NBA playoff winners and losers: Victor Wembanyama dazzles in debut, No. 1 Pistons in trouble vs. Magic?

The Celtics, Thunder, Magic and Spurs were all winners in Sunday's Game 1s, but let's dive deeper into each series

Sam Quinn

Brad Botkin

Jack Maloney

Apr 19, 2026

11:11 pm ET

•

8 min read

Imagn Images

The 2026 NBA playoffs continued Sunday with four more Game 1s in the first round. The Celtics and Thunder -- the last two NBA champs -- opened things up with blowout wins over the 76ers and Suns, respectively. The third game of the day brought the biggest upset of the playoffs so far: the eighth-seeded Magic took Game 1 from the top-seeded Pistons in Detroit. The Spurs closed out the slate by pulling away from the Trail Blazers for a 13-point victory, and Victor Wembanyama had a memorable playoff debut.

Let's start with Wemby as we break down the winners and losers of Sunday's playoff action.

Winner: Victor Wembanyama's playoff debut

In his first career playoff game, Wembanyama was magical. He went for 35 points (a Spurs record in a playoff debut, passing Tim Duncan's 32 in 1998) on 13-of-21 shooting. He blocked a couple shots, and as always changed or deterred a bunch of others.

Here he puts up a road block on Toumani Camara while hardly having to move, then spikes Jerami Grant's shot without jumping.

> Wemby is literally not fair on defense. This is not right pic.twitter.com/KFW7mPPcrd

— Wemby Central 👽 (@WembyCentral) April 20, 2026

The dude looks like he's playing with kids. Honest to god, making plays like this at 7-foot-4 is the peak of basketball evolution. I don't know how it can ever get any crazier than this.

> WEMBY IN TRANSITION IS UNFAIR 👽

Behind the back.

Spin.

SLAM.

He's up to 9 PTS midway through the 1Q in his postseason debut! pic.twitter.com/3XHnoIrxBR

— NBA (@NBA) April 20, 2026

Wemby also made five of his six 3-pointers. That is the second-most 3s made in a playoff debut in league history (trailing, as you probably could've guessed, the great Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and Voshon Lenard, each of whom cashed six triples in their playoff opener). Wembanyama hit a bunch of impressive 3s, but flow dribbling into a fading corner job is sick.

> Victor Wembanyama dribbles to the corner and DRAINS the fadeaway 3-pointer 😱

pic.twitter.com/FZMTRu6PLw

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 20, 2026

He also finished three alley-oop dunks, highlighting the outrageous gravity of his rim rolls. It's the reason the Spurs led the league in corner 3-point attempts, because wing defenders are forced to sink down off of their shooters to at least marginally disrupt things like this.

> Victor Wembanyama with the alley-oop dunk off a lob by De'Aaron Fox

35 Points for Wemby. pic.twitter.com/rgY8xz7jnx

— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) April 20, 2026

It's a total pick-you-poison situation. Even when multiple defenders collapse into the paint, all you have to do is toss the ball to the moon, and he's the only one who can reach it.

> Victor Wembanyama throws down the alley oop jam from De’Aaron Fox.

He immediately went to console with his teammates after this. These guys love each other.

Spurs up 1-0 in the series. pic.twitter.com/0twlZ83yXo

— SM Highlights (@SMHighlights1) April 20, 2026

Indeed, Wembanyama was the best player on the floor in San Antonio's 111-98 Game 1 win. But it wasn't the only playoff debut that went well for the Spurs, as second-year wing Stephon Castle finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Castle didn't shoot it so efficiently, but he was everywhere in this game. The future is now for this Spurs team, and it is impossibly bright.

Loser: Detroit's key role players

Cade Cunningham scored 39 points despite playing in just his fourth game since suffering a collapsed lung. He held up his end of the bargain for the Pistons. How'd everyone else do?

- Jalen Duren had eight points on four shots. He's about to make an All-NBA team. He has to force his way into the offense more.

- Ausar Thompson played nine minutes and 33 seconds in the second half. His playing time was a point of concern in last year's playoffs too. The Pistons don't seem to believe they can score enough to keep him on the floor at a typical starter's workload, and when he was playing in the first half, JB Bickerstaff didn't trust him to guard Paolo Banchero. He's going to be a First-Team All-Defense pick. Whether or not he gets that matchup more as the series progresses remains to be seen, but if he can't stay on the floor, there's nothing he can do to impact the game anyway.

- Daniss Jenkins filled in for Cunningham admirably while he was out with the collapsed lung. He shot 1-of-7 from the field in Game 1 and the Pistons lost his minutes by 11 points. If he can't be Detroit's secondary creator, their offense is in real trouble.

Cunningham can't win this series singlehandedly, and even if he could, a far more difficult Cavaliers team is waiting in the n