NBA’s Best Starts to the 2024-25 Season

Having discussed the worst starts to the NBA season earlier this week, I wanted to follow that up by breaking down the best starts in the league. Again, I am going to account for expectations here. The Philadelphia 76ers (2-7) and the Milwaukee Bucks (2-8) are not the worst teams in the NBA – Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz, and Washington Wizards – but when you have title aspirations and are trending to hit 10 losses before five wins that is a problem.

On the flip side, the Cleveland Cavaliers (12-0) and the Golden State Warriors (8-2) have come roaring out of the gates. While the Boston Celtics (9-2) and Oklahoma City Thunder (9-2) have also started the season very strong, they were expected to do so. For the purposes of this two-part series, I wanted to focus on teams performing above expectations.

As the last remaining undefeated team, there is no hotter team than Cleveland right now. They just refuse to lose. On Saturday night against the Brooklyn Nets, the Cavaliers outscored Brooklyn 35-18 in the fourth quarter to emerge with a 105-100 victory. Shooting 14-18 (77.8%) from the field and a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter certainly helped.

A big reason why Cleveland has managed to stay undefeated is the early play of Evan Mobley. Against the Nets, Mobley scored 23 points on an ultra-efficient 10-11 (90.9%) from the field, including a perfect 3-3 from the field in the fourth quarter. He also pulled down a season-high 16 rebounds and tied his season-high with four steals.

Mobley has continued to expand his range, shooting 33.3% on three-pointers through 12 games. That helps free up room for Jarrett Allen to score in pick-and-roll situations. Donovan Mitchell remains the team’s best player and closer. Darius Garland, still just 24-years-old despite this being his sixth year in the league, is playing like an all-star thanks to one of the most efficient stretches of his career. Garland is averaging 20.2 points per game on 52.6% from the field, a whopping 45.9% on triples, and eleventh in the NBA free throw percentage (91.3%). He is well on his way to becoming a two-time all-star (2022) again and was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week on Monday.

The Cavs are also getting a lot of production from their bench. Particularly, Caris LeVert and Ty Jerome. LeVert has long been a top-tier sixth man, currently averaging 12 points per game and dishing out 4.5 assists per game, second highest on the team. The surprise is Jerome is averaging 10.2 points per game on an unconscious 60.8% on field goal attempts. That includes a team-leading 54.2% from beyond the arc. Is that sustainable? Probably not. But Cleveland will take it for the time being.

What might hurt the Cavs going forward is that they are not going to have a rest advantage – less games to recover than the opponent they are playing – in most games for the rest of the season. In total, Cleveland will only have seven rest advantage games this year, tied for the fourth lowest in the league. They will only have two in their first 40 games. Both are within the next seven days – Philadelphia on Wednesday and the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday. On the flip side, they have nine rest disadvantage games which is tied for 15th in the NBA.

I do not want to say that I wrote Golden State off coming into this season. But their championship from the 2021-2022 feels like a decade ago, not just a little more than two years removed. A big reason for that is because the Warriors lost Klay Thompson in free agency to the Dallas Mavericks and while they had some exciting young players, they were expected to be fighting for a play-in spot once again. 

That is not entirely related to the regression of the aging players on their roster either. I think the bigger part of that equation is the fact the Western Conference is loaded. As of this article (11/11) only four teams have a losing record in the West while only three teams have a .500 or better record in the East. Yes, that’s correct—three. 

Steph Curry continues to play at an elite level despite missing some time. Curry’s season-high 36 points and seven three-pointers. Draymond Green continues to be a defensive wizard and Swiss Army knife for Golden State. Green has also shot triples well to begin the year. He is shooting 45.2%, the highest mark of his career, while taking 3.1 attempts per game.

Not the defender that Thompson was, Buddy Hield has provided a consistent offensive punch off the bench for the Warriors. Hield had an electric October, averaging 21.2 points per game powered by nearly five makes from beyond the arc on 50% shooting. In terms of per game output, he has cooled somewhat of late. But Hield is still holding strong efficiency metrics and has positively contributed on the glass.

It has certainly been a team effort for Golden State to this point. They have 13 players on their roster that average at least five points per game, and all of them have played at least five games. Most have played nine or more. The collective has helped the Warriors earn a top three offensive, defensive, and net rating in the league.

At some point the Cavs will lose and the rest of this week will be an uphill battle due to the aforementioned lack of rest. The play at the 76ers on Wednesday, Chicago Bulls on Friday, Charlotte on Sunday, then go on the road against Boston next Tuesday which is the front end of a back-to-back with the New Orleans Pelicans the day after.

Golden State does not have the same scheduling issues but does play some quality opponents in Dallas and on the road against the feisty LA Clippers next Monday. Their schedule is pretty favorable the rest of the month. While you cannot win a championship in November, you can help set yourself up to have a slightly easier path by playing well early.