We have officially seen enough NBA basketball to start passing judgment on how the biggest names to change teams are faring in their new digs.
A week's worth of games doesn't lend itself to irreversible conclusions. But they give us an initial peek into what's workingโand what's not.
Every possible angle will be considered when doling out grades. Early on, though, we focus more on each player's performance and fit relative to expectations than on team results.
First impressions are meaningful, even if they don't last. Let's see how Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Jaylen Brown and more are doing one week into their new eras.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Miami Heat
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Giannis Antetokounmpo's monster stat lines ring hollow when the Miami Heat have yet to win a game.
Progress was made during the team's latest loss to the Dallas Mavericks, particularly on the defensive end. But it was still a loss. The Heat have still handedly lost the minutes he's played. They are still winless.
Giannis spitting out over 28 points per game while shooting over 70 percent at the rim means only so much when the offense feels functionally broken. He is averaging fewer true shooting attempts per 100 possessions in transition than last season and remains a wild card at the foul line (like the rest of Miami, apparently).
The fit with Bam Adebayo has been underwhelming so far. They don't have a ton of synergy and both want to occupy similar spaces. Bam has been forced to adjust. It's not been pretty. His effective field-goal percentage has plummeted by 25 points with Giannis on the floor.
To what extent the Heat's struggles fall on Antetokounmpo is debatable. New formations of this magnitude can take time. He doesn't come up with the defensive schemes. He didn't build the roster.
However, he is among those responsible for gutting it.
Grade: C-
LaMelo Ball, Minnesota Timberwolves
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Four games into the season, the Minnesota Timberwolves have already been treated to every ounce of the LaMelo Ball experience.
The dazzling passes. The ball-handling sorcery. The unreal shot-making. Deep drives into the paint that make you believe in his physicality. Comfort coming off screens. Defensive engagement and playmaking that make you wonder whether it's time to adjust your priors.
Minnesota has also witnessed defensive lapses. A lack of physicality. Frustrating shot attempts. Foul trouble (against Toronto). Turnovers (against Cleveland). A lack of rim pressure. Over-dribbling.
Stark peaks and valleys are the LaMelo experience. Or rather, they're supposed to be. The Timberwolves are enjoying more peaks and a more even-keeled approach.
LaMelo has maintained an identical usage rate with and without Anthony Edwards, while more often than not deferring to his backcourt running mate. He's thrown more assists to Edwards than anyone else. The Wolves have an offensive rating of almost 140 when they share the floor.
Just as critically, Minnesota is winning LaMelo's solo minutesโwithout notching a world-beater offense.
The downside here still exists. We saw much of it in the Wolves' second-half performance against Cleveland, but it's getting harder and harder not to see this working out.
Grade: A-
Jaylen Brown, Philadelphia 76ers
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Jaylen Brown is at times getting lost in the Philadelphia 76ers' pecking-order shuffle.
Concrete efforts are made to feature Joel Embiid in full-strength lineups. LeBron James or Tyrese Maxey get the ball-handling reps before him. Brown's usage rate hasn't just dropped by nearly 11 points since last season. It's at his lowest since 2019-20.
He's making it work.
Brown still hasn't found his mid-range stroke, but he's traded those jumpers for more looks at the rim. His efficiency around the basket would be a career worst, but he's getting there more frequently than he has since 2018.
The three-ball falling at 42.1 percent clip is the bigger deal. Nearly 90 percent of all his makes from beyond the arc have come off assists. His two-point percentage has also soared to 67 percent when playing alongside the starters.
Head coach Nick Nurse has finagled lineups that let Brown tap into his on-ball leanings. Meanwhile, he has competed defensively, covering everyone from guards and forwards to big men.
As long as Brown doesn't have beef lamp chops-and-gravy with his role, this partnership between him and Philly will go down as a victory for everyone.
Grade: A-
Anthony Davis, Washington Wizards
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Despite not changing teams over the summer, Anthony Davis didn't make his Washington Wizards debut until this season. So, here he is. He looks better than expected.
Anyone who thought he was washed on the defensive end better tear up the receipts. He has held up pretty well on the perimeter and can still change shots around the basket. He's not contesting as many as we're used to, but that comes with (his preferred territory) spending so much time alongside another big.
Davis' offensive performance with Washington is uneven. He has turned in two huge scoring performances while building a genuine connection with Trae Young. He is shooting 70 percent at the hoop, but the overreliance on the mid-range game endures. He's made fewer than 25 percent of his twos away from the basket, which account for 45 percent of his field-goal attempts.
