NBA Rankings: The Biggest Surprise at Every Position This Season

Joel Piton
Nov 11
5 min read

Updated: Nov 13

Three weeks into the NBA season and the landscape already looks nothing like what many of us predicted. Teams that we thought would be dead last are leading their conference. Breakout rookies are punching above their weight, and MVP caliber superstars are reclaiming (or losing) ground, and entire positional hierarchies are shifting in real time. It’s still early enough in the year that everything can change by December, January: or even next week—but it’s not too early to recognize who’s shocked us all so far.

These rankings may not be built to last. Rather, they’re about this moment, the unpredictable: who came out of the gates swinging and shocked us all? A month from now, these crowns might belong to someone else. But as of now, these are the players sitting at the top of the list at each position.

Let’s get into it.

Point Guard —
Tyrese Maxey

2025-26 Stats: 33.2 PPG — 4.9 RPG — 8.2 APG — 47.0 FG%

Maxey shook of last season's woes and has been a matchup nightmare. Second in the league in scoring at 33 a night, he’s been the lifeline for a Philly team that's been juggling Paul George’s absences and stretches of uneven play from Joel Embiid. After missing a big chunk of last season, there were questions about whether he'd return with the same burst. Those questions lasted about 15 minutes.

Maxey is unguardable. The speed, the acceleration, the ability to change directions without losing balance—defenders can’t stay attached. And he’s not just scoring; he’s dominating with a player efficiency rating (PER) of 24.1. Maxey is seventh in the league in assists at 8 per game as well, orchestrating the Sixers in a way he couldn't do two years ago while still remaining one of the league’s most dangerous three-level scorers. If this pace keeps up, 30 points per game isn’t just possible—it’s probable. Philly wanted a franchise guard. They might already have one.

Shooting Guard —
Austin Reaves

2025-26 Stats: 30.3 PPG — 5.1 RPG — 9.0 APG — 48.0 FG%

No one had this on their bingo card. Austin Reaves is averaging 30 points per game, with a 51-point eruption already stamped into the season, and he’s doing it as the Lakers’ most reliable scorer and playmaker. On most teams, his stat line makes you the unquestionable first option. But when you share the floor with Luka, you become the most dangerous secondary threat in basketball.

Reaves has been surgical getting to his spots. The footwork, the touch, the pace, there’s a quick handle and finesse to his scoring that makes defenses uncomfortable. He doesn’t force shots; he exploits the defense. And it’s not empty production, either. The Lakers are winning games because of him, not around him. Right now, there isn’t another shooting guard in the league delivering this kind of efficiency, consistency, and late-game reliability. If this holds, we’re talking about one of the best shooting guard in basketball period.

Small Forward —
Deni Avdija

2025-26 Stats: 25.5 PPG — 6.8 RPG — 4.9 APG — 47.0 FG%

Deni Avdija has looked like a new player in Portland. After being moved from Washington in a deal that reshaped both franchises, he’s stepped into a primary scoring role and run with it. Averaging 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, Avdija has become the Blazers’ most reliable offensive option—and easily one of the most pleasant surprises of the season.

At 6'9 with a smooth handle and a 40% clip from three, Avdija plays a fundamentally sound game that feels almost textbook until you realize nobody can actually stop him from getting to his spots. He scores without forcing, rebounds without being asked to, and creates for his own shot without overestimating his position on the ball. He’s a legitimate double-double threat who’s willing to do the unglamorous work that keeps possessions alive. Portland is tough to watch right now with Damian Lillard sidelined for the season, but Avdija has become the spark that keeps them compelling. Not every team with a missing star finds a silver lining. The Blazers might’ve just found theirs.

Power Forward —
Lauri Markkanen

2025-26 Stats: 27.6 PPG — 6.3 RPG — 2.1 APG — 44.8 FG%

Word around the league is that Markkanen grew yet another inch this summer, now standing at 7'1", yet he moves like a 6'4" guard. His size makes him matchup threat, but it’s the skill at that size that’s forcing coaches to squint at their scouting reports. Markkanen is averaging a career-high 27 points per game, rediscovering the rhythm that made him an All-Star two seasons ago and shaking off the uneven play from last year. And he’s become nearly impossible to scheme against.

Too tall for smaller forwards, too skilled and mobile for traditional bigs, the shooting stretches defenses until they creak, and once defenders close the gap, he’s finishing at the rim with confidence. And with Walker Kessler sidelined for the year, the frontcourt has opened up quite a bit more for Lauri to operate freely as the Jazz lean on him to anchor the offense. If he continues to shoulder the scoring load like this, we may be looking at a version of Markkanen Utah has never seen, an offensive anomaly who can’t be guarded one way.

Center —
Jalen Duren

2025-26 Stats: 19.4 PPG — 12.0 RPG — 1.6 APG — 64.7 FG%

Jalen Duren has stepped into this season with a bag. He’s always hovered near the top of the league in field goal percentage thanks to his finesse and touch around the rim, but this is the first year where Detroit is actively leaning on him to score—and he’s delivering. Nearly 20 points per game on 65% shooting puts him fifth in the league in efficiency, and suddenly, his offense isn’t just a bonus. It’s a foundation. And it’s showing up in the standings.

The Pistons are 8–2 and sitting at the top of the Eastern Conference, playing with a cohesion that’s been missing for years. Their roster finally feels complete, and Duren isn’t just cleaning up messes on defense—he’s setting the tone. Even without a jumper to stretch the floor, it hasn’t mattered; opponents still can’t keep him away from the rim, and when he gets two feet in the paint, the possession is basically over. If you thought Detroit was promising before, this version of Duren makes them even more dangerous. We never could've predicted Duren providing this big of a scoring output, and something tells me he's just scratching the surface.

Some of these guys are on the trajectory to be All-Stars this seasons—some, even more. The question now is whether this is a hot start or the beginning of something real. If they can sustain this level of play deep into the winter stretch, we might be looking at a whole new wave of NBA viewership this season. Somewhere out there, somebody is furious right now because these dudes have already blown past their fantasy projections. It happens.

For now, we watch. We wait. We see who keeps climbing and who comes back down to earth. Only time will tell—but the early returns are loud.