The NBA's early season belongs to the benches

The second unit is the story

The early NBA season is being decided by the players who do not start. Four team podcasts this week tell the same story from four different cities: shorthanded teams are winning because their benches hold up, and the teams with the deepest second units are the ones building leads. Every one of these accounts comes from the home team's own podcast, so read the praise with that in mind — but the scores and the absences are facts, and they point the same way. m:…9003 m:…8996 m:…9025 m:…8886

Oklahoma City is the clearest case. The Thunder finished a 4-0 week with a 114-75 win over the Washington Wizards, according to the team's podcast — and did it while missing four key rotation players, among them Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Cason Wallace. A 39-point win with four rotation players out is not a star carrying a team. It is a roster deep enough that the absences do not show. m:…9003

Leads built by the bench

Denver's version of the same story is about leads. The Nuggets have held a lead of 12 or more points in five consecutive games, the team's podcast reports, and the podcast credits the bench for it — calling Marvin Bagley the best-fitting backup center the Nuggets have had. That last part is the podcast's judgement, not a measurement, and it should be read as one. But the leads are the measurement, and five straight games of them is a number worth watching. m:…8996

New York's evidence is a single stat. The Knicks' bench players — specifically D'Oraro and Deuce McBride, according to the team's podcast — had the highest plus-minus on the team. Plus-minus is a noisy number over a small sample, and one week of it proves little. But the podcast's explanation is about the system rather than the stat: Mike Brown's coaching style, it says, provides consistent opportunities for all players, which helps maintain team readiness. A bench that plays regular minutes is a bench that is ready when it is needed — that, at least, is the theory the Knicks' podcast is selling. m:…8886

Returns and defence

Atlanta's version of the pattern is about depth rather than the bench alone. Johnson scored 30 points in his return to the lineup, the Hawks' podcast reports, and the same podcast calls Dyson Daniels the driving force defensively for the team. The Hawks are 7-4 on the season. A 30-point return is a headline, and the Daniels praise is the podcast's opinion — but together they describe a team getting contributions beyond its first option, which is the same shape as the other three stories. m:…9025

Read it as a week, not a law

The honest limit is the source. All four accounts are team podcasts — home-team voices describing home-team wins — and the praise for benches and backups is their commentary, not neutral analysis. It is also one week of games, and no injury-return dates are given, so there is no saying when the shorthanded teams get whole again. What the week does show, on the numbers the podcasts themselves report, is that the teams winning early are the ones whose second units hold up when tested. That is a pattern worth watching for one more week before calling it a trend. m:…9003 m:…8996 m:…9025 m:…8886