Cleveland has won its first 12 games and is off to the best start in the league. There are 10 teams in the Western Conference with winning records. And somehow, only two teams in the Eastern Conference have winning records.

There is a common denominator on both sides of the ledger: Everybody is hurt. At least it seems that way.

Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey have yet to play together for Philadelphia. Khris Middleton hasn’t debuted this season for Milwaukee. Same goes for Kawhi Leonard with the Los Angeles Clippers. New Orleans — already without CJ McCollum and Dejounte Murray — is bracing for weeks without Zion Williamson, and the injury news got even worse Tuesday with the announcement that Jose Alvarado will be out for at least three weeks.

Orlando will be missing Paolo Banchero for probably 10 more games, at minimum. Scottie Barnes is sidelined in Toronto. Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, Memphis’ Ja Morant and Miami’s Jimmy Butler are all likely out for a week or two. And now Oklahoma City is facing months without Chet Holmgren, who missed what would have been his entire first season, then played every game last season, and now is out.

“On one hand I know how to approach it, I know what to do, what not to do and how beautiful the other side is,” Holmgren wrote on social media after getting hurt Sunday night. “But on the other hand I’ve felt the frustration of this process, and the wear it puts on your mind.”

By any measure — also including the absence of San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich for medical reasons — the first three weeks of this season have not gone well on the NBA health front.

Plenty of teams are depleted going into this week’s start of the NBA Cup — the new name for what was called the In-Season Tournament a year ago when it debuted. Among Tuesday’s tournament games on the colorful courts: Dallas at Golden State, in Klay Thompson’s return to the Bay Area for the first time in anything other than a Warriors uniform.

“To me, it’s just another regular-season game in November,” Thompson said, downplaying what certainly will be more than that.

It’ll mean plenty to the Warriors. “We’ve had homecomings before,” Golden State star Stephen Curry said, “but nothing like this. ... He deserves the celebration and the welcome that he’s going to get.”

For some teams — Philadelphia (2-7) and Milwaukee (2-8) among them — maybe the NBA Cup can be the springboard to a much-needed jump-start to the season. The 76ers are getting Embiid back, which obviously will help. The Bucks have Giannis Antetokounmpo but will open tournament play Tuesday against Toronto without Damian Lillard, added to the injury list Monday night because he’s in concussion protocol.

“I think you’ll see every team, no matter what their record is, I think people will take it way more serious,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “First of all, I think they understand it now. I did a lot of interviews and I was with a few guys in Vegas who made it (last year for the tournament’s final four) and didn’t understand it. They didn’t even know how they got there. Now, I think everybody kind of understands it.”