{"id":234118,"date":"2025-10-23T10:03:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T10:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/234118\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T10:03:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T10:03:09","slug":"3-things-you-missed-from-the-nba-wemby-vs-flagg-historic-rookie-debut-antetokounmpo-leads-bucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/234118\/","title":{"rendered":"3 things you missed from the NBA: Wemby vs. Flagg, historic rookie debut, Antetokounmpo leads Bucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 NBA season kicked off in earnest on Wednesday with 12 games taking place across the league.<\/p>\n

It comes after the traditional curtain-raiser<\/a> of last year\u2019s champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, receiving their championship rings and opening the new season on Tuesday. The Thunder then beat the Houston Rockets in a double-OT thriller while the Golden State Warriors were victorious on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s what you missed from Wednesday\u2019s action across the NBA.<\/p>\n

Wemby vs. Flagg<\/p>\n

Arguably the game of the night came from Texas where the first overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft, Cooper Flagg<\/a>, faced another young sensation in the form of Victor Wembanyama.<\/p>\n

Flagg enters the league seen as a potential franchise player, but on Wednesday, he was thoroughly outshone by the 21-year-old Frenchman.<\/p>\n

Wembanyama had 40 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks in 30 minutes in a comfortable 125-92 Spurs win. It was a dominant display from the No. 1 pick in the 2023 Draft in which he was serenaded with \u201cM-V-P!\u201d chants despite the game taking place in Dallas\u2019 American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n

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It was a real marker of Wembanyama\u2019s growth in the league having missed the end of last season with a blood clot issue<\/a>. His performance on Wednesday displayed why he\u2019s such a difficult prospect for opposing defenses, with his length leading to easy dunks, incredible ball-handling and three-point shooting, all while being 7-foot-4, something not seen before in the NBA.<\/p>\n

And on the defensive side of the court, Wembanyama consistently broke up the Mavs on offense, his long arms often deflecting attempted passes or influencing shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to make a statement,\u201d Wembanyama said afterwards.
\u201cWe\u2019re all tired of losing, and that\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For Flagg, it was a difficult start to life in the NBA, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Better days will come for the 18-year-old, but he looked hesitant as he made his first splash into the pro game.<\/p>\n

\"Flagg<\/p>\n

Flagg (No. 32) had a tough debut for the Mavericks. – Jesse D. Garrabrant\/NBAE\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Cooper played within himself. He took what the defense gave him,\u201d Dallas head coach Jason Kidd said afterwards.<\/p>\n

If \u201cWemby\u201d looks this good the rest of the year \u2013 and his career \u2013 the league will be on notice.<\/p>\n

Historic rookie debut<\/p>\n

While Flagg struggled in his first game, the same cannot be said of VJ Edgecombe, the third overall pick this year.<\/p>\n

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Edgecombe made history in his Philadelphia 76ers debut, scoring 34 points, a franchise record and the third most ever by a rookie in his NBA debut, per the league<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His 34 points are only beaten by the legendary Wilt Chamberlain\u2019s 43 in 1959 and Frank Selvy\u2019s 35 in 1954.<\/p>\n

Edgecombe\u2019s big game came in the 76ers\u2019 narrow 117-116 victory over the Boston Celtics.<\/p>\n

\"Edgecombe<\/p>\n

Edgecombe (No. 77) had a historic start to life with the 76ers. – Anadolu\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old was only outscored by fellow Philly guard Tyrese Maxey, who had 40 points on an efficient 54.2% from the field. Conversely, 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid had just four points in 20 minutes on the floor.<\/p>\n

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Boston was without its most important player, Jayson Tatum, who will miss most of the season with a torn Achilles tendon<\/a> suffered during last season\u2019s playoff run.<\/p>\n

\u2018Greek Freak\u2019 leads Bucks on emotional night for former player<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards was an emotional one, especially for Khris Middleton.<\/p>\n

Middleton was making his first appearance in Milwaukee since leaving in the offseason after spending 12 years with the team. He played a vital role in the Bucks winning the 2020-21 NBA title, the franchise\u2019s first title in 50 years.<\/p>\n

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Middleton was given several standing ovations from the Milwaukee crowd at Fiserv Forum, including when his name was introduced before tip-off, during a tribute video to the forward during a timeout in the first quarter and when he checked out of the game near the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get that type of recognition, appreciation from the city, the organization, I mean, that meant the world to me,\u201d Middleton said afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get a standing ovation on the road doesn\u2019t happen often, so I wanted to make sure that they knew I acknowledge them. Even though I really don\u2019t speak too much or do too much, but that really meant a lot. That\u2019s every player\u2019s dream to get a standing ovation no matter where they\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

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On the court though, things weren\u2019t as accommodating for Middleton and his Wizards.<\/p>\n

Led by Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks ran out comfortable winners by a 133-120 scoreline.<\/p>\n

The \u201cGreek Freak\u201d finished with 37 points, 14 rebounds and five assists in 27 minutes.<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 NBA season kicked off in earnest on Wednesday with 12 games taking place across the league.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[22388,1222,69106,49,48,2597,2695,110917,8228,8217,8223,3556,1526,57341,8231,459,3555,2696,82,19746,21217,8027],"class_list":["post-234118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-76ers","tag-boston-celtics","tag-bucks","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cooper-flagg","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-franchise-player","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-houston-rockets","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-joel-embiid","tag-khris-middleton","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sports","tag-tyrese-maxey","tag-victor-wembanyama","tag-washington-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}