The Wizards have him spacing to the corner and popping or trailing out above the break on certain plays. Defenses generally don't care. Maybe his 3-of-6 clip from downtown against Charlotte changes that. History suggests it won't.
Spending most of his minutes with another big could end up capping both his and the team's offensive ceiling. Washington wants for spacing in its core lineups. Davis is shooting just 42.9 percent on twos when playing next to Alex Sarr or Deandre Ayton. So while Davis looks better than expected, you can't help but wonder whether he and the Wizards are deliberately leaving meat on the bone.
Grade: B-
Paul George, Boston Celtics
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Paul George is comfortably clearing 25 points per game and shooting more threes than anyone in the league. His defense is so disruptive that it has nowhere to go but down.
It is more difficult at the moment to find cause for concern. Or something, anything, George is doing wrong.
A general lack of rim pressure isn't worth mulling over. The Boston Celtics knew this about him coming into the season. It hasn't prevented George from upping his shooting-foul rate in the early going. He clearly can't be used as a crunch-time crutch, but again, you don't acquire a 36-year-old expecting him to be something he hasn't been for a while.
George's 25 percent clip on long twos is worth filing away. Especially if they continue to account for one-quarter of his shots. He also wasn't much of an offensive factor in Boston's win over the New York Knicks, but it didn't impact his defensive energy.
Other than that and some questionable passes, Boston has to thruh-illed with what it's seen from PG.
Grade: A-
LeBron James, Philadelphia 76ers
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LeBron James is still trying to find himself within the Philadelphia 76ers' ecosystem. That constant search may end up being his new identity.
You can sense LeBron attempting to read the room across every game and lineup. He has defaulted to pass-always but cranked up the downhill juice on more than a few occasions, both in transition and when the Sixers are navigating drier spells.
Philly has lost the minutes LeBron has played so far. He's shooting 2-of-17 away from the rim, but the starting lineup is already gangbusters. Nearly two-thirds of his field-goal attempts have come at the hoop.
Even LeBron's defense is better than expected. The Sixers have used him to guard bigs at times, so Joel Embiid can roam. LeBron has also dabbled as a screener. He's sealed off guys around the basket. He's gotten out in transition, whether he's on or off the ball.
He's adapting and sacrificing at the same time.
This doesn't completely cancel out the individual efficiency. We're still talking about LeBron. The bar remains incredibly high. Shooting struggles and all, he's not exactly missing it.
Grade: B+
Kawhi Leonard, Toronto Raptors
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Left knee swelling already cost Kawhi Leonard a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. His absence reminded everyone of his fragility, but it also reinforced how important he is to the Toronto Raptors.
Little came easy for the offense without him. Toronto averaged just 0.65 points per play in the half-court and posted a true shooting percentage below 48, according to Prime Stats.
The thing is, the version of Kawhi the Raptors need hasn't arrived yet. He is shooting under 35 percent on twos and less than 29 percent from three. He has yet to make an unassisted jumper from beyond the arc and has more turnovers than assists.
"You can't rush greatness" is something Kawhi actually said. It makes sense. He didn't have a traditional offseason. Much of it was spent waiting for his trade to go through amid the league's investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers allegedly circumventing the salary cap to funnel him extra money.
That has to take a mental tollโfor which he's culpableโbut also mess with his training regimen. At the very least, he didn't have access to the Raptors as early as he otherwise would have. Even now, you can tell he'll be fine on defense. Those hands are still big. The performance so far is poor, but not worth panicking over...yet.
Grade: D+
Ja Morant, Portland Trail Blazers
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Ja Morant is dispelling many of the concerns that left people (including yours truly) incredibly low on his fit with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Shooting over 37 percent from three was a good place for him to start. But he's also shifted away from the score-first mindset he held with the Memphis Grizzlies. His 15.4 field-goal attempts per 36 minutes would be a career low. Fewer of his made shots are going unassisted.
Though Morant isn't getting to the rim as much, the Blazers are generating tons of threes off his dribble penetration. He already has some chemistry with Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara and Robert Williams III. Portland is annihilating the opposition when he's playing alongside Damian Lillard.
Defensive concerns persist. The Blazers can't get by feasting on the sad-sack Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings forever. It remains to be seen how Morant will handle playing fewer minutes if they don't tick up from here. You'd like to see him get to the basket at a higher clip, finish better and draw more fouls.
Overall, though, the optimism arrow is trending upward.
Grade: B+
Dan Favale is a National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to theย Hardwood Knocksย podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report'sย Grant Hughes.
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