The Changing Face of NBA Opening-Night Lineups

Highlights

NBA opening-night starting lineups change frequently: 28 of the league’s 30 teams had at least one different starter compared with last season. Orlando and Denver were the exceptions, repeating their starting fives. Coaches generally see the attention devoted to starters as excessive, noting that lineups evolve throughout a game. Stephen Curry has made 18 opening-night starts in 18 seasons, all with Golden State, while only Nikola Jokic and Devin Booker have also started for the same team on opening night in each of the last 10 seasons. Roster change is a defining feature of the NBA, not an unusual disruption.

Sentiment Analysis

• The article’s tone is primarily neutral and explanatory. It presents lineup records, player examples, team histories, and comments from coaches without arguing that frequent changes are inherently good or bad.


• There is a measuredly positive note in Curry’s comments about continuing to enjoy the game and the work, and in the description of teams pursuing improvement. The article also points to rising stars and the next generation of players as subjects to watch.


• A mildly skeptical tone appears in coaches’ responses to the attention given to opening-night starters. Joe Mazzulla says the focus is overblown, while Chris Finch describes roster movement as part of the business. These remarks question the importance of the topic without dismissing it entirely.


• Overall, the piece is balanced: it recognizes the historical interest of lineup continuity while emphasizing that roster changes are routine and that teams keep adjusting in pursuit of improvement.

Article Text

Opening night offers a clear snapshot of how much NBA rosters change from one season to the next. This season, Orlando and Denver were the only teams to use the same starting five in their first game as they had in the previous season’s opener. Across the league’s 30 teams, 28 introduced at least one new opening-night starter. Some changed four starters, illustrating how extensively teams adjust their personnel.

Minnesota coach Chris Finch said that no team stays the same. Boston coach Joe Mazzulla, meanwhile, questioned how much importance people attach to the identity of the starters. He noted that a starting lineup is on the court for only five minutes before there are still 43 minutes left to play. In his view, end-of-quarter, start-of-quarter, and end-of-game combinations also matter, and deserve as much thought as the opening group.

Orlando repeated its lineup of Paolo Banchero, Desmond Bane, Wendell Carter Jr., Jalen Suggs, and Franz Wagner for the second consecutive year. Denver also brought back its previous opening-night five: Nikola Jokic, Cameron Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Jamal Murray, and Christian Braun. These teams were unusual examples of continuity in a league where nearly every other franchise made at least one change to its starting group.

Across the league, 71 players started this season’s opening game for the same team they had represented in last year’s opener. Another 21 players started for one team last year and a different team this year. The two most recent NBA champions named in the report—Oklahoma City in 2025 and New York this past season—each had four players in this season’s starting lineup who had also started Game 1 last season.

Stephen Curry stands out for his own consistency. He started his first game with Golden State and, in Year 18 of his career, reached 18 opening-night starts, all with the Warriors. Curry said he still loves playing and values the work, though he now does more of it away from the court. Only Curry, Jokic, and Devin Booker of Phoenix have started for the same team on opening night in each of the last 10 seasons.

Other franchises have experienced long-running instability in their opening lineups. The Los Angeles Clippers used a different starting five this season from the one they used last year, and the same was true in each of the preceding years. Research by SportRadar found that the Clippers have not repeated their Game 1 lineup in consecutive seasons since the mid-1970s, when the franchise was based in Buffalo.

Toronto has never repeated an opening-night starting lineup, and Sacramento has not done so either, at least since lineup tracking began in 1974, when the Kings were playing in Kansas City. Most NBA teams have gone more than a decade without using the same five starters for consecutive opening games. The records underline how exceptional Orlando and Denver’s repeat lineups were this season.

Miami provides a different kind of example. Erik Spoelstra has completed 19 opening-night lineup cards during his tenure as Heat coach, and every one has contained a different starting five. He said he had not thought much about that pattern until someone raised it with him, then called it weird. The franchise has existed for 39 years and has used the same opening-night lineup twice; both occasions came in 1999, across the shortened 1998-99 season and the 1999-2000 season, which began nine months later.

Minnesota has existed for 38 years and has fielded 37 opening-night lineups, with another new combination this season. Finch described the changes as part of NBA business, pointing to a series of major trades and the pursuit of improvement. His point is that teams keep changing their lineups because they are trying to get better, even though those efforts do not always succeed.

The broader season outlook includes storylines ranging from championship contenders to emerging players. The report also highlights the rankings of all 30 teams heading into the first week of the 2026-27 season, Kevin Durant entering his 20th season and inspiring younger players, and Trae Young seeking to reassert his ability after missing time through injury as he helps the Wizards pursue progress. These themes place opening-night lineup changes within the wider cycle of competition, development, and team-building.

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