NBA: 3 early-season Eastern Conference trends to keep an eye on

James Harden’s struggles are concerning

Through the first four games of the season, James Harden is only averaging 17 points per game and, perhaps most troubling, only three free-throw attempts per game. To put that number in perspective, he averaged seven free-throw attempts last season in Brooklyn.

He’s also been mostly inefficient on the offensive end and shooting sub-40 percent from the field. If this is a trend that continues, it will completely throw the Brooklyn Nets’ season off-axis – they’re 2-2 through four games.

And this is probably where the Nets miss Kyrie Irving the most – times when Harden is struggling and Kevin Durant doesn’t have a second star to lean on. If Harden can’t shake this rough start, it could make the Eastern Conference that much more wide open this year.