NBA standings ordered by offensive efficiency: Which team is scorching the nets?

Hey look, the Boston Celtics are still really good at scoring the basketball. Coming off an NBA Finals victory, the Celtics enter 2024-25 as the clear favorites again to win it all, and through three games, everyone who predicted that Boston would run through the NBA en route to a second straight ring probably feels pretty confident in that pick.

The C's aren't the only team that looks like an offensive machine right now, though. Here are the teams with the five best offensive ratings in early portion of the NBA season.

1. Boston Celtics

Live by the 3... well, the Celtics haven't "died" by the 3 yet and it doesn't seem like they're ever going to because everyone on the team is such a good shooter. Boston attempted (and made) the most 3's in the NBA by a wide margin last year, and it looks like the rest of the NBA is following Boston's lead this year. No one can quite do it like the C's though, who have upped their 3-point attempts thus far, too (they're shooting 51.3 a game, which is absurd.)

But can you blame them? They're first in offensive rating at 129.0 for a reason. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Jrue Holiday, even Xavier Tillman off the bench can all torch opponents from beyond the arc. That's like, the whole lineup!

2. Cleveland Cavaliers

It's year three of the Donovan Mitchell experiment in Cleveland. Somehow, it still doesn't feel like we know exactly who this Cavs team is. Injuries down the stretch of the past two postseasons have caused two anticlimactic ends to two great regular seasons.

We do know this team is very good — perhaps great — defensively, though, and it clearly wants to earn that same reputation on the offensive end, evidenced by a 125.5 offensive rating through three games. Cleveland has also benefitted from playing Toronto, Detroit and Washington in its first three games, so shoutout to the schedule maker who is clearly a Cavs fan and wanted them to get off to a quick start this year. Nevertheless, this team is cooking right now and doing it while "only" attempting 34.3 shots from 3-point range thus far.

3. New York Knicks

Seems like adding two really good offensive players has worked out for the Knicks offense. The Knicks have only played two games thus far so this is cheating a little bit, and we'll get a better feel for what New York's offense really looks like after it plays Cleveland on Monday night, but Karl-Anthony Towns (21 points, 15 rebounds) was phenomenal in his second game as a Knick and might be a perfect fit for this team after all.

4. Los Angeles Lakers

JJ Redick has transformed the Lakers. This team is almost unrecognizable through one week, and the offensive efficiency (120.1 offensive rating) is the biggest change. Redick has the Lakers moving, cutting, and finding open shots — then actually making them.

Los Angeles is 3-0 and those wins have come against Minnesota, Phoenix and Sacramento. That's a pretty tough schedule to start the season and this offense has effortlessly passed all three of those tests so far. The Lakers still aren't shooting many 3's (27th in the league in attempts) and that will probably stay true all season considering the Lakers don't have many elite 3-point shooters. But it might be more impressive that this offense is cooking so much and that hot start can't be attributed to unsustainable 3-point shooting.

5. Golden State Warriors

Okay, the Warriors might not be dead after all. Three games into a post-Klay world, the Dubs offense still looks elite and Steph Curry hasn't even warmed up yet. Steph has scored just 55 points in three games (though he is shooting 11 for 27 from deep) and the star of the show for the most part has been new addition Buddy Hield, who hit 12 3s in his first two games as a Warrior. Andrew Wiggins might be in line for a bounce back year in 2024-25, too.

The Warriors are shooting 47 3-pointers a game which is second behind Boston, and though that number will likely come down a little bit as the season progresses, these Warriors probably will stay near the top of the league in long-ball attempts. If they keep hitting them at a high level — and if there's a "leap" from second-year guard Brandin Podziemski — the Warriors offense could still be exhilarating... just probably not quite to the level it has been in the past. A 117.4 offensive rating through three games is a nice start.