Scoring has been up higher than usual during the start of the 2025/26 NBA season, with 16 players scoring 40 or more points during the first week.
Opening night started with Laker Luka Doncic dropping 40; he and teammate Austin Reaves have both done so twice so far, along with Philadelphia's Tyrese Maxey scoring 40 twice himself.
The other 13 players who have also scored 40 so far: Aaron Gordon, Anthony Edwards, Cam Thomas, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jamal Murray, Jaylen Brown, Lauri Markkanen, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Stephen Curry and Victor Wembanyama.
Star players are making statements around the league, as it seems like a new player is dropping 40 every day.
On average, there is an average 2.4 40-point games across the first four games of a season. The previous record was nine, which was set three seasons ago; this season, the record was smashed by almost double at 16.
Early-season stats can be unreliable, as the sample size is too small to make any conclusions, but going into Tuesday's games, NBA games this season, teams are averaging 236.6 points per game, a 7.6% increase from last year.
Going into this season, teams said they were making a conscious effort to play faster, and they are, and they are also getting to the foul line more.
Teams are making more free throws per game than at any point over the last 30 seasons. All these factors combine for the perfect recipe for a lot of points to be scored, and therefore, the star players of the league are cashing in.
