Ben Degani
Rookie Victor Wembenyama blocking all star Warriors guard Chris Paul.
Lebron James is still a freak of nature. James Harden might as well be forcing a trade to the Seattle Seahawks next. Nikola Jokic is still treating the NBA as a side job while being the most dominant offensive force the league has seen in decades. Victor Wembenyama is, in fact, drawn to scale. Steph Curry seems only to keep improving with time. And even as a Brooklyn Nets fan, who the hell is Cam Thomas? The NBA has only begun regular season play for not even two weeks, and it's already evident that this is gonna be a season for the ages. So here's everything you may have missed in the first week of the NBA.
Is it too early to be speculating about the 2023-2024 NBA season after a week? Absolutely. Doesn't mean we won't do it anyway. At the ripe age of 38, James is still holding onto father time with a struggling Los Angeles Lakers team averaging 22-9-7 on 62 percent shooting while playing the least minutes a game in his entire career. Unfortunately, Anthony Davis and him are being anchored down by teammates such as Gabe Vincent who can’t make a three even if you gave them ten million dollars. I don’t think people understand how impressive averaging seven percent from beyond the arc is.
Honey-bun Harden has now forced a trade three times in four seasons, proving that if you’re good enough, you can honestly do whatever you want. This is really awesome for whoever has the pleasure of Harden sitting on their bench in fantasy this year.
On the contrary to disloyalty and mass trading, Jokic is still proving that he is indisputably the best player in the world right now. Averaging 28-13-8 on nearly 70 percent true shooting percentage. The Denver Nuggets are winning games by an average of 15 points, so good luck to your favorite team.
Scoring still doesn't seem to be an issue because, at this point, scoring 40 points has now become as common as Luka Doncic averaging numbers that sound like it came from a 2k my-player. Luka and many other stars, such as Damian Lillard, are already making history. A more specific example of that is Kristaps Porzingas, the first Boston Celtics center to score 30 points in a regular season game since Kelly Olynyk A WHOLE DECADE AGO. In all seriousness, the Celtics are showing signs of actually winning a championship. Videos of Jaylen Brown finally learning how to dribble with his left hand are circulating, so you can tell they mean business this year.
On the subject of promising signs, this year's rookie class is most certainly one of them. The photo at the head of this article is not edited. Wembenyama makes people shorter than 6 '10” look like third graders with his freakish length. Let me paint a picture for you. You’re watching the NBA with your dad on a Thursday night, sweating over a parlay, and then suddenly you see the manifestation of Slenderman reaching from the three point line to steal a ball being dribbled at the free throw line. So yeah, he's pretty good. Other rookies like Brandon Miller, Derek Lively, and Asuar Thompson are already making impacts on their franchises, and Scoot…let’s just say he’s still “acclimating to the league.”
This year's power rankings haven't shown much surprise. Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets, and Washington Wizards are on the bottom. The Memphis Grizzlies are dropping 13 spots because the rest of the lineup is possibly following Ja Morant’s footsteps of missing half the season. The Pelicans moved up seven spots because Zion Williamson finally decided he was gonna start playing basketball. And finally, to nobody's surprise, the Nuggets, Celtics, and Bucks keep their throne as the NBA’s big three. No mystery there.
However, the greatest mystery will always lie within the Nets as Ben Simmons can throw passes from across the court and grab ten rebounds a game, but still, as a point guard in the NBA, he can’t make a jump shot. But do not fear because Thomas once again rises from the boonies and fantasy waivers and is scoring like a prime Micheal Jordan, averaging nearly 30 a game.
As you can see, the NBA is riddled with talent, surprises, new standards, and even more surprises. But the long several month wait is over, and the NBA is finally back. What will soon be known as one of the most prolific seasons of basketball in the greatest basketball league in the world is just getting started.
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