Starting 5, Dec. 31: NBA Trends on the Horizon for 2025

As we wrap up another journey around the sun, the Starting 5 team wants to express our heartfelt gratitude for joining us on this ride. Thank you for being a part of our story this year.

Let’s catch you up on the biggest stories to know right now — from last night, for today, and heading into 2025.

5 STORIES IN TODAY’S EDITION

Dec. 31, 2024

Big-Time Performances: Nikola Jokić & Karl-Anthony Towns shine in Monday wins

Streaks: Sixers, Cavs & Clippers extend win streaks, while Kings end their slide

What’s Trending – OKC Streaking: The red-hot Thunder go for their 12th straight W

What’s Trending – Crowded West: Seeds 2-11 are separated by just six games; Wemby reaches new heights

What’s Trending – East Heating Up: Cavs lead a conference filled with intriguing races

BUT FIRST … ⏰

Six games to beat the 2024 buzzer…

NBA x NYE: Spend the final night of 2024 with a six-game slate, led by an NBA TV matchup between the Thunder and Wolves (8 ET) as OKC goes for its 12th straight win to close out the year.

Last 25 Years: All week, we’ve been counting down the top 100 plays from the past 25 years. Check out the full list on the NBA App.

Trivia Time: Close out 2024 by testing your knowledge of the past 25 years of hoops

1. TWO BIG GAMES FROM TWO BIG MVP CANDIDATES

Two of the three centers in the latest Kia MVP Ladder – Nikola Jokić and Karl-Anthony Towns – had huge games on Monday in the final game of 2024 for both players.

Nuggets 132, Jazz 121: The Joker was playing with a full deck against Utah, racking up 36 points, 22 rebounds and 11 assists for his league-leading 13th triple-double of the season to lead the Nuggets to their seventh win in the last 10 games, on a historic night for Denver. | Recap

Jokić x Wilt: With his fourth 35/20/10 game, Jokić passed Elgin Baylor for the second most all-time behind Wilt Chamberlain (11)Jokić x Russ:

In addition to Jokić’s 143rd career triple-double, Russell Westbrook (16 pts, 10 reb, 10ast) extended the NBA record with his 201st as they became just the 15th pair of teammates with a triple-double in the same game and the first in Nuggets history

Russ x Sabonis: Westbrook (7-7 FG, 2-2 FT, 0 turnovers) joined Domantas Sabonis as the only players to post a triple-double on 100% shooting on FGs and FTs without a turnoverTriple Threat:

Jokic (11), Russ (10) and Jamal Murray (20 pts, 10 ast) become the sixth trio in NBA History to record 10+ assists in a game, and the first since 1992

New-Look Knicks Stay Hot: Karl-Anthony Towns’ 27th double-double of the season (32 pts, 13 reb) powered the Knicks to their eighth straight win as they closed out 2024 with a 126-106 win over Washington. | Recap

All Hart: Josh Hart (23 pts, 15 reb, 10 ast) posted his third triple-double of the season, while scoring 14 straight points for NY in the 2nd quarter to help the Knicks take the lead for good. | KAT & Hart Combine For 55

Best In A Dozen Years: At 23-10, the Knicks have matched their best start through 33 games since 2012 and sit just a half-game behind Boston for second in the East

Fitting In Nicely: Newcomers KAT and Mikal Bridges have made significant impacts in their debut seasons in NYC

Towns ranks second in the NBA in rebounding (13.5 rpg) while adding 24.7 ppg on 55.0 FG%/43.8 3P% shooting splits. Bridges (+190) leads all players in plus/minus in December

2. SIXERS, CAVS & CLIPPERS EXTEND WIN STREAKS; KINGS STOP 6-GAME SKID

76ers 125, Blazers 103: Behind Joel Embiid’s season-high 37 points, 23 points from Tyrese Maxey and a career-best eight steals from Kelly Oubre Jr., the Sixers beat the Blazers for their fourth straight win. | Recap

