The Celtics have been at the forefront of the league-wide surge of 3-point attempts.
It’s still very early, with only 71 (6%) of 1,230 games having been played. But it’s time to start digging into the numbers, with the understanding that things can change quickly.
Here are 10 numbers to know from the first 10 days of the 2024-25 campaign…
All stats are through Thursday, Oct. 31.
1. The league has taken 41.8% of its shots from 3-point range.
That would be the highest rate in the 46 years of the 3-point line and the first time it’s been at 40% or higher. The rate was 39.1% at this point last season and climbed to 39.5% by the end of the year.
Three teams in the previous 45 seasons — the 2017-18, ’18-19 and ’19-20 Houston Rockets — took at least half of their shots from beyond the arc. Through Thursday, three more teams have done it.
Highest 3-point rate, NBA history
| Team | Season | FGA | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | 3PA/FGA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston | 2024-25 | 471 | 105 | 258 | 40.7% | 54.8% |
| Houston | 2018-19 | 7,163 | 1,323 | 3,721 | 35.6% | 51.9% |
| Minnesota | 2024-25 | 331 | 66 | 167 | 39.5% | 50.5% |
| Houston | 2017-18 | 6,906 | 1,256 | 3,470 | 36.2% | 50.2% |
| Orlando | 2024-25 | 427 | 74 | 214 | 34.6% | 50.1% |
| Houston | 2019-20 | 6,512 | 1,126 | 3,261 | 34.5% | 50.1% |
| Brooklyn | 2024-25 | 441 | 82 | 218 | 37.6% | 49.4% |
| Utah | 2020-21 | 6,344 | 1,205 | 3,098 | 38.9% | 48.8% |
| Dallas | 2022-23 | 6,909 | 1,246 | 3,362 | 37.1% | 48.7% |
| Charlotte | 2024-25 | 364 | 69 | 176 | 39.2% | 48.4% |
2. The Nuggets scored just 72 points on 97 possessions (74.2 per 100) when Nikola Jokić was off the floor.
That is anemic offensive output. Jokić has had the league’s biggest on-off differential (regarding point differential per 100 possessions) in each of the last three seasons, and bench minutes remain a big issue in Denver. Russell Westbrook, Peyton Watson and Dario Šarić have combined to shoot 17-for-66 (26%), including 12-for-40 (30%) in the paint.
3. The Lakers have averaged 2.5 more shooting opportunities than their opponents.
That’s the league’s ninth-best differential, up from -3.5 per game (the league’s worst discrepancy) last season. New coach JJ Redick has come in and (so far) fixed his team’s biggest math problem, though the Lakers have taken a lower percentage of their shots from 3-point range (34.9%, 28th) than they did last season (35.8%, 28th).
4. According to Second Spectrum tracking, the Knicks have scored 1.69 points per direct possession when Karl-Anthony Towns has set a ball screen for Jalen Brunson.
That’s the best mark among 47 combinations with at least 25 direct possessions out of the ball screen. It’s a small sample size (just 33 possessions), but when a Brunson/Towns pick-and-roll has led directly to a shot, turnover or trip to the line, the Knicks have been ridiculously efficient.
5. The league has averaged 28.1 free throw attempts per 100 shots from the field.
That would be the highest free throw rate (FTA/FGA) in the last 11 seasons. That is a surprise, given that last season produced the lowest free throw rate in NBA history. Teams averaged just 24.4 free throw attempts per 100 shots from the field in 2023-24, including just 22.5 per 100 after the All-Star break.
One official point of emphasis this season is defenders moving offensive players off their path to the basket. Indeed, fouls have been called on 8.4% of drives, up from 7% last season and what would be the highest rate in the 12 seasons of Second Spectrum player tracking.
6. Victor Wembanyama has taken only 29 of his 74 shots in the paint
The Spurs’ star is the second-tallest player in the league, but the percentage of his shots that have come in the paint (39%) ranks 65th among 96 players with at least 50 total field goal attempts (not including backcourt shots). He’s shot 19-for-29 (65.5%) in the paint and has an effective field goal percentage of just 35.6% on shots from the outside, currently 4-for-11 from mid-range and 8-for-34 from beyond the arc.
Wembanyama recorded his second career 5×5 game as his team won in Utah on Thursday. But the Spurs have scored just 101.5 points per 100 possessions in his 155 minutes on the floor, and it would certainly help if they could get him more shots near the basket.
7. The Cavs are the ninth team in NBA history to start the season 5-0 with an average point differential of at least 18 points per game.
Six of the previous eight (including each of the last four) reached The Finals, with four of those six (including last season’s Celtics) winning the championship.
5-0 to start season with average differential of 18+ points
| Season | Team | Pt. Diff. | Streak | Playoffs | Finals | Champ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964-65 | Boston | 20.2 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1966-67 | Philadelphia | 23.2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1971-72 | Milwaukee | 21.2 | 7 | 1 | ||
| 1982-83 | Seattle | 18.0 | 12 | 1 | ||
| 2008-09 | L.A. Lakers | 22.4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2009-10 | Boston | 21.6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2015-16 | Golden State | 20.8 | 24 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2023-24 | Boston | 18.4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024-25 | Cleveland | 18.2 |
Streak = Consecutive wins to start season.
The Cavs had a (presumed) soft schedule in their first three games, but they beat the Knicks and Lakers earlier this week. They’ll try to stay unbeaten when they host the Magic on Friday (7 ET, ESPN).
The Oklahoma City Thunder can also get to that 5-0, +18 per game mark if they win by at least 20 points in Portland on Friday night.
8. The Thunder have allowed 91.3 points per 100 possessions over four games.
That’s the league’s highest-ranked defense by a wide margin and fewer than they allowed in any four-game stretch last season (when they ranked fourth defensively).
The Thunder rank first in opponent field goal percentage in the paint (46.3%), opponent effective field goal percentage on shots from outside the paint (41.2%) and opponent turnover rate (20.2 per 100 possessions). Chet Holmgren ranks as the league’s second-best rim protector, while Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace rank third and fourth in deflections per 36 minutes, respectively.
It hasn’t mattered much that the Thunder still aren’t rebounding well. They’re one of three teams — the Cavs and Heat are the others — that rank in the bottom 10 in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage.
9. The Bucks are the only team with four double-digit losses.
It’s already time to start worrying about the Bucks, who won their opener against the shorthanded Sixers, but are the 39th team in NBA history to have four double-digit losses in their first five games. Only six (16%) of the previous 38 went on to reach the playoffs, with the last being the 2004-05 Nuggets, who also began the season 1-4 and finished as the No. 7 seed in the West, ultimately losing their first-round series in five games.
10. The Bulls have seen the league’s biggest jumps in both pace and assist rate.
Only four Eastern Conference teams have winning records, and one of them is the 3-2 Bulls, who are probably surprising teams with the way they’re playing. They’ve gone from 28th to first in pace (adding 10.6 possessions per 48 minutes), from 28th to fifth in assist rate (and are throwing 54 more passes per 24 minutes of possession), and from 29th to second in 3-point rate (only the Magic have seen a bigger jump).
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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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