2025-26 First Quarter NBA Awards

Choosing between the sky and the sea

The start of the NBA season is always a little tricky, coming as it does amidst holiday travel, the inevitable seasonal barking coughs that small children develop as if they’re allergic to school, and the all-around chaos of late fall and early winter.

It’s simultaneously the busiest part of the year IRL and the time when we know the least about the Association! 20-ish games might sound like a lot, but it’s still a small sample size in the grand scheme of things.

Regardless, I’ve got some hardware to hand out. Note that these aren’t predictions of the real end-of-year winners; these honorifics are given to the players who deserve them for the first quarter of the season only.

To qualify for the official awards, players have to play in 65 games (approximately 79% of the full 82-game season). I use the same threshold for quarterly awards, just for consistency’s sake.

Data is through games played Sunday, Nov. 30th.

Interior Defender of the Quarter

As always, I split defense into Interior and Perimeter awards to reflect the vastly different responsibilities of different defenders. Let’s start with the big fellas.

The winner of this award for every quarter he qualifies will be Victor Wembanyama, but he didn’t play enough games. Bam Adebayo would be my second choice! But he just misses qualifying, too. Damn these rules!

(Why do I have a weird sense of foreboding?)

I’m left with an intriguing but confusing mess of potential winners. A pair of Isaiahs, Hartenstein and Stewart, shine in the advanced metrics. Evan Mobley and Chet Holmgren both deserve praise for their efforts.

(A shiver. I feel it in the air. Something’s wrong.)

I was sorely tempted to pick Toronto’s Scottie Barnes, who is having an elite defensive playmaking year. Unfortunately, he’s somehow giving up 68% shooting at the rim so far — a godawful number for anyone, much less a big man. I expect that to level out some in the future, so I’ll be keeping my eye on him for future quarters.

(Oh no. Please no.)

Yes. I’m left, sadly, with the ghoulish Rudy Gobert.

Gobert has slipped some. He’s blocking less, fouling more. Whatever arguments you’ve heard against Gobert in the past are slightly more true than they used to be.

But I can still copy and paste from years of talking about Gobert’s dominance.

He’s still a favorite of the advanced acronyms. He’s still boasting some of the league’s most devastating on/off and on-only rim-deterring and rim-protecting numbers. Opponents are shooting just 48% at the rim against Gobert. And if it matters to you, he’s played more minutes than anyone else in consideration except for Mobley.

Look, I don’t like this, either. There are plenty of worthy challengers for the next quarter; basketball gods willing, something will change.

But Gobert is still so active. The motor runs hot. Nobody wants a piece of him in the paint. Three different Kings decide not to engage here before Sabonis reluctantly serves up some soft s*** that we all, including Sabonis, knew was never getting off the ground:

Next quarter, Gobert will be right back in the conversation. You’d better believe I’m already looking for reasons not to pick him again.

(Final note on IDotQ: By no means is he on the shortlist for Interior Defender of the Quarter, but Jay Huff has a higher block rate this season than Wembanyama. I don’t care about his plentiful flaws. He just scored the Pacers’ first 14 points in a game! You’d better keep playing this hairy-backed man, Rick Carlisle, you coward!)

Perimeter Defender of the Quarter

A lot of the best perimeter defenders just miss qualifying. Lu Dort, Jalen Suggs, and Alex Caruso are all out, for example.

But one guy keeps showing up on both the eye test and the advanced numbers, and it’s probably not a name you’d expect: Cason Wallace.

It’s hard to figure out how much credit to give to any individual player on the Thunder’s defense. The numbers for Wallace astound, as they do for everybody on OKC. He leads all perimeter players in both D-EPM and D-LEBRON, and if advanced metrics aren’t your deal, he also leads the league in good old-fashioned pilferings at 2.2 per game.

Wallace is a slippery bastard to try and screen, and he’s able to impose his will on ballhandlers without the overt physicality of some of his peers:

Even on a team with the aforementioned Caruso and Dort, it’s usually Wallace who gets the opposing team’s top ballhandler.

Perimeter defense is the hardest thing to get a handle on early in the season, partially because it relies so heavily on the eye test. I’m watching all 30 teams, so mathematically, I can’t watch most or even half of any one squad’s games. For all I know, I might have watched Wallace’s five best games so far and, say, Amen Thompson’s five worst!

So if you prefer Thompson, or the other Thompson, or Dyson Daniels (having another mighty fine season for the Hawks), or someone else here, you’ll get no arguments from me. I’m not sure Wallace is even the second-best perimeter defender on his own team!

But I’ll buy an early-bird discounted ticket for the “Cason Wallace, All-Defensive Team” train. It’s filling up quick; hop on board!

Rookie of the Quarter

The Charlotte Hornets are bad, but nobody seems to care outside of LaMelo Ball, who, despite protestations to the contrary, seems a little agitated about… something? It’s Knueppel Fever, baby! (Maybe that’s what’s got my kids sounding like seals!)