Bouncing Back: Since starting 4-14, Philly has gone 9-3 since to get back in contention for the Play-In (just 0.05 in Win% behind No. 10 Detroit) and Playoffs (3.0 games behind No. 6 Milwaukee)

Bulls 115, Hornets, 108 (OT): Miles Bridges hit a leaning, double-pump 3 with 1.5 seconds left to cap an 8-2 Hornets run to close regulation and force OT. However, the Bulls scored the first eight points of the extra frame to regain control and held on for their second straight W. | Recap

Triple Double-Doubles: Coby White (23 pts, 10 reb, 9 ast) finished one dime shy of his first career triple-double, while Nikola Vučević and Josh Giddey both added double-doubles in the winBuzzing Duo: Bridges (32 pts, 12 reb, 8 ast) did it all for Charlotte, while Mark Williams (20 pts, 12 reb, 9-9 FG) posted the season’s first 20/10/100 FG% game

Cavs 113, Warriors 95: Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell combined for 48 points and eight 3s to lead the Cavs past the Warriors to stay perfect in the West (8-0) with their seventh straight win overall. | Recap

Taking Over: After Golden State won the opening quarter 27-26, the Cavs outscored the Warriors 87-68 the rest of the way, allowing only 11 points in the 2nd quarter

Kings 110, Mavs 100: For the first time since Dec. 12 – and the first time under interim head coach Doug Christie – the beam was lit in Sacramento as the Kings overcame an 18-point deficit to top the shorthanded Mavs, who were without Luka Dončić, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson. | Recap

Royal Duo: De’Aaron Fox had a game-high 33 points, while Domantas Sabonis notched his league-leading 28th double-double (17 pts, 16 reb) as the Kings ended a six-game slide

Clippers 116, Pelicans 113: Norman Powell scored 16 of his game-high 35 points in the 4th, and James Harden added 27 points with five 3s as the Clippers completed a 14-point comeback to defeat the Pelicans for their third straight win. | Recap

LA Leap: With the win, the Clippers leapfrog the Lakers for fifth in the WestCJ For 3: CJ McCollum splashed a season-high eight 3s and scored 33 points to lead the Pelicans, who dropped their 10th straight game

3. WHAT’S TRENDING: ROLLING THUNDER

Only two teams have posted double-digit win streaks this season – Cleveland with 15 straight to open the season and Oklahoma City with 11 in a row right now.

Not coincidentally, the Cavs and Thunder sit atop the NBA’s two conferences – Cleveland with a five-game lead on Boston in the East and OKC with a five-game lead on Memphis in the West, following the Thunder’s 130-106 win over the Grizzlies on Sunday.

At the heart of OKC’s first 11-game single-season win streak since 2012 is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP-caliber play and a historic defense.

SGA’s Sustained Greatness: Shai – who ranks 2nd in the NBA in scoring (31.0 ppg) as he goes for his third straight season averaging 30+ ppg – has been even better during the streak, averaging 32.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg and 5.5 apgOver the past three seasons, no player has more 30+ point games than SGA (113), with last year’s scoring champ (Luka Dončić, 104) and this year’s scoring leader (Giannis Antetokounmpo, 99) ranking second and third, respectivelyFirst-Of-Its-Kind Defense: As John Schuhmann notes in this week’s Power Rankings, the Thunder have the best defense (vs. avg) in the 29 seasons of play-by-play data, allowing 9.6 fewer points per 100 possessions than the league average (102.9 vs. 112.5)

But That’s Not All: Schuhmann also highlights the Thunder having the highest opponent turnover rate (18.8 per 100 possessions) in the last 26 seasons, while they also have the league’s lowest turnover rate on offense (11.7 per 100)

Best Vs. The Best: OKC is 9-3 against the other seven West teams with winning records and will face a Wolves squad tonight (8 ET, NBA TV) that is 8-5 against the top nine

With a win tonight, the Thunder would tie the longest single-season win streak of the OKC era (12 games in 2012) and be just two games shy of matching the franchise record (14 games by the 1996 Sonics).

