The first few weeks of the 2024-25 NBA season are in the books and there have been some interesting storylines developing already.

Some teams that fans and experts expected to be flying high are struggling mightily, while other teams have come out of nowhere to look like a force to be reckoned with.

Here are five things we've learned from the opening weeks of the season.

1. Dyson Daniels is becoming a defensive monster

When the New Orleans Pelicans and Atlanta Hawks engaged in a blockbuster trade this summer, the headline act was Dejounte Murray heading to the Pelicans.

Australia's Dyson Daniels was a throw-in sent to the Hawks along with EJ Liddell, Larry Nance Jr, Cody Zeller and two future first-round picks.

In the early part of this season, Daniels has shown why he is an asset to be coveted, as well.

Daniels's arrival in Atlanta hasn't led to the Hawks being an absolute juggernaut — at the time of writing, the Hawks are eighth in the East with a 5-7 record — but his individual defensive work has been the best of his short career.

The 21-year-old has started every game so far this season and has racked up an incredible 3.6 steals per game, well above his career average of 1.2. He is currently the NBA's premier ball hawk. Dribble around him without concentrating or throw a lazy pass and Daniels manages to get his mitts on the ball, setting off a Hawks transition play.

Daniels has recorded an incredible 19 steals in his last three outings, the last of which came alongside 28 points and seven assists as the Hawks upset the Boston Celtics on the road minus star point guard Trae Young. He is just the fourth player in NBA history to have three straight games of six or more steals.

The 36 steals Daniels has recorded through his first 10 games this season are the most recorded by a single player in such a stretch since Allen Iverson did it in 2003.

Daniels has slotted in nicely alongside Young in Atlanta's back-court, with the rest of the starting line-up rounded out by Clint Capela, Jalen Johnson and the number one pick in this year's draft, Zaccharie Risacher.

Despite being the league's fourth-worst defensive team through the first couple of weeks, the Hawks starters have proved to be a sturdy defensive unit through 104 minutes together. The starters boast a defensive rating of 108, which would rank inside the top five defences in the NBA.

Daniels has been present in Atlanta's three most-used line-ups so far this season, two of which have blown opponents off the court in limited minutes.

There is still room to improve for the Aussie. Daniels's outside shot, which will determine how lucrative his next contract is, still remains shaky (he's shooting 27 per cent from three-point range this season).

While Daniels is in some of Atlanta's best line-ups, he is also present in some of Atlanta's worst line-ups. However, it's early and line-up data can fluctuate wildly from game to game at this point in the season.

Nevertheless, it has been an excellent start for the young Aussie, who is no doubt hopeful Atlanta will be his long-term home.

2. Ben Simmons shows a pulse after being benched

The Brooklyn Nets have been one of the surprise packets of the early season under new head coach Jordi Fernandez.

Fernandez has the Nets playing a tenacious brand of basketball that sees them picking up opposing guards the length of the court, the kind of stuff that is usually reserved for college basketball.

The tactic is uncommon but it has allowed the Nets to punch well above their weight this season. Twice in the last week, the Nets have threatened to record upset wins over the 9-2 Boston Celtics and the 12-0 Cleveland Cavaliers.

Fernandez opened the season starting Ben Simmons before opting to move the Aussie to the bench, and the move has provided instant dividends. Brooklyn's new starting five of Dennis Schroder, Dorian Finney-Smith, Nic Claxton, Cam Johnson and Cam Thomas is outscoring opponents by 13.2 points per 100 possessions in 98 minutes on the court.

In his second game since coming off the bench, Simmons showed why he still has value around the league and why he's likely to get another contract after this year despite a torturous three-year run coming into this season.

Simmons is still reluctant to shoot the basketball — his 4.6 shot attempts per game are a career low — but he has lost none of the passing skills that make him such a unique player at his size.

In the Nets' 107-105 win over the Pelicans this week, Simmons came off the bench and dished out 12 assists in just 22 minutes of play, with the first 10 of those coming inside 12 minutes.

Simmons's lack of scoring means he doesn't operate in a lot of space, yet time and time again he was able to thread the needle to find cutters at will. The highlight of all the assists was a right-handed dime in transition which was so perfectly placed that teammate Keon Johnson did not have to break stride before collecting the ball and slamming it home.

The Nets outscored the Pelicans by eight points in Simmons's 22-minute stint and Fernandez will hope that Simmons can continue marshalling his bench unit as the season wears on.

3. It's really 2016 all over again because the Cavs and Warriors are cooking

You could be forgiven for thinking 2024 is another version of 2016 because Donald Trump is back in the Oval Office and the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors are both playing at elite levels again.

According to ESPN's pre-season odds, the Cavaliers were ranked the eighth-best chance to win the title, while the Warriors were ranked 12th. Judging from both teams' play over the first few weeks, it would not be a major surprise to see a repeat of the NBA Finals match-up we saw for four consecutive years between 2015 and 2018 next June.

The Cavs have opened the season on a 12-0 run, the best winning streak to start the season since the Warriors opened the 2015-16 season going 24-0, the longest winning streak to start an NBA season.

Golden State, on the other hand, has been one of the biggest surprise packets in the Western Conference, boasting a 9-2 record that includes signature wins at Boston and at Oklahoma City.

There is a common thread between the two teams, with new Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson having spent multiple seasons with the Warriors as Steve Kerr's understudy, and the Kerresque ball movement Atkinson has ushered in currently has Cleveland boasting the best offence in the NBA.

The Cavs haven't just beaten opponents in this 12-game winning streak, they've blown the doors off them, with the Warriors one of the casualties in that streak.

Golden State came into last week's clash in Cleveland boasting the best defence in the league and found themselves trailing the Cavs 83-42 at half-time. Atkinson has taken a team that was considered to be perennial underachievers and turned them into a legitimate contender.