Knueppel’s immediate comfort in the NBA game has been a revelation. The shooting has been automatic from all over the court. The dreaded rookie wall looms, but so far, Knueppel is on pace for arguably the most efficient scoring season of any newbie ever. Of all rookies who scored at least 18 points per game, nobody sported a better true shooting percentage.

He can do it off the catch; he can do it off the dribble. Every cut is urgent, every decision made post-haste. Next to Ball, Knueppel is more of a play finisher than playmaker, but there are intriguing hints of a creative passer begging to be let loose:

Whether Knueppel can hold up defensively in the long term is a question mark, but most teams will choose to go at LaMelo first, anyway.

The All-Rookie teams will be a fun debate. This has been an impressive class, but only one other person has been in Knueppel’s league — and it’s a familiar face.

Cooper Flagg’s rookie season hasn’t been quite as appreciated as it should be, let down by his team and impossibly high expectations. As Trey Kerby mentioned on the No Dunks podcast yesterday, Cooper Flagg is the youngest player since LeBron James to do basically everything (last time, it was scoring 35 points in a game). Now that the Point Coop experiment has been mercy-killed, expect to see Flagg’s percentages and scoring outputs continue to rise.

It wouldn’t shock me if Flagg’s two-way game surges him back to the top as soon as next quarter, but for now, Knueppel is the guy.

Most Improved Player

There have been a truly outrageous number of Most Improved candidates so far this year, and not just guys who have upped their scoring by a couple of points. We’re talking players skipping multiple steps on their respective developmental path.

I talked in great detail about the vast array of potential candidates with Wes Goldberg at RealGM radio a couple of weeks ago, so I don’t want to go too heavy here. Tyrese Maxey, Deni Avdija, Josh Giddey, and Keyonte George all deserve a long look. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Collin Gillespie, and Reed Sheppard have caught fire of late, too, although they started a tad too slowly for this quarterly award. Even established scorers like Lauri Markkanen, Austin Reaves, and Jerami Grant (has anyone ever gotten this much better moving from the starting lineup to the bench?) have interesting cases.

Ultimately, my big three came down to Avdija, Jalen Duren, and Ryan Rollins.

I have a friendly rivalry with The Ringer’s Michael Pina that he doesn’t know exists. He, too, publishes quarterly awards, and he beat me to the punch yesterday. He made a compelling case for Avdija.

Ultimately, though, Avdija’s defense — which earned him “stopper” status in Washington a few years back — has dropped off a tad too much for me. It’s understandable, given his massive offensive burden, but it also stands in direct contrast to Rollins and Duren.

Rollins has been perhaps the biggest breakout candidate of 2025. He’s gone from fringe NBA player to solid starter. He’s a perfect complementary player to Giannis Antetokounmpo, tallying 15 points, six assists, and two steals when playing with the Greek Freak, but he can also level up without him, as his 25/8 line when the big man missed time can attest. His point-of-attack defense has been a godsend to a Bucks team that doesn’t have anyone else with those kinds of chops.

Ultimately, though, I’m going with the Detroit center. I’ve written about Duren a bunch recently, starting with a lengthy summer profile on him, but it still doesn’t feel like enough. The Pistons are the best team in the East, and Duren’s improvement on both ends is arguably the biggest reason why.

Duren has fully weaponized his brute strength, mashing smaller defenders like Thanksgiving potatoes, but he’s also noticeably tightened his spin move:

As with seemingly everyone else on this roster, Duren has grown to relish contact — he’s averaging more than twice as many free throws per game this season as last, and he’s also shooting a dependable 76% on them. Overall, Duren has increased his points per game from 11.8 last year to 19.6 this season.

The defensive improvement is even more welcome. Last year, much of his impact on that end felt tied to Ausar Thompson. This year, however, the Pistons remain a top-decile defense even without Thompson or Isaiah Stewart on the floor. There’s definitely some shooting luck involved, as opponents can’t buy a three-pointer against those lineups, but it’s clear that Duren is no longer the glaring weak point he’s been in the past.

Jumping as a scorer and a defender for a contender in a contract year will make Duren a rich man.

Coach of the Quarter

When your team starts 19-1, you automatically win CotQ. I don’t make the rules¹, I just enforce them². Sure, the Thunder have mostly played pattycake with the league’s babies, but they’ve also beaten Houston, Minnesota, and Phoenix and smashed the Lakers, Warriors, and Hawks. They’ve twice now dealt out revenge against the Trail Blazers for their lone loss, a back-to-back ending in Portland (who, not coincidentally, is the highest-energy group in the league, perfectly designed to punish tired teams). And all without Jalen William, who returned to play just a few games ago.

It’s fun to judge coaches by their moves on the margins: A nifty play call, new offensive wrinkle, or funky defensive scheme. But the ultimate proof of good coaching is record, and not too many jefes in league history can surpass what Daigneault and Co. just accomplished.

