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Two weeks into the 2024-25 NBA season, plenty of trends and early-season developments have already stood out. The defending champion Boston Celtics and West favorite Oklahoma City Thunder are near the top of their conference standings, as expected. But there have been some interesting surprises, as well. The Golden State Warriors boast the NBA's second-best point differential (behind Oklahoma City and its stifling defense) despite losing Klay Thompson in free agency and playing three games without Stephen Curry. Curry's brief absence hasn't stopped teams from hoisting 3-point attempts at new record rates, while offenses are also benefiting from more whistles than we saw at the end of last season. One of the players drawing many of those fouls is the NBA's unexpected leading scorer, Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis. Meanwhile, rookies from what was considered a relatively weak draft are off to a slow start. So too is last season's Rookie of the Year, Victor Wembanyama, who posted a rare 5x5 stat line last week but hasn't been scoring as prolifically as he did during his rookie season. Let's take a look at the underlying numbers and history to evaluate which of these trends are real and which might not last beyond November. Jump to a section:
More 3-point shooting?
Warriors to stay hot?
Lakers MVP: Davis over LeBron?
Wemby in a scoring lull?
Fouls back up?
Thunder's defense to make history?
Will the rookies rise up?
West teams to dominate East teams?   Trend: Copying the Celtics? More teams firing up 3s
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