NBA teams are grabbing 12.1 offensive rebounds a game, the most in 12 seasons, and seven are above 28%: what a fast start on the glass has meant since 2014-15

NBA teams are rebounding more of their own misses than at any point in the last 12 seasons. Through Monday’s games, each team is averaging 12.1 offensive rebounds, up from 11.4 over all of 2025-26 and from 9.7 in the first seven games of 2020-21. Seven teams are getting back at least 28 percent of their own missed shots: Golden State, Toronto, Minnesota, Houston, Charlotte, Portland and Milwaukee. In the first seven games of the 12 seasons from 2014-15 through 2025-26, only 12 of 360 team-seasons got that high.

We went through the game logs for all 360 of those team-seasons to see whether a fast start on the offensive glass lasts, and whether it tends to come with winning. Teams have played five to eight games so far this season.

The numbers that stand out

The league average is 12.1 offensive rebounds a team a game, 2,591 in 214 team-games. The previous high for the first seven games was 11.5 in 2025-26. The low was 9.7 in 2020-21
Toronto leads at 15.3 a game, followed by Milwaukee (15.0), Minnesota and Charlotte (14.8 each) and Golden State (14.5). Washington is last at 8.3 and Philadelphia next at 9.5
Measured by the share of their own missed shots they rebound, Golden State is first at 30.4 percent and Toronto second at 30.1. Washington (19.3) and Philadelphia (19.6) are at the bottom
Seven teams are at 28 percent or more, against 12 team-seasons in the 12 years before. Nine of those 12 came in the last three seasons
The seven teams at 28 percent or more are 30-22 combined. The seven lowest are 19-32

A league-wide rise, then the extremes

The first-seven-game average climbed from 9.7 in 2020-21 to 11.5 last season, and this season is about six tenths of an offensive rebound a game above that.

Season	Offensive rebounds per team per game, first seven games	Share of own misses rebounded
2014-15	10.8	23.9%
2015-16	10.6	22.2%
2016-17	10.2	21.5%
2017-18	10.0	21.3%
2018-19	10.7	21.7%
2019-20	10.0	20.4%
2020-21	9.7	20.2%
2021-22	10.3	20.8%
2022-23	10.9	22.6%
2023-24	10.8	22.6%
2024-25	11.1	23.0%
2025-26	11.5	24.3%
2026-27 (through Monday)	12.1	25.4%

Share of own misses is offensive rebounds divided by missed field goals. It ignores missed free throws, so it runs a little above the official rate. 2026-27 covers every team’s games to date, five to eight each.

Here are the seven teams at the top and the seven at the bottom.

Team	Record	Games	Offensive rebounds a game	Share of own misses rebounded	Opponents’ share	Scoring margin
Golden State	5-3	8	14.5	30.4%	26.3%	+2.9
Toronto	4-3	7	15.3	30.1%	23.6%	+7.7
Minnesota	5-3	8	14.8	29.7%	23.9%	+11.4
Houston	7-1	8	12.5	29.1%	24.9%	+12.9
Charlotte	3-5	8	14.8	28.4%	21.4%	-11.2
Portland	5-1	6	13.2	28.3%	21.2%	+10.8
Milwaukee	1-6	7	15.0	28.1%	26.6%	-13.0

Through Monday, per game. Opponents’ share is how much of their own misses opponents rebound against that team. Margin is points scored minus points allowed.

Team	Record	Games	Offensive rebounds a game	Share of own misses rebounded	Opponents’ share	Scoring margin
Washington	4-3	7	8.3	19.3%	26.8%	+2.0
Philadelphia	7-1	8	9.5	19.6%	26.6%	+5.8
Orlando	2-5	7	9.3	20.8%	26.8%	-9.0
Indiana	2-6	8	10.1	22.1%	25.5%	-3.9
Sacramento	1-6	7	10.6	22.2%	24.1%	-14.1
Miami	2-5	7	10.6	22.7%	25.8%	-5.7
Brooklyn	1-6	7	11.3	23.1%	21.5%	-8.6

Through Monday, per game.

So far this season the glass and the standings have mostly gone together: Houston (7-1), Portland (5-1), Golden State (5-3), Minnesota (5-3) and Toronto (4-3) are all at or above .500. History says to be careful with that, as the next section shows. Philadelphia, which is 7-1 with the second-lowest share, is the exception, and Milwaukee, which is 1-6, is the exception at the other end.