After disappointing seasons last year, both Darius Garland and Evan Mobley look like they've taken mini-leaps. Mobley has been as good as any big man on the defensive end while Garland has been a crunch-time killer. The Cavs are no longer over-reliant on Donovan Mitchell as a result.

Both teams have playmakers from the guard spots as well as big men who can facilitate and play an unselfish brand of basketball that is reliant on players being on the move all the time. If any player gets stuck, there is often an outlet nearby courtesy of a teammate cutting ferociously. These types of offences are nightmares to defend. Switch off for one second as a defender and you're watching the ball go through the basket.

The Warriors have amped up their defence, with Draymond Green winding back the clock in the early part of the season, while the Warriors' suite of wing defenders such as Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and DeAnthony Melton have largely been excellent on that end of the floor.

Stephen Curry continues to do Stephen Curry things despite being 36 years of age. Just months after he lit up France in the gold medal game at the Olympics, Curry has continued to prove he is one of the league's apex predators on the offensive end.

Both the Cavs and Warriors have excellent depth and both Kerr and Atkinson are completely unafraid of utilising it. Atkinson's side found itself in a nine-point hole late in the third quarter against the Bulls this week and got back in the game after he rolled out a line-up featuring none of the Cavs starters.

It is still early on in the season. Shooters on both the Cavs and Warriors are lights out at the moment and will cool off at some stage, but the emergence of these two teams as legitimate forces has spiced up their respective conferences.

4. The old guard is refusing to go quietly into the night

Last season's play-offs looked like they were ushering in the NBA's new generation.

It was the first time since 2005 that neither LeBron James, Kevin Durant or Curry featured in the conference semifinals as the likes of Anthony Edwards took centre stage.

However, the NBA's elder statesmen are back and they're cooking.

The trio were pivotal in Team USA's comeback win in the gold medal game, and it appears playing on the same team together for the first time in a competitive, non-All-Star game environment has energised all three.

Curry remains as incandescent a scorer as the NBA has and he is never, ever far away from a game-changing flurry of points. In Golden State's thrilling win over Dallas on Wednesday, he was dormant for much of the final quarter before going on a personal 12-0 run to ice the game, capping it with a three-pointer and his now-iconic "night night" celebration.

Durant was playing at an MVP level, averaging 27.6 points on 43 per cent from long range in his first nine appearances before being sidelined with a calf injury (more on that later).

After being unceremoniously swept by Edwards's Timberwolves last season, Durant has returned with a vengeance and has his Phoenix Suns equal top of the West with a 9-2 record.

It was a season to forget last year for the Suns star trio of Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, but the trio look much more in sync this year under new head coach Mike Budenholzer, who coached the Milwaukee Bucks to the title just three years ago.

Then there is James, the only man Father Time cannot seem to get a hold of. The man has been in the league for so long that he is literally teammates with his own son.

It is hard to believe James is turning 40 in just over a month's time, yet still remains so vital to the entire Lakers operation. James no longer has the explosiveness he once had in his prime years, but still remains as impactful a player as there is in the NBA.

It's been a choppy start to the season for LA under new head coach JJ Redick, who is in his first coaching job ever. The Lakers have been largely excellent at home and largely awful on the road and have a 6-4 record so far.

James certainly has to pick his spots now more than ever, the only sign that Father Time has gotten to him to at least some extent. He has taken a step back as a scorer this year, letting Anthony Davis lead the way in that regard, but that does not mean he's any less impactful.

Given he is the league's all-time leading pointscorer, it is easy to forget James remains one of the league's greatest-ever passers as well.

He has tallied in excess of 10 assists in four of his last five games, with the last two games yielding two straight triple doubles.

In the list of the 10 oldest players to have recorded triple doubles, James owns eight of them. Karl Malone is the oldest player in NBA history to record a triple double, doing so at 40 years and 127 days of age. It is a record that won't stand long if James continues in this vein of form.

James may be into his 22nd season, but he remains the league's best conductor, who is able to get all of the other nine players on the court playing at the pace best suited to him and his teammates. He does this better than any other player in the NBA.

Surely some day we will have a league without this iconic trio being the torchbearers. That day doesn't appear to be exactly around the corner just yet.

5. The NBA officially has an injury problem

The excitement that comes with the start of the regular season has been watered down somewhat by a spate of injuries in the opening weeks.

Clippers fans were among the first to be impacted when Kawhi Leonard's training camp was halted by the latest in a long line of mysterious injuries for the two-time Finals MVP. Leonard is yet to play a game this season and appears unclear when he'll return.

The Boston Celtics are without one of the pivotal pieces of their title-winning team, with Latvian big man Kristaps Porzingis expected to be ruled out until at least December due to a knee injury.

After being battered by injuries last season, the Memphis Grizzlies have been snake-bitten once again, with Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart all missing time in the early part of the season.

Somewhat worryingly for the NBA, a number of players are out with soft-tissue injuries, with Pelicans star Zion Williamson and 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey both out with hamstring injuries. Durant is a part of this group, missing with a calf strain, as we previously mentioned.

The soft-tissue injuries are perhaps a sign the NBA needs to overhaul its pre-season to ensure its best players are in premium shape come opening night. Too often, these games are simply seen as exhibitions with several big-name players sitting out multiple pre-season games before being rolled out for big minutes the moment the season begins.

A couple of the NBA's young studs have also suffered unfortunate injuries, further dampening the vibes.

Paolo Banchero was wrecking worlds for the Orlando Magic before he was diagnosed with a torn oblique, while Chet Holmgren was proving himself as one of the best defensive bigs in the league before going down with a hip fracture after a hard fall in this week's loss to the Warriors.

There's plenty of talent to go around, but the NBA needs all its stars on the floor sooner rather than later.