Giannis finds his footing in Miami as rookies run the preseason

The NBA played 67 preseason games from Oct. 3 to Oct. 16, one of them against the London Lions. None of them counted, and many stars were done by halftime.

They still answered real questions. Giannis Antetokounmpo looked at ease in Miami. Tyrese Haliburton and Damian Lillard played for the first time since tearing Achilles tendons in 2025, and the top of the 2026 draft scored from its first week.

Read the numbers below with the sample in mind. Most come from 15 to 30 minutes of work, often against rotations that changed every quarter.

Giannis, Kawhi and LeBron in new colors

Milwaukee traded Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to Miami in July for a package built around Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware and draft picks, including two future first-rounders. Antetokounmpo opened in Quebec City on Oct. 3 with nine points and seven assists in about 14 minutes.

All seven of those assists set up 3-pointers.

His third and last appearance was the loudest: 20 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists in 24 minutes against Brooklyn on Oct. 14, on 8-of-10 shooting, in a 144-128 win.

Bam Adebayo missed that game and the finale with right groin tightness. The Heat finished 3-2.

Kawhi Leonard's return to Toronto took most of the summer to complete, because the league held the trade from the Clippers while it finished its investigation into the club's salary-cap dealings. He sat the first two exhibitions.

His first game back, on Oct. 13, lasted one half. Leonard scored 21 points in 17 minutes, went 4 of 8 from 3-point range and watched the rest of a 148-98 rout of the Knicks, who rested most of their starters.

LeBron James, 41 and starting his 24th season, signed with Philadelphia after eight years with the Lakers. He skipped the Sixers' opener and the game in Boston. Against Brooklyn on Oct. 8 he played 18 minutes, took one shot from the field and still scored 10, going 8 of 8 at the line.

Jaylen Brown, traded from Boston for Paul George and picks, scored 22 and 18 in his first two games for Philadelphia. James, Brown, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey started together in Brooklyn, and the Sixers finished 1-3.

Other new faces showed up in the box scores. LaMelo Ball had 14 points and seven assists for Minnesota against Indiana on Oct. 7. Ja Morant scored 19 on 8-of-10 shooting in Portland's finale, and Herro scored 25 in Milwaukee's 128-127 overtime win at Indiana.

Back after a lost season

Haliburton had not played since tearing his Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 Finals at Oklahoma City. He returned to that arena on Oct. 13 and scored 24 points in 18 minutes, all before halftime, on 9-of-14 shooting with four 3-pointers.

Three nights later he had 17 points and six assists against Milwaukee. Indiana went 1-3, but its point guard is playing again.

Lillard tore his left Achilles in the 2025 playoffs with Milwaukee, which waived him that summer before he re-signed in Portland. His first game back came on Oct. 7: 15 points in 19 minutes against Golden State. He closed with 23 against the Warriors, though on 4-of-10 shooting.

Kyrie Irving tore the ACL in his left knee on March 3, 2025, and after a calf strain in December interrupted his rehab, he sat out all of last season. In Macao on Oct. 11 he scored on Dallas' first possession and finished with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting in about 22 minutes of a 132-115 win over Houston.

Houston's Fred VanVleet came back on the same trip. He tore his right ACL in September 2025, and on Oct. 9 he had 17 points and seven assists in 24 minutes of a 135-117 win, the night Alperen Sengun posted 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

A draft class that came ready

AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 pick out of BYU, started his first game at Madison Square Garden and had 11 points and four steals in a 111-109 win. He scored 14 in each of his next two games and drew 10 free throws against Detroit.

He had 12 points in 15 minutes at New Orleans on Oct. 16 before rolling an ankle in the second quarter. Dybantsa averaged 12.8 points in four games and is listed day-to-day for Washington's opener against Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Darryn Peterson, the No. 2 pick, opened Utah's preseason with three points on 1-of-5 shooting against Denver. Two nights later he scored 23 on 10-of-18 shooting in 30 minutes against the same Nuggets, then added 14 points with five assists against San Antonio and 13 points, six rebounds and six assists at Phoenix.

