Christmas lights are springing up, you can’t go anywhere without hearing Mariah Carey, and football players are making snow angels in the end zone. That means, somehow, the first quarter of the 2024-25 NBA season has come and gone. Let’s hand out some hardware!
Note: these aren’t forward-looking projections for the year-end choices. These are merit-based awards for the first 20-ish games that every team has played so far.
Eastern Conference MVP: Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
There isn’t a single superstar in the game as well-rounded as Tatum. His headline ability, scoring, is understated and mathematically elegant. He’s averaging 28.4 points per game by taking advantage of the most valuable areas on the floor: he’s finishing at career-best levels (74% shooting at the rim, the same number as Giannis and a smidge above Anthony Davis), launching a monstrous 10.6 three-pointers per game, and earning the second-most free throws of his NBA life.
But all the high-wattage guys can score. It’s everything else that sets Tatum apart. He’s become an elite positional passer, as we saw in last year’s NBA Finals; he eats defensive rebounds with startling voracity; he’s a mean-as-hell pick-setter:
While star forwards around the league complain about having to guard centers, Tatum is quietly defending bigs more often than ever before (20% of the time, to be exact).
His one surface-level deficiency, offensive rebounding, has more to do with schematic choices than personal flaws.
With apologies to Giannis Antetokounmpo, doing his best to bring the Bucks back to relevance, Tatum is a no-brainer choice.
Western Conference MVP: Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Jokic is currently third in scoring, second in rebounding, second in assists, eighth in steals (!), and second in three-point percentage. You already know who’s on top of every advanced metric leaderboard. The Nuggets post a 129.1 offensive rating with Jokic on the floor, miles ahead of the Knicks’ league-leading 123.7; they post a 96.4 offensive rating without him, a Mariana Trench-length beneath the Wizards’ anemic 103.8.
Frankly, I’ve been writing about the NBA for a while, and despite my pharaonic vocabulary (and access to online thesauri), I’ve run out of ways to describe why and how Jokic is the MVP. When we’re talking about the league’s most videogenic player, just listing stats feels wrong, but it’s also the best way to convey his overwhelming dominance.
Not even Tatum can reach the oxygen-deprived heights that Jokic routinely (and literally!) resides in. The Nugget is the MVP of the conference and the quarter, without question.
Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Quarter: Dyson Daniels, Atlanta Hawks
This is a fun one.
It’s likely that the three best defensive players (at least) all reside in the West. This is a conference-specific award, however, so it comes down to two players: Jonathan Isaac and Dyson Daniels.
My pick is Daniels, who leads the league in swipes by a mile and currently sports what would be a record-setting number of deflections per game. And he isn’t playing steal roulette, either. Per Bball-Index, Daniels has had the most challenging matchups in the league, and he has graded out as a better defender than anybody approaching his difficulty level. He has Rick James-level change-of-direction abilities:
Isaac has been an elemental force of nature in his own right. Only Donovan Clingan and Victor Wembanyama average more stocks (steals+blocks) per 100 possessions. Ballhandlers panic when they see him looming as the last line of defense, knowing there’s no way out:
However, Isaac has played 355 minutes to Daniels’ 706 — almost exactly half as many. Playing time doesn’t matter as much to me as some, but a gulf that wide is meaningful this early in the season. Isaac also plays on a team filled with capable defenders who can steer ballhandlers his way. Daniels, meanwhile, often feels like he’s Hodor-ing to save the Hawks from obliteration.
You can’t go wrong with either. Shout out to OG Anunoby, too.
Western Conference Defensive Player of the Quarter: Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
Wembanyama isn’t the clinical pick-and-roll defender that Rudy Gobert is, and he doesn’t have the same snarling energy that Chet Holmgren uses to power himself up. He makes visible mistakes constantly.
It doesn’t matter. Focusing on the miscues misses the forest for the particularly tall tree. Wembanyama is already a generational defender despite his flaws, and he’s not yet old enough to order some champagne!
Opponents are shooting just 44% at the rim against him; he leads the league in blocks by a billion; he’s averaging more steals than Jimmy Butler, Luguentz Dort, or Mikal Bridges. He’s at or near the top of essentially every advanced defensive metric.
No other defender has as large a margin for error. No other defender causes opponents to set their teammates up for failure as often:
Other defenders have kept it close. Rudy Gobert is having a better season by the numbers than the eye test, but he still aces even that exam with flying colors. Watch as he deters one Clipper into a wild pass, blocks another, and then forces a third into a very tough turnaround:
Sure, Los Angeles ends up scoring. But that’s as strong a rim-protection presence as it’s possible to provide.
Chet Holmgren deserves a mention, too, as he was at Wembanyama’s level before injuries derailed his early-season campaign. Both players may have something to say about this award next quarter. But for now, Wemby reigns supreme.
If you want more quarterly awards, I went deep on all of them here (albeit not split by conference), including a Sixth Man of the Quarter pick that caused a bit of controversy!
