NBA opening night overreactions: Jayson Tatum already misses Jaylen Brown, 76ers have it all figured out

Also, the Spurs were totally overhyped and Paul George is going to be an All-Star! Opening night of the 2026-27 NBA season is in the books, and it was a wild one — a fitting start for what figures to be a wild season. It started with the Pistons storming back from down 22 points to stun the Celtics. LeBron James and the 76ers followed that by spoiling the Knicks' ring night with a supremely impressive victory at Madison Square Garden. And in the nightcap, the Thunder served Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs a fat slice of humble pie. Naturally, the takes are going to be flying after one game, silly as that is.

So I figured I would get ahead of them and address how much truth, if any, there might be in these Game 1 overreactions. There is actually some truth to this because expectations have accelerated so quickly in San Antonio, and with that comes much greater scrutiny. The Spurs just aren't going to get away with a performance like the one they offered in a relatively resounding 116-104 opening-night loss to the Thunder in the same way they would have last year, when they were playing with house money. Victor Wembanyama was the No. 1 player in our CBS Sports Top 100 player rankings. He's the