It’s still early in Victor Wembanyama’s NBA career, but the No. 1 pick has been scary good so far.

As a nod to Halloween, let’s look at some “spooky” developments in the NBA’s first week of regular-season action. There were lots – “Veddy scary, kids!” – but here are five:

1. Wemby better than advertised

Victor Wembanyama already looked as if he were built in a lab by a mad scientist with a League Pass fixation. His performances through one week suggest that Igor grabbed all the right parts this time.

Strictly by the numbers, the Spurs rookie wasn’t necessarily wowing us – his scoring average (15.7 points per game) is less than all but 17 of the 74 players who have been named Kia Rookie of the Year, and 7.3 rebounds seems modest for a guy who is 7-foot-4.

But it’s Wembanyama’s bag of tricks overall (2.7 steals per 36, 2.2 blocks) and how smooth his skills look as he demonstrates them all that should scare NBA foes through more sequels than Michael Myers got.

2. Maxey unshackled as Harden goes

Philadelphia’s Tyrese Maxey almost singlehandedly did the remarkable, if not the impossible: He drained the drama out of the latest James Harden fiasco. The Beard’s script of forcing his way from one team to the next played out in the wee hours of Halloween without the screams and howls that accompanied his similar moves in Houston and Brooklyn.

Why?

Because Maxey was the stake through that particular mess’s heart. He earned Player of the Week honors by averaging 30.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 56% on 3s. In 116 minutes, the 22-year-old committed just three turnovers. James Who?

3. Luka finding another gear

Back in a schlocky 1950s sci-fi flick, Luka Doncic would have been the protagonist who accidentally gets caught in a cloud of nuclear fallout and suffers freakish effects. Only in the Dallas guard’s case, he doesn’t grow to Godzilla sizes – his game does.

He put himself on the short, prestigious list of players who have scored at least 117 points three games into any season (Wilt Chamberlain did it four times, Michael Jordan two, and Jerry West, Steph Curry and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once each). He’s averaging career bests across the board with 11.7 rebounds, 9.7 assists and 48.6% shooting from the arc. All while helping the Mavericks to a 3-0 start and already drawing out rookie teammate Dereck Lively as a contributing big.

4. If Zion is healthy, so are Pelicans

It’s a staple of scary movies, the vampire retreating to his coffin between nighttime prowls. You almost wish the New Orleans team could provide something like that between games – lined with bubble wrap – for Zion Williamson as a way to keep the big guy healthy.

The Pelicans got smacked Monday by Golden State, but Williamson continues to participate, the bigger long-term headline for his team. He is averaging 22 points, 5.7 rebounds and 30 minutes, the key for him and New Orleans’ ambitions this season. It started 2-1, in line with its 59-58 record with Zion since he arrived in 2019. When he doesn’t play? The Pels are 72-102 since then.

5. Chris Paul for Sixth Man

Golden State coach Steve Kerr has buried alive (gasp!) future Hall of Famer Chris Paul on the bench in Paul’s initial Warriors season. This move Sunday, a presumed affront to the proud State Farm pitchman, got covered as if Paul was being asked to take a silver bullet for his team. But there has been nothing zombie-like about the results: Golden State’s reserves rank fifth in points per 100 possessions (65.6) and third in net rating (+9.9) among bench units.

The deployment is important enough in Kerr’s view that when Klay Thompson sat out against New Orleans Monday with a sore right knee, the coach kept Paul as a reserve, starting Moses Moody rather than disrupting the flow. Paul’s career splits now show him with 1,216 starts to just two bench appearances, but Golden State is 3-1 and the 38-year-old playmaker’s pro-rated stats are good.