Charlotte: second chances that did not count

The Hornets are the clearest case of rebounding without results. They grab 14.8 offensive rebounds a game, tied for third, and recover 28.4 percent of their own misses. They also score 97.4 points a game, the fewest in the NBA, and are being outscored by 11.2. On Monday they had 18 offensive rebounds against Detroit and lost 124-91, shooting 32-for-84 (38.1 percent) with 25 turnovers.

The Hornets had 18 offensive rebounds, but it only led to 12 second-chance points. Detroit's defense consistently recovered, taking away any immediate advantage.

This thought occurred to me during the game, and it was discussed in today’s Buzz Beat with @malquiza8. pic.twitter.com/Bv11HIgB4F
— Richie (@richierandall) November 3, 2026

Milwaukee fits the same pattern. The Bucks are second in offensive rebounds a game at 15.0 and are 1-6 with a minus-13.0 margin. Chicago, also 1-6, rebounds 26.6 percent of its misses, which is above the league’s 25.4, and has the worst margin in the league at minus-16.3.

What the last 12 seasons say

A team’s offensive rebounding in its first seven games has been one of the more lasting early numbers. Measured against each season’s league average, the correlation between the first seven games and the rest of the season is 0.51 for the share of a team’s own misses it rebounds and 0.53 for offensive rebounds a game. How often opponents get offensive rebounds against a team has lasted less well, at 0.36.

But a fast start on the glass has said almost nothing about winning. We ranked all 360 team-seasons by their share after seven games, using each season’s league average as the baseline, and split them into five groups of 72.

Group by share after seven games	Share vs league average, first seven	Share vs league average, rest of season	Win percentage, rest of season	Average final wins per 82 games	Scoring margin, rest of season
Lowest fifth	-4.5	-1.4	48.4%	39.6	-0.9
Second	-1.8	-0.5	52.8%	43.5	+1.1
Middle	0.0	-0.1	50.2%	40.9	+0.3
Fourth	+1.9	+0.4	50.3%	41.2	+0.1
Highest fifth	+4.4	+1.6	48.0%	39.6	-0.6

Regular seasons 2014-15 through 2025-26. Share is the percentage of own missed field goals rebounded, in percentage points against that season’s league average.

The top fifth kept about a third of its early edge, going from 4.4 points above average to 1.6, and won 48.0 percent of its remaining games. The bottom fifth won 48.4 percent. Across the 360 teams, the correlation between the share after seven games and the winning percentage over the rest of the season is minus 0.03. Over a full season, the share and the winning percentage have a correlation of 0.11.

The teams at the very top have held on to more of it. The 12 that reached 28 percent started at 29.7 percent on average and rebounded 26.2 percent over the rest of the season, which was 3.2 points above the league average. They averaged 43.2 wins per 82 games and eight of the 12 finished at .500 or better.

Team	First seven games	Rest of season	Final record
2025-26 Rockets	32.2%	32.1%	52-30
2016-17 Bulls	31.3%	24.6%	41-41
2025-26 Jazz	30.7%	24.2%	22-60
2015-16 Pistons	30.1%	25.2%	44-38
2015-16 Thunder	30.0%	28.8%	55-27
2024-25 Raptors	29.7%	25.2%	30-52
2023-24 Jazz	29.6%	25.1%	31-51
2025-26 Pistons	29.4%	28.3%	60-22
2024-25 Nuggets	28.8%	24.9%	50-32
2024-25 Warriors	28.7%	25.0%	48-34
2023-24 Knicks	28.3%	26.6%	50-32
2023-24 Hawks	28.2%	25.0%	36-46

The 12 earlier team-seasons with a share of 28 percent or more after seven games.

Houston is the one that stayed there. Last season the Rockets rebounded 32.2 percent of their misses through seven games and 32.1 percent for the rest of the year, and won 52 games. They are at 29.1 percent now. The Jazz started at 30.7 percent last season, fell to 24.2 and went 22-60. Most of the group fell back to about 25 percent.

What’s next

There are no games Tuesday. Wednesday has several of the teams above: Minnesota (14.8 offensive rebounds a game) at Houston (29.1 percent) at 8:30 p.m. ET, and Toronto at Denver and Portland at Phoenix at 9 p.m. Phoenix has allowed the highest share to opponents, 31.3 percent in five games. Charlotte plays at Brooklyn at 7:30 p.m. ET, and Brooklyn’s opponents have rebounded 21.5 percent of their misses, the fifth lowest. Philadelphia, with the second-lowest share, plays at Detroit at 7 p.m.