NBA Preseason Weekend Roundup: Giannis Dazzles in Heat Debut, Strus Hurt in Clippers Win

LOS ANGELES — The first weekend of the 2026-27 NBA preseason is in the books, and it already feels like this season is going to be a lot. Giannis Antetokounmpo pulled on a Miami Heat jersey for the first time and looked like he’d been running Erik Spoelstra’s sets for years. The Clippers won in Hawaii and immediately lost a rotation wing to a frightening non-contact injury. Nikola Jokić needed all of 14 minutes to remind everyone he remains the most creative passer on the planet. And that was before the news desk even got going — Jalen Duren signed for $200 million, LeBron James introduced himself to Philadelphia, and five more games tip off Monday night.

Preseason doesn’t count. That doesn’t mean it has nothing to say.

The Giannis era opens with a 129-105 rout

The 2026-27 season officially tipped off Saturday in the unlikeliest of places: Quebec City, where the first NBA game ever played in the province’s capital drew a sellout crowd of 18,474 to the Centre Vidéotron for the NBA Canada Series. (We were already watching this one — see our preview of the preseason’s real first look.) The Raptors were the nominal home team. The night belonged to the visitors.

Miami’s 129-105 win over Toronto was the Giannis Antetokounmpo show from the opening tip. The two-time MVP, acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks in the summer’s defining blockbuster, played about 14 minutes and finished with 9 points on 3-of-3 shooting, 7 assists and 4 rebounds. Every one of his seven first-half dimes led to a made three-pointer — 21 points created without taking a second-half breath. The Heat racked up 19 first-half assists, seven of them his, and took a 76-55 lead into the locker room after a 41-23 first quarter.

The numbers underneath were the real story. Miami shot 47.8 percent from deep in the first half and 48.8 percent for the game. The Heat attempted 24 free throws by halftime — last season, as a team, they averaged 25 per game, and Giannis and Bam Adebayo combined for 10 in the first half alone. That’s the Giannis gravity effect in one exhibition half: defend him straight up and he scores, send help and he finds shooters, foul him and he lives at the line.

The new-look Heat weren’t a one-man show, either. Tim Hardaway Jr. led all Miami scorers with 14 points on perfect shooting, and Andrew Wiggins added 12 on 4-of-6 from the field. Alongside Giannis, the summer also brought Bobby Portis and Klay Thompson to South Beach — a veteran retooling around a generational talent that, on first viewing, looks less like a gamble than a plan.

Toronto, meanwhile, was missing its own summer blockbuster. Kawhi Leonard sat out for reconditioning — head coach Darko Rajakovic said he won’t rush the two-time Finals MVP, who will also sit the second Canada Series game in Vancouver on Oct. 10. Both teams started their lone Canadians, with R.J. Barrett suiting up for the Raptors and Wiggins for the Heat. Barrett and Tyreke Key led Toronto with 15 points apiece, but the Raptors shot 39.8 percent from the field and 29 percent from three. Rajakovic found a bright spot anyway. The Raptors head coach told reporters afterward: “Defensively, we forced the Heat to 25 turnovers, which was a good job by our team, but in some instances, we lacked discipline when we had to get back on defence.” He was less pleased with the glass — Miami grabbed 13 offensive rebounds — and, on the shooting, Rajakovic added: “We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight, and even though we took more three-point shots, we only shot 29 per cent from the three-point line.”

One viral clip of all seven of Giannis’s first-half dimes made the rounds, and NBA analyst Naveen Ganglani wrote in the caption what plenty of skeptics were thinking: “And you had actual NBA analysts saying the Heat gave up too much to get him.” It’s one preseason game. It’s also the first data point, and it’s loud.

A win and a worry in Hawaii

Sunday’s second game gave the weekend its scare. The Clippers edged the Warriors 104-101 in Hawaii, but the result was an afterthought within minutes of tip-off: newly acquired wing Max Strus went down about five minutes into his first preseason game with Los Angeles, hobbling on a non-contact play before heading straight to the locker room with a right foot injury. The team ruled him out for the rest of the game. No diagnosis or timetable has been announced; the plan is to evaluate the foot when the team returns to Los Angeles, though early reports suggest he could miss an extended period.

Head coach Tyronn Lue didn’t offer a diagnosis, but he didn’t hide how it looked either. Asked about the non-contact injury, Lue told reporters: “Never good.”

The context makes it worse. Strus arrived from the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason as part of a five-team trade, and he was already fighting uphill: a Jones fracture in his left foot limited him to 12 games last season. In three years with the Cavs he averaged 11.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 42.8 percent from the floor and 36.8 percent from deep — exactly the kind of two-way wing minutes the Clippers were counting on. And the wing rotation was already thin: Brandon Ingram is sidelined with a heel/Achilles issue, leaving Los Angeles to lean harder on first-round rookie Keaton Wagler, who at least gave the night its highlight — a stepback jumper in the final seconds that put the Clippers ahead for good.

Jokić does Jokić things; the Jazz win anyway

Out in Boulder, the Utah Jazz spoiled Denver’s homecoming with a 109-97 win at the CU Events Center — the Nuggets’ first game in front of their fans since last spring’s playoff exit at the hands of Minnesota. Lauri Markkanen (17 points) and Keyonte George (15) led five Jazz players in double figures, and Utah never really let Denver back in it after a 36-26 first quarter.

