The NBA season tipped off this week. Here are some key storylines to monitor throughout the 82-game gauntlet.
New additions to the Eastern Conference
The reigning champ Boston Celtics are the team to beat, but their Atlantic Division rivals in the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers made some noise in the offseason.
For New York, it was the blockbuster trades for Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns, shipping out years’ worth of first-round draft picks for Bridges, along with All-NBA forward Julius Randle for Towns.
Whether or not Bridges is worth five first-round selections (he’s not — signed, a Nets fan), he and O.G. Anunoby provide versatile defense and tertiary scoring to support star guard Jalen Brunson. The Towns fit gets dicey defensively, but the Knicks should still boast the offensive firepower needed to challenge Boston.
The 76ers offseason was less shocking, with the Paul George signing coming after months of speculation about his departure from Los Angeles.
Despite the George addition, Philadelphia will likely be in the market for a potential midseason trade to bolster its wing depth around the dynamic duo of former MVP Joel Embiid and All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey.
Western Conference arms race
Last year’s one-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder added defensive standout Alex Caruso and a key frontcourt addition in Isaiah Hartenstein without sacrificing their treasure trove of future firsts or a rotation player that matters. (Oh no! Whatever will the Thunder do without Josh Giddey, a player who can’t shoot, defend, finish at the basket or play off the ball?)
Look for OKC to continue to make upgrades around MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, emerging co-star Jalen Williams and unicorn Chet Holmgren.
The Dallas Mavericks lost starting forward Derrick Jones Jr. but found a potential defensive replacement in Naji Marshall, while also adding a departed “Splash Brother” in former All-Star Klay Thompson.
Thompson’s best days are undoubtedly behind him, but his ability to space the floor for Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving was severely missed in the NBA Finals loss to Boston.
The Minnesota Timberwolves swapping Towns for Randle seems like a downgrade considering how effective the double-big lineups of Towns and Rudy Gobert were, and how clunky a Randle-Gobert frontcourt might be from a spacing standpoint.
However, Randle provides another downhill creator to open up an occasionally stagnant Minnesota offense. The addition of Donte DiVincenzo in the Towns trade provides continued guard depth around star Anthony Edwards.
What’s happening in California
The L.A. Lakers forming the first father-son duo between LeBron James and son Bronny James has been the story of the offseason. With Bronny James not quite yet NBA-ready, the story of the season for L.A. will be if the Lake Show escapes play-in contention in pursuit of championship contention.
The L.A. Clippers don’t fare much better following Paul George’s departure and Kawhi Leonard’s continued knee troubles. James Harden is a known floor-raiser in the regular season, but the Clippers’ days of being seen as playoff threats seem to be over.
The Golden State Warriors roster construction genuinely makes no sense. The roster around Steph Curry is made up of small guards, inconsistent perimeter shooting wings and a wasteland of a center rotation.
The Sacramento Kings swapped Harrison Barnes with DeMar DeRozan and called it an offseason. Granted, DeRozan is a significant upgrade over Barnes, but he’s still a clunky fit in a De’Aaron Fox-Domantas Sabonis-led offense as a reluctant spot-up shooter.
Capture the Flagg
Cooper Flagg out of Duke University is projected to lead the 2025 NBA draft class, but a potentially star-studded cast of intriguing prospects beyond Flagg makes tanking as enticing as ever.
The Washington Wizards, Brooklyn Nets and Portland Trailblazers seem like surefire tank candidates. Other teams could throw their hat into the ring, but with the play-in and in-season tournaments encouraging competitive regular-season play, most teams will pass up higher lottery odds for a chance at the illustrious 30-ish win club.
