It's officially been a week NBA season, and the level of competition in the league was unreal. It seems like every game on national television went to overtime, if not double overtime. Victor Vembanyama plays basketball like never before. Stephen Curry prepares her usual dishes. Luka Doncic is averaging 46.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 8.5 assists.
But on some level none of this is surprising. We knew Knicks were going to make more three-pointers under Mike Brown (and we really did), and we knew Celtics they will probably struggle (and indeed they do). But what about what we didn't expect? This could be a long list (are Jazz ok?), but I'm going to focus on the top five surprises from the first week.
Austin Reeves your leader by total points
Reeves' legitimate card has been stamped on it for a long time, but this is something else. Through four games, Reaves is averaging 35.8 points per game. His 143 points are tied with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for first in the league entering Tuesday's game. On Sunday he scored 51 points in a win over Kingsmissing a triple-double by one assist and becoming the first player in history to score at least 50 points, eight rebounds and eight assists on 80% shooting in a single game.
He then backed it up by scoring 41 in Monday's loss to the Blazers.
Do the math, and that's 92 points in about 30 hours for Reaves, who is making a big bet on a max contract when he becomes a free agent next summer. The numbers speak for themselves, but it's worth noting that Reaves did what he did against the Blazers, even though he was the focal point of the defense with both Luka Doncic and Luka Doncic. LeBron James out.
Reeves has now made a league-best 51 free throws, and he's not making plays. He's a lot more cunning than you think and a true master of the big kick. He's one of two guys in the league averaging at least 35 points, eight rebounds and six rebounds (the other is Luka Doncic, who has played in just two games), and his 57/43/88 shooting split is staggering by any standard, let alone the volume Reeves has activated.
Reeves' usage will certainly drop when James returns, but by playing this way you can make the case that LeBron will have to fit into what could be Lakers' a new dynamic duo, both in the short and long term. Reeves could make his first All-Star Game if he continues to perform at anything close to that level.
How hot starts from Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic could redefine LeBron James' role in the new-look Lakers
Sam Quinn
Kuminga and the Warriors left arranged marriage with basketball like-minded people in the blink of an eye. Through four games, Kuminga, who had 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, 10 rebounds and four assists in the Warriors' win over Memphis on Monday, is averaging career highs across the board: 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists on a sky-high 69.5 shooting percentage.
Kuminga has never been more effective. He never bounced like that. It went like this. This is how I defended myself. His sudden understanding of Steph's playoff Warriors movement system and his place in it is palpable. Steve Kerr admired Kuminga's maturity, and understandably so. After his tense contract saga this summer, returning to a team that seemingly only signed him because no one else would trade much for him, and likely with the intention of still trading him before the deadline, and playing with such commitment to, well, team this is an extraordinary thing.
With significantly less usage than was required in the past, Kuminga does more than ever; the average rangers carrying out single missions, whom he had long shot with a negligible percentage, disappeared. After a couple of bad shots to open the season, he played near-perfect basketball and appears to have cemented his position, at least as long as it lasts, in both the starting and finishing lineups.
Then again, when the Warriors signed Kuminga to a two-year, $46.5 million deal this summer, with the second season being a team option, many believed it was a contract that required a move. But if Kuminga continues to play like this, barring some sort of superstar deal where Kuminga is the centerpiece, Golden State may not be able to afford to lose him.
Bulls invincible!
Everyone's favorite line, “What the hell is their plan?” started the season with a victory over Pistons, Magic And Hawks — all teams widely considered fringe contenders in the Eastern Conference — thanks to a defensive rating of 104.4, which ties Oklahoma City for league class.
This won't last. But the Bulls look really good with a deep roster full of quality NBA players, six of whom (Nikola Vucevic, Josh Giddy, Ayo Dosunmu, Kevin Huerter, Matas Buzelis And Three Jones) average 13 points per game or more. They contest every shot (even if early season defensive numbers always have shot luck built into them, that's obvious) and they rebound at a top-five pace to highlight all those stops.
In Monday's win over Atlanta, eight guys scored at least 12 points, led by Dosumnu, who scored 21 points off the bench. Vucevic has been furious all year, although probably unsustainably. Giddy plays like an All-Star. Dosumnu, a tireless defender, made nine of his 15 3-pointers. If you haven't grabbed a seat on the Bouzelis hype train yet, sorry, there's no room left.
Things will get tough for the Bulls as they face the Knicks, Sixers, BucksCavs, SpursPistons and Nuggets in eight of the next 10. We'll see if this is actually something worth talking about or if it's just a fake hot start from a team that's headed straight to the play-in again, but something tells me this is a team that's going to give a lot of problems to a lot of opponents this year.
Just when you thought Oklahoma City ThunderWith their young championship roster and 11 potential first-round picks coming over the next seven drafts, it couldn't get any richer, here comes Mitchell and likely That outstanding player of the young season.
It didn't come completely out of left field. You saw his ability last season in the odds and sweeps, and he was a star in Summer League, but he just didn't have the ability to get consistent minutes. He was not part of the playoff rotation. Nose Jalen Williams, Isaiah Joe And Kenrich Williams all sidelined early in the season, Mitchell took full advantage of his time to shine, scoring at least 14 points in all four games off the bench.
And these are not additional things. He was a prolific goalscorer in crucial stretches and at times almost impossible to defend due to his superb balance, variable spin/stop-start rate and deft approach to the gray area in traffic.
MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander says Michell simply “knows how to play,” and as cliché as that assessment may sound, it couldn't ring more true. Watch your footwork. The perfection of his auto racing training video. Craft his pump fake. Its medium-sized pouch is deep; he can do it in both directions, and his acceleration on the descent hits like a punch.
It's actually funny that OKC, with all its talent and future assets, has such a good guy just hanging around in the shadows of the depth chart. Every team in the league would kill for a backup point guard like that; That Mavericks, Rockets, Timberwolves, or half a dozen other teams would jump at the chance to make him their starting point guard right now. This is not an accident. This dude can play his heart out. He'll be a big contributor for the Thunder even when all these guys return, and he could be one of the hottest trade assets in the league as the deadline approaches. As if the Thunder needed any more of this.
Buffet 50 pcs.
The regular season is one week old and we have already played four 50-point matches. Aaron Gordon went crazy in Denver's opener against the Warriors with a 50-for-10 3-point shooting. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a career-high 55 points in a double-overtime win over the team. Pacers. Austin Reaves, as noted above, scored 51 points against the Kings on Sunday. And on Tuesday Lauri Markkanen gave Sun 51.
This is only the second time in NBA history that we have had four 50-point games in October (Wilt Chamberlain himself did it four times in 1962, and Blake GriffinStephen Curry Derrick Rose And Kyrie Irving did this in 2018). That gives us four nights, starting Tuesday, to break the record with another 50-person show.
Honestly, the record should have been broken by now. Luka Doncic went to the line with 48 points against the Timberwolves, but could only split free throws before being stopped at 49.
