The 2024-2025 NBA season started last Tuesday and left us with plenty to talk about. The Boston Celtics look great, Klay Thompson has turned back the clock, and load management is in full effect. It may only be the first weekend of NBA action and the season is long, but let’s get started with the first “What did I see in the NBA this week.” Are these early season overreactions? Maybe. Let’s get started!
NBA Opening Week Review
1.) The Boston Celtics Look Like the Best Team
I understand that two of the three games they played were against the Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons with that Pistons game being closer than anticipated, but they still look good. They shot the lights out against the New York Knicks, which is the perfect response to Banner Night, and continued to light up the scoreboard in their other two games. Jaylen Brown is playing great, Jayson Tatum is playing like an MVP, and they have had the perfect response to their journey to repeat.
2.) The Los Angeles Lakers Have a Coach
This might seem like a pretty low bar, but after the coaching struggles the Los Angeles Lakers have had the past few years this is great progress. It has only been three games, but they are 3-0 and what really stood out to me is the Phoenix Suns game. At one point they were shooting 75 percent from the field and 70 percent from three. It didn’t matter that the Lakers were shooting 45 percent and 40 percent because the Suns were making everything. Last years Lakers would have shrunk and lost that game. JJ Redick held the ship, kept them playing their game, and the shooting percentages settled and the Lakers won 123-116. Also, as much as I love LeBron James, thank you for finally putting Anthony Davis as the focal point of the offense.
3.) Oklahoma and Dallas are the Best Two Teams in the West
I know that the Dallas Mavericks lost a game to the Suns that they should have won and were the better team, but I’m putting that up to the fact that the Suns shot 50 percent from the field and 36 percent from three (again). Dallas had a slow start with their shooting, but they fought back and between that and their handling of the Spurs I think that puts them, right now, as the best team in the West with the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC looked great and handled the Denver Nuggets and Chicago Bulls with ease. Their additions seem to fitting in and Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander look like MVPs again.
4.) The Warriors are Winning without Steph Leading
So far, Stephen Curry is averaging only 26 minutes per game and only 18 points per game. However, the Golden State Warriors are 2-1 and averaging 123 points per game as a team. Now, again, it’s only three games in and that won’t stick. However, it is a great sign for the Warriors that they are able to have early season success without huge contributions from Steph. This is showing how deep that team is and saving Steph from later in the season. Especially considering Curry is 36 years old and coming off the longest stretch of competitive basketball he has played since their championship run in 2022.
5.) LaMelo Ball is Still Very Good at Basketball
LaMelo Ball was hurt much of last season and it seems people have forgotten about him and how good he is at basketball. Well, he has started his 2024-2025 season averaging 31/7/7 on 47 percent FG percentage and 42 percent three-point percentage. LaMelo is happily reminding us that he is still one of the best young guards in the league at only 23. The Charlotte Hornets, however, are 1-2. So, LaMelo reminding us how good he is and Charlotte reminding us how bad they are.
6.) The Washington Wizards are Still Very Bad at Basketball
I promise I’m not try to hate on the Wizards, but man everything I saw from them was rough. Their 0-2 to start the year, Jordan Poole has started hot but is as streaky a shooter as we’ve seen since J.R Smith, I don’t know if Kyle Kuzma even knows how to play basketball anymore, and Johnny Davis and Marvin Bagley III are continuing to remind us how big of a bust they were in the draft. On the bright side, they do have the number 2 pick in Alexandre Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly seems to have learned a thing or two from the Olympics and is playing well. However, the highlight reals are still filled with Jordan Poole hitting a lot of shots and throwing up the most ridiculous heat check while falling to his left that results in an air ball and Kyle Kuzma forgetting how to dribble, twice, and then airballing a three. Is there anyway to bring back prime John Wall and prime Gilbert Arenas?
7.) The New York Knicks Need Time
Let’s not overreact to the Celtics shooting the Knicks out of the gym in their first game. There was nothing they could do with how many shots were falling that night. That being said, it is still going to take some time for that team to mesh. Mikal Bridges is new and Karl Anthony-Towns got added at the last second. Throw in Josh Hart not being sure what his role is with this new make up and there are some growing pains to be worked through. While I’m still concerned about that defensive interior with KAT being the center and how well he’ll work with Tom Thibodeau, expect some rough stretches at the beginning of the season and expect some great runs later in the season.
8.) The Denver Nuggets Look Old
Nikola Jokic is still Nikola Jokic. He is a three time MVP and Finals MVP for a reason. The rest of that team just looks old right now. Which is weird to say because the average of the team is 26 years old. While that isn’t incredibly young, it also isn’t super old. Their main rotation players do have a lot of tread on them with Jokic, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., Russell Westbrook, and Aaron Gordon. It just seems like the team is stuck in the past when they were a well oiled machine, but now a few parts are missing. Especially that three point shooting. They are full of streaky shooters like Jokic says and it is concerning.
9.) The Philadelphia 76ers Should Be Concerned
I’ll be honest, the Paul George traded worried me. Not because I was worried about how good the big three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and George was going to be. I was worried with how often we’re even going to see that big three. The Philadelphia 76ers have not looked good to start the season because they are missing two of their big three. It took 45 points from Tyrese Maxey and overtime to beat a struggling Indiana Pacers team to get their first win of the year. We’re not sure when PG will return and Joel Embiid has already said he isn’t playing back to back games and is sitting out the first week of the season for left knee management. Embiid has never been healthy and in shape for the playoffs and Playoff P hasn’t been seen since his Pacers days. I don’t care what the regular season looks like, I don’t trust those two to be there for the playoffs.
10.) Ben Simmons is the Same
This is the only time I will mention Ben Simmons in this list all year until he actually proves he is worth being talked about. All season we saw the offseason workout videos (again), mentions of him being healthy (again), and his trainer even said he is better than he was his All-Star years. On 24 minutes a game this year he is average 5/5/5. I also can’t get the video of him getting a steal with a wide open lane to the basket and lazily walking to the basket, giving the ball up to a trailing teammate, the teammate giving the ball back to him, him loosing the ball on a turnover, and then Ben blaming the teammate.
Well, those are the ten things I saw in the NBA during Tipoff Weekend! Did I miss something? Comment below what you saw and join me next week for my next list of What I Saw in the NBA this Week!
Main Image: David Butler II-Imagn Images