Cameron Boozer, taken third by Memphis, averaged 14 points in four games, with a high of 19 against Charlotte. Caleb Wilson, the No. 4 pick, was steadier. He scored in double figures in all five Chicago games, averaged 15.8 points and hit five 3-pointers in a 21-point night against Memphis.

The best rookie duel came in San Francisco on Oct. 10. Sacramento's Darius Acuff Jr., the No. 7 pick, scored 25 with eight assists. Golden State's Yaxel Lendeborg, taken 11th, answered with 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists on 10-of-14 shooting in a 111-106 Warriors win.

Lendeborg scored at least 17 in four of his five games, and Acuff gave Sacramento its best night in a preseason the Kings lost five times.

Chet Holmgren missed the whole preseason with a bruised quad, and Oklahoma City gave long minutes to two rookies. Aday Mara, the No. 12 pick, had 22 points against Milwaukee and 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists at Atlanta. Bennett Stirtz, acquired on draft night as the No. 16 pick, scored 26 at Atlanta with six 3-pointers.

Later picks made noise too. San Antonio's Ja'Kobi Gillespie, taken 42nd, scored 25 at Utah. Miami's Ryan Conwell, the 37th pick, had 22 points and nine assists against Minnesota, and Charlotte's Hannes Steinbach, the No. 14 pick, had 19 points and 10 rebounds at Memphis.

Teams that looked different

Boston was the only team to finish unbeaten, 4-0, and won by an average of 18.8 points in its first preseason without Brown. Jayson Tatum, back since March from his own Achilles tear, scored 23 against Philadelphia and had 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists against Charlotte.

Payton Pritchard scored 25 in that 144-106 win over the Sixers, and George had five steals against the team that traded him. Tatum, George and Derrick White sat out the finale, and Boston still beat Philadelphia 125-120 in overtime.

Orlando went 3-1 and scored 132 and 136 in its last two games. Paolo Banchero had 24 points in each, and Desmond Bane added 23 against Miami. The cost was Noah Penda, who tore a hamstring that night, while Franz Wagner is listed day-to-day.

The champions' 1-4 record says little.

The Knicks lost by 50 in Toronto without their starters. When Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns played together on Oct. 15, they beat the Raptors 122-120, with Brunson scoring 20 and Towns finishing with 13 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists.

At the bottom, Sacramento lost by an average of 14.8 points and will open without injured centers Maxime Raynaud and Dylan Cardwell. Oklahoma City went 1-4 and lost rookie Otega Oweh to a ruptured right Achilles in overtime against Indiana.

Tuesday: rings, LeBron and a rematch

The season opens Tuesday with three games on NBC and Peacock. Boston visits Detroit at 3 p.m. ET in a matinee between last season's top two seeds in the East. The Pistons went 3-1; Jalen Duren scored 24 at Minnesota, and Cade Cunningham had 18 points and seven assists in the finale.

At 7 p.m., the Knicks receive their championship rings before facing Philadelphia at Madison Square Garden. New York beat San Antonio in five games in June for its first title since 1973. The night is also James' first regular-season game for the Sixers.

Mitchell Robinson, a center on that title team, now plays in Boston. Josh Hart sat New York's last exhibition with right ankle soreness, but he is not expected to miss the opener.

The late game, at 9:30 p.m., is a rematch of the Western Conference finals. San Antonio won Game 7 after trailing Oklahoma City 3-2, and the teams met 12 times last season, with the Spurs winning eight. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the two-time reigning MVP, and Victor Wembanyama is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year.

Holmgren is listed day-to-day, and the Thunder have not signaled concern about the opener. The Spurs' Tobias Harris is day-to-day with a calf strain. Philadelphia lost center Ariel Hukporti to a ruptured Achilles in its first preseason game.

Wednesday fills in the rest

A preseason cannot say how a 41-year-old holds up in March, or how Antetokounmpo and Adebayo share the floor over 82 games. It did settle smaller things: Haliburton, Lillard, Irving and VanVleet all played, and each of the top four picks scored in double figures at least three times.

The other 11 games come Wednesday. Dybantsa's ankle permitting, Washington hosts Herro and Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo's first regular-season game for Miami is at home against Ball and Minnesota, and Leonard's Raptors host Wilson and Chicago.