The Good, The Bad And The Ugly of Week 3 of the 2025-26 Season

The third week of the 2025–26 NBA season brought us a series of performances by a veteran defying Father Time, an underdog blowout victory, and the continued collapse of a preseason championship contender. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from November 2–9.

Up until October 16, a week before the regular season tipped off, it appeared that nobody wanted Russell Westbrook. Yes, the 37-year-old is at the tail end of his illustrious career, and yes, he could be somewhat challenging to play with, but nobody can say that Westbrook doesn’t compete when he’s on the floor. After coming off the bench to start the season with the Sacramento Kings, the future Hall of Fame guard has turned back time during the last three games, scoring 20+ points in each, while also notching his 204th triple-double, adding 16 rebounds and 10 assists against the Golden State Warriors. While the Kings are struggling early in the season, Westbrook is proving that he still has gas left in the tank.

The LA Lakers started the season off with a 7–2 record, despite having LeBron James on the bench in street clothes. Of those two losses, the first came on opening night to the Golden State Warriors and the second was to the Portland Trail Blazers on the tail end of a back-to-back. Riding a five-game winning streak, the Lakers hit the road for a five-game East Coast tour, starting in Atlanta on Saturday night, and were on the receiving end of a humiliating 122–102 blowout. Had the Hawks been playing with a full roster, this may have been seen as acceptable; however, Atlanta was without three of their starters and at one point led the game by 30 points. What makes the game even worse (and with all respect), players like Keaton Wallace, Mouhamed Gueye, Asa Newell, and Vit Krejci all scored 14 or more points, including a career high 21 from Gueye.

Entering the season, the Dallas Mavericks were expected to be Western Conference contenders, even with starting point guard Kyrie Irving sidelined until the start of 2026. Facing a four-game in seven-day schedule this week, the Mavericks dropped their first three against Houston, New Orleans, and Memphis, managing their only victory of the week against the slightly worse Washington Wizards. Currently sitting in 14th place in the conference standings, the Mavs have struggled offensively, shooting just 44% from the field and 31.5% from three-point territory, scoring a league-worst 103.7 points per game.