Early 2024-25 NBA Player Specials

Early 2024-25 NBA Player Specials

We’re nearing September, which means October is right around the corner. The 2024-25 regular season starts on Oct. 22. With the final game taking place on April 13, 2025. It’s time to take a look at some of the specials including points per game, rebounds, and assists.

(odds from Draft Kings)

Points Per Game

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander +450

Luka Doncic is the favorite at +130 and Joel Embiid is second at +290. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.1 points per game last season and while Doncic should average around 30 points per game again, he won’t have to score as much with Klay Thompson arriving to play with Kyrie Irving (we’ll get to assists later). SGA is just 26 and he’s averaged 31.4 points and 30.1 points over his last two seasons. His three-point shooting is getting a big better (35.3% from 34.5%), but he also gets to the line a ton (8.7 LY). Alex Caruso is a better three-point shooter than Josh Giddey so teams can’t double-team SGA.

Longshot: Anthony Edwards +6000

He might be the best athlete in the league. “Ant” averaged 25.9 points per game last season and shot 35.7% from long range. He’s just 23 and is still improving. He’s also playing for one of the best teams in the league with one of the premier shooting 7-footers in Karl-Anthony Towns, who averaged 21.8 points on 41.6% three-point shooting.

Rebounds Per Game

Nikola Jokic +450

Domantas Sabonis is the favorite at +200 and he’s a great rebounder. But Jokic is the walking triple-double, who averaged 13.8 rebounds per game in 2021-22 and averages 10.7 per game in his career. At 29, he’s not slowing down because he’s slow. I think he adds another rebound+ to his average of 12.4 per game last season.

Longshot

Giannis Antetokounmpo +1800

The Greek Freak averaged 11.5 last season and has been pretty consistent over the last four seasons. He did average 13.6 per game in 2019-20 and this season, he’ll be more motivated after last season’s disappointment.

Assists Leader

Tyrese Haliburton +165

Haliburton is fun to watch and led the league in assists last season, but is the second favorite to Trae Young, who didn’t play enough games to qualify, but averaged 10.8 assists, while Haliburton averaged 10.9 assists. The difference is that Haliburton is just 24 and with Andrew Nembhard stepping up as a scorer in the playoffs (14.9ppg to 9.2ppg in reg. season, he doesn’t have to be the first or second option. Getting a healthy Bennedict Mathurin back will also help.

Longshot

LaMelo Ball +4000

Ball has played 58 games over his last two seasons, so this is a risk. But he’s just 23 and is one of the most talented players in the league. Last season, he averaged 8.0 assists per game for a terrible team after averaging 9.4 assists in the previous season. The addition of Josh Green will help as another perimeter scorer who shot 38.5% from beyond the arc last season.