4. WHAT’S TRENDING: CROWDED WEST, WEMBY RISING

How competitive is the West entering 2025? Consider this:

The gap between first-place OKC and second place Memphis is five gamesThe gap between second-place Memphis and 11th-place Phoenix is six games

That’s right, as 2024 comes to an end, 10 teams are within six games of each other with each team having already played 30+ games this season. In other words … buckle up for a wild race to the 2025 postseason.

Defense Leads Top 3: The Thunder, Grizzlies and Rockets are not only separated by just 5.5 games, they all rank in the top five in defensive rating this season – OKC (1st, 102.9), Houston (2nd, 106.0) and Memphis (5th, 108.4)Generations Collide: Seeds 5-11 are separated by just three games and feature a mix of all-time greats (LeBron, Durant, Curry, Harden, Russ and Jokić have combined to win 12 of the last 16 MVPs) and future faces of the league (Ant Edwards and Wemby)

Polar Ends Meet: The No. 2 Grizzlies visit the No. 11 Suns tonight (9 ET, League Pass) for the first of four meetings this season. Phoenix (15-16) is looking to avoid a three-game losing streak, while Memphis (22-11) tries to bounce back from its loss to OKC

Sophomore Standout: Victor Wembanyama – the reigning Kia Rookie of the Year – is having a sophomore season for the ages, averaging 25.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists and a league-high 4.0 blocks per game.

Hall Of Fame Company: Only two players in NBA history have averaged 25/10/3/4 over the course of a season – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1975-76) and Hakeem Olajuwon (1992-93)Ahead Of Schedule? Wemby has put up these numbers less than a week before turning 21. Neither of the Hall of Famers above had a season like this before the age of 28Wemby’s 2024 Finale: The Spurs (16-16) host the Clippers tonight (7 ET, League Pass) looking to exceed .500 this deep into the season for the first time since 2020-21

5. WHAT’S TRENDING: EAST HEATING UP, PISTONS FIRING

The competition in the East is just as hot as the West, with a bunch of key races to keep an eye on as the calendar flips to 2025.

Cleveland Leads The Top 3: The Cavs took sole possession of first in the East on Oct. 30 when they improved to 5-0 and never looked back. It was part of their historic 15-0 start to the season that has kept them atop the East the past two months.

Best Start Ever: At 28-4, the Cavs have the best record in the NBA and their best through 32 games in franchise history. The last time they won 28 games in any 32-game span was in 2009-10Familiar Foe: That 2009-10 squad was led by tonight’s opponent – LeBron James – as the Cavs visit the Lakers looking for their eighth straight win (9 ET, League Pass)The Next Two: The defending champion Celtics (23-9) and red-hot Knicks (23-10) round out the top three in the EastNew York closes 2024 on an eight-game win streak, while Boston (5-5 in its last 10) tries to close the year strong tonight against Toronto (3 ET, League Pass)

Resilient Magic: Orlando sits fourth in the East at 20-14 as they continue to fight through injuries and win games despite missing Paolo Banchero and both Wagner brothers.

Stepping Up: In addition to a career year from Jalen Suggs, the Magic got a pair of huge games off the bench from Cole Anthony as they rallied past Miami (25 pts down) and Brooklyn (21 pts down) over the past 10 days

Rounding Out The Top 6: The Hawks have gone 11-4 over their last 15 games, including a four-game win streak to close 2024, as they sit fifth in the East. The Bucks – propelled by their run to the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup – have bounced back from a 2-8 start to sit sixth.

Strong Squads In Play-In Position: The Heat (who reached the 2023 Finals) and the Pacers (who reached the 2024 East Finals) are seventh and eighth in the East, respectively, but well within striking distance of the top sixRivals Close 2024: The Pacers host the Bucks (3 ET, League Pass) in a rematch of their 2024 first-round playoff series, where Indy won in six games

Deee-troit Basketball: At 14-18, the Pistons have matched their win total from the 2023-24 season and sit 10th in the East. Leading the way is Cade Cunningham (24.0 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 9.7 apg), who is on pace to be the first player in Pistons history to average 20/5/9.