Heat honcho Erik Spoelstra has a solid argument of his own, and he finishes second on my imaginary ballot. Spo survived the literal burning down of his house to lead a Heat team facing the third-hardest strength of schedule to a 13-7 record, mostly without Tyler Herro. He’s turned the Heat’s offense into the league’s largest stylistic outlier since the Steve Nash-led Seven Second Suns, and (along with Adebayo) has constructed a top-three defense yet again. Death, taxes, a good Miami Heat D.

Detroit’s JB Bickerstaff and Toronto’s Darko Rajakovic also deserve appreciative looks for exceeding expectations so far this season. The Pistons have no shooting and the Raptors have one of the odder rosters in the league, but neither problem has mattered much. Like Daigneault, Phoenix’s Jordan Ott has benefitted from an easy schedule, but who saw the Suns at 12-9 a quarter of the way through? And JJ Redick has the Lakers soaring despite absences from Luka Doncic and LeBron James.

None of those guys has quite achieved what Daigneault has.

Sixth Man of the Quarter

Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been the Heat’s third-best player (excluding the recently returned Herro). Portland’s Jerami Grant was the quarter’s leading bench scorer. Onyeka Okongwu (he’s come off the bench in 11 of 20 contests; still counts!) has taken strides as a shooter and shouldered major offensive responsibilities in the absence of Kristaps Porzingis and Trae Young. Ajay Mitchell has emerged as a force for the league’s best team, and the 76ers’ Quentin Grimes has been a good enough scorer to shed the 3-and-D label like an itchy snake skin. If you care about more than points (good for you!), Motown’s Isaiah Stewart is a sexy pick.

But Jaquez gets the nod. When he’s on the floor, he’s the fulcrum of the Heat’s offense. Despite playing fewer minutes, he averages more drives per game than Tyrese Maxey or Luka Doncic. He’s become one of the league’s premier close-range scorers, averaging more points in the paint per possession than any other non-center thanks to a fascinating combination of downhill power and finesse. The new Heat system (explained rather well here) is better at manufacturing true one-on-one isolations than anyone in the league, and Jaquez is unusually well-suited to taking advantage.

Jaquez has also upped his playmaking game while decreasing his turnover rate. The Heat’s system emphasizes playing fast, and it helps its players by simplifying their reads. Jaquez is elite at getting two feet into the paint, drawing all the defensive attention, and then spraying out to open three-point snipers. Watch as he and the Heat’s unusual spacing trap all five Golden State defenders in the paint:

We’ll see if he can maintain his production now that Tyler Herro and Norm Powell are both back healthy, but for now, Jaquez is the pick.

Most Valuable Player

To quote myself from last week:

Luka Doncic leads the league in scoring and over-the-head passes. Giannis Antetokounmpo, days from his 31st birthday, is averaging the most dunks of his career (an insane 26% of his FGAs are dunkaroos; get better soon, big guy!). Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is scoring better than Michael Jordan ever did while leading a Thunder team that looks like it might never lose again (all without Jalen Williams!). And Nikola Jokic is leading the league in rebounds and assists (think about that!) while averaging yet another triple-double.

For the purposes of the quarter, both Giannis and Luka have missed too much time to be considered, but I wanted to take a step back and acknowledge the overwhelming greatness of each of these legends. I’m not the NBA historian some of you are, but I can’t recall a time when there were a whopping four guys who had such an unbelievable start to the year.

But it comes down to Jokic vs. Gilgeous-Alexander, fundamental forces of nature. Try choosing between the sky and the sea.

Jokic is doing absolutely perverted things to the box score. X-rated stuff for NBA geeks. The rebounding and uber-efficient scoring are nice, but it’ll always be about the passing:

There are virtually no stats-based arguments that Jokic won’t win.

Shai, meanwhile, has led the Thunder to one of the best starts in NBA history (the 2015-16 Warriors won their first 24 games, but their point differential was slightly lower than OKC’s is right now), and that’s without Jalen Williams for all but two contests. I thought SGA’s defense was good, if overrated, last season, but he’s been even better this year to my eyes. And there’s a beautiful, deadly simplicity to the Thunder’s game that’s enabled by Shai’s robotic scoring consistency. As Matt Moore at Hardwood Paroxysm put it the other day:

The numbers really are bonkers. Shai is on pace to have the lowest turnover percentage of a 30-point scorer in NBA history since…. himself two years ago.

Every single sequence for the Thunder is:

Defensive stop or forced turnover>

Shai bucket>

Repeat.

There’s no point in splitting hairs this early in the season. You know the arguments both ways. I think Jokic is the best basketball player in the world. But despite everything Jokic has accomplished, I want to acknowledge how truly future-devouring the Thunder have looked. I’m terrified of them. I’m terrified of SGA.

Gilgeous-Alexander is my pick as the quarter’s MVP.

1. I do.

2. When it’s convenient.