Legit or Lucky? Deciding Which Undefeated Teams are Real Contenders

After the first week of the 2025–26 NBA season, there are only four teams that remain undefeated: the San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls, and Philadelphia 76ers. Let’s take a look at these four squads and see if they are legit title contenders or have just had a lucky start to the NBA season.

Starting with the Western Conference teams, we can name one a title contender immediately. The Thunder are still the best team in the NBA and are going to be title contenders once again this season. They’ve started the year off hot, and we expect them to continue to dominate the regular season just as they did last year. 

The Spurs are a bit more interesting. Last season, they didn’t even make the playoffs, but this year, the expectations are high. This is because of the ascendance of Victor Wembanyama as a potential MVP candidate. Wembanyama got bigger and better this offseason and is already considered the best defensive player in the league. If Wembanyama continues to dominate as he has early on this season, the Spurs could become surprise contenders on his talent alone.

The Bulls and the Sixers are definitely not as good as the Spurs or Thunder. That’s the problem with the Eastern Conference: it is significantly less competitive than the West, so even some playoff teams in the East are significantly worse than teams missing the playoffs in the West.

The Bulls and Sixers are not title contenders. The Sixers have much more potential to get there, as they do have two (often-injured) stars on their roster. The Bulls, on the other hand, may just be showing that, instead of being bound for the Play-In Tournament as they have been for years, they are looking to be a top-6 seed. Neither will make it to the NBA Finals.