-opening loss ever. Their previous worst was 25 points, in 2001 and 2003. Chicago shot 4-for-36 from three (11.1%) and turned it over 27 times. Portland’s 124-83 win over Phoenix was close behind at 41 points. The Blazers hold the record for the biggest opening-night win, 48 points, set against the same Suns in 2017.

Margin	Games
40 or more	2 (TOR by 43, POR by 41)
20 to 39	4 (MIN and LAC by 25, LAL by 22, MEM by 20)
10 to 19	3
9 or fewer	5

Phoenix’s 83 points are the fewest by any team so far, and the Suns’ Collin Gillespie went 0-for-8, all on threes. Indiana’s 123-120 win in New Orleans is the only game decided by three points or fewer.

Perfect, and nearly perfect

Walker Kessler made all 12 of his shots in his first game for the Lakers and scored 26. The record for the most field goals in a game without a miss is Wilt Chamberlain’s 18-for-18 in 1967. The best regular-season perfect night since 2000 is Thomas Bryant’s 14-for-14 for Washington in December 2018.

Domantas Sabonis went 5-for-5 with 18 rebounds and 8 assists for Sacramento, the top rebounding game so far, but the Kings lost by 25. At the other end, Victor Wembanyama’s 1-for-13 on opening night is still the roughest high-volume shooting game of the season, though Sacramento rookie Darius Acuff Jr. missed more shots, going 5-for-24.

A cold start for the 2026 rookies

No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa has not played yet, after Washington held him out of its opener with a sprained left ankle. The nine other top-10 picks who played went a combined 29-for-99 from the field and 7-for-34 from three, for 83 points.

Pick	Player	Team	Points	FG	Note
2	Darryn Peterson	UTA	9	3-7	4 reb, 3 ast in 31 min
3	Cameron Boozer	MEM	7	2-15	11 reb, 5 ast, plus-32
4	Caleb Wilson	CHI	16	7-21	9 turnovers
5	Keaton Wagler	LAC	15	4-8	3-6 from three, plus-14
6	Mikel Brown Jr.	BKN	6	2-8	20 min off the bench
7	Darius Acuff Jr.	SAC	12	5-24	0-7 from three
8	Kingston Flemings	ATL	0	0-5	15 min
9	Morez Johnson Jr.	DAL	6	3-5	14 min
10	Brayden Burries	MIL	12	3-6	2-2 from three

Wagler, the fifth pick, has the best line of the group so far. Golden State’s Yaxel Lendeborg, the 11th pick, started and scored 12. The second-year class looks further along: Cooper Flagg scored 32 for Dallas on 10-for-17 with 11-of-13 free throws, and Dylan Harper had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists for San Antonio.

The early leaders

• Points: Edwards and Jerome, 45
• Rebounds: Sabonis, 18. Next were Ivica Zubac and Rudy Gobert with 15 each; Gobert did not make a field goal
• Assists: Trae Young, 13 for Washington. Tyrese Haliburton had 12 in his first game in 486 days
• Threes: Edwards, 9. Then Paul George, 7
• Steals: 5 each by Dyson Daniels, Moussa Diabate, Zaccharie Risacher and George
• Blocks: 6 each by Wembanyama and Jaxson Hayes
• Team: Toronto’s 135 points are the most, Minnesota’s 21 threes are the most, and Chicago’s 27 turnovers are the most

Cleveland plays at Philadelphia and Denver visits Oklahoma City on Thursday night, which will complete the first round of openers. The foul and free-throw numbers are the ones to keep an eye on as the sample grows.