Denver’s box score tells the preseason story: Julian Strawther led the Nuggets with 14 points off the bench, Aaron Gordon added 12, and nobody else cracked double digits. Strawther, facing a make-or-break season in the rotation, got the longest look of the night at 20 minutes, and head coach David Adelman — already appearing on the season’s first hot-seat watch lists before the games even started — told reporters: “I thought he did OK… if he gets to his right hand, we all know how successful he can be.” Adelman added that he liked the shot quality in the first half and the way the second unit tagged up in transition.

And then there was the three-time MVP. Nikola Jokić played 14 minutes, scored 3 points on 1-of-1 shooting, grabbed 3 rebounds, blocked a shot — and dealt 7 assists, including a behind-the-back, no-look feed from the baseline, threaded through three defenders, that found Cam Johnson in the corner for three. It was the kind of pass that makes the highlight reels in October and the history books by spring: Jokić sits 11 assists shy of Russell Westbrook’s all-time record, and at this rate it’s a matter of months, not years.

With Jamal Murray out for personal reasons, veteran Tyus Jones started at the point and made his case for the backup job: 8 points, 6 assists and 2 rebounds in 19 minutes on 3-of-6 shooting, 2-of-3 from deep. Denver opens the real season Oct. 22 against Oklahoma City. Nothing that happened Sunday changes that plan — but Jones gave the coaching staff something to think about.

Around the league: $200 million, a new No. 9, and a waiver

The money. The Detroit Pistons officially announced a contract extension for All-NBA center Jalen Duren on Saturday — a five-year, $200 million deal, according to ESPN and The Athletic (the team did not disclose terms). Duren, 22, had been a restricted free agent. “We’re excited to have Jalen in Detroit as a core piece of our team for years to come,” said president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon. “He’s been an important part of our success over the last two seasons, and we’ve seen tremendous growth in his game.”

The numbers justify it: Duren averaged a career-high 19.5 points with 10.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists last season, shooting 65.0 percent from the field across 70 games, earning his first All-Star nod and a third-team All-NBA spot while leading Detroit to an Eastern Conference-best 60-22 record. The postseason was the blemish — his numbers sagged to 10.2 points and 8.5 rebounds as the Pistons fell in seven games to Cleveland — and the negotiation had its own drama: the team reportedly floated the same $200 million figure with a weight clause attached before the final agreement dropped it. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said he sensed no bitterness: “I don’t know where that came from. It’s negotiation, it’s business, but there’s never been any bitterness between the group and how we feel about him and I know how he feels about us.” The 13th overall pick in 2022 has spent his entire four-year career in Detroit. Now he’ll spend the next five there, too.

The debut. LeBron James made his unofficial 76ers debut Saturday at Philadelphia’s annual Blue x White scrimmage, and close to 10,000 fans paid $10 a ticket to watch a glorified practice at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. They got their money’s worth. James — the public address announcer Matt Cord ended a brief retirement over the summer largely for this moment, and Cord’s call said it all: “At 6-9, from St. Vincent-St. Mary’s, No. 23, LeBron James!” — threw down an alley-oop from Tyrese Maxey, hung on the rim, buried a long three and set up teammates for highlights across two of the three 10-minute exhibition games.

The jersey number was the other storyline. James wore No. 9 — not his usual practice No. 6, and not the No. 23 he’ll wear this season — out of respect for Julius Erving, whose No. 6 hangs retired in the Philadelphia rafters. No. 9 is also his son Bronny’s number, and the one LeBron wore playing high school football and at the 2004 Olympics. “It was great. It was fun to be able to play in front of some of the Philly faithful for the first time,” James said afterward. “It was a great first step in the direction we’re trying to go. It was great to hear some cheers from our fans.” The proceeds — more than $80,000 — went to the Sixers Youth Foundation. And the starting five that shared the floor Saturday — James, Maxey, Jaylen Brown, Joel Embiid and VJ Edgecombe — has combined for 36 All-Star appearances and five MVP awards, with everyone but Edgecombe a career 20-point scorer. Maxey, by all accounts, was one of the most influential voices in James’s decision to sign. The real season opens Oct. 20 against the Knicks.

The cut. The Memphis Grizzlies and guard Jordan Hawkins agreed to part ways via waivers, per ESPN’s Shams Charania — just three weeks after the 2023 lottery pick arrived as part of a four-player trade with New Orleans. Hawkins, 24, averaged 5.1 points in 51 games last season and never cracked the rotation, playing 13.6 minutes a night after averaging 10.8 points in 23.6 minutes the year before. He’ll look for a new home in free agency.

Monday’s slate: five games, one headliner

The preseason rolls on Monday with five games: Hawks-Grizzlies, Pistons-Suns, 76ers-Knicks, Bucks-Timberwolves and Kings-Lakers. The headliner is obvious — Philadelphia visits New York, which means LeBron James’s first preseason game in a Sixers uniform comes against the same Knicks team the Sixers open the real season against on Oct. 20. It’s also Detroit’s preseason opener, which means the first look at the post-$200-million Jalen Duren.

Two subplots worth tracking: in Phoenix, rookie Khaman Maluach and Oso Ighodaro are battling for the starting center job while Mark Williams is sidelined; and in Sacramento, the Lakers’ new guard Collin Sexton gets his first preseason run at the defensive reinvention he laid out at media day. Over in the coaching ranks, the season’s first hot-seat chatter is already circulating around David Adelman in Denver, Nick Nurse in Philadelphia, Kenny Atkinson and Ime Udoka in Houston — it’s October, and nobody’s job is safe. That’s the NBA.

Three games down, a debut for the ages, an injury to hold your breath over, and a Monday night that finally puts LeBron in a real preseason box score. The games don’t count. They also don’t lie — not entirely.

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