The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Week 12 Of The 2025-26 NBA Season

Welcome to Week 12, where the 12-seed embarrassed the best team in basketball, a second-year player set the worst record in NBA history, and another star's body has once again betrayed him. Without further ado, let's break down the madness.

The Good: 

The Eastern Conference’s 12th-seeded Charlotte Hornets walked into Oklahoma City and absolutely demolished the league's best team, winning by 27 points. That’s not a typo. The Hornets, who've been battling for respectability for most of the last decade, just pasted the Thunder in their own building. Led by Brandon Miller (28 points) and rookie Kon Knueppel (23 points), suddenly everyone's talking about Charlotte having upset potential and possibly making a run at a play-in berth. To be fair, the Thunder had just come off a 108–105 road loss to the Phoenix Suns the night before. Regardless of how they got it, a win is a win, and for the Hornets, this may have been their biggest one of the entire season. 

The Bad: 

In the same week that Charlotte defeated the Thunder, they also handed the Utah Jazz a 55-point beating. As if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, Utah’s second-year wing Cody Williams set an NBA record: the worst single-game plus-minus in league history at -60. Williams played 32 minutes in the 150–95 massacre, and somehow, when he sat for the other 16 minutes, the Jazz were actually a plus-5. The previous record of -58 was held by both Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Scoot Henderson. Williams actually scored 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting and was one of only three Jazz players to crack double figures. For Williams, a former No. 10 overall pick who is trying to carve out his NBA identity, while +/- is a team stat, with Williams being in the wrong place at the wrong time, it is still not a record one wants to be associated with. 

The Ugly: 

Just when Dallas seemed to be finding their rhythm and figuring things out, Anthony Davis goes down with yet another injury. It is expected that Davis could miss at least six weeks due to ligament damage in his left hand, which he suffered in last Thursday’s loss to the Utah Jazz. It's the story fans have seen too many times: AD looking dominant, the team clicking, and then his body betraying him again. After being acquired in last season’s surprise blockbuster trade for Luka Doncic, Davis has suited up for just 29 regular-season games for the Mavs, something that even former GM Nico Harrison couldn’t have expected. With his name attached to various trade rumors heading into the February deadline, this current setback could have a major impact on the Mavericks' future.