Rejoice, basketball fans. The NBA is here again, and there's no doubt that we're in for a fun season. The league's talent level has never been higher, all the way from the superstars who promise to be in the MVP conversation to the rookies who are part of an extremely exciting class. There's a wildly intriguing mix of teams with different styles, from the Uncle Drew-like veteran core of the Clippers to baby-faced teams like the Magic. If that's not enough to interest you, we'll also bop along to the return of Roundball Rock now that the NBA on NBC is back in action after a 23-year hiatus.
The NBA has traditionally been known as the most predictable of all the major sports. Dominant teams in the regular season tend to win the title, and while that held true last year as the 68-win Thunder raised the Larry O'Brien Trophy, the rest of the season was full of surprises. For starters, Luka Dončić was shipped to the Lakers in the most shocking trade in league history, while the postseason was shaken to its core by the Cinderella run of the 4-seeded Pacers.
Though the Thunder pretty much went wire to wire last year, repeating is extremely difficult. We've had seven different NBA champs in the past seven years, so while OKC does have the makings of a potential dynasty, we can't pencil them in for another ring just yet. In picking some longshots that we'd love to see, let's start with that budding juggernaut.
The Thunder make a run at the Warriors' regular season wins record
The Thunder won 68 games and the title last year, and the scary part is that they should only be better this time around. This is an extremely young team, with incredible depth made possible by the rare case of everybody returning. Every player is now more experienced, and they're battle-hardened after fighting through a grueling playoffs that included two Game 7 wins.
The Thunder have all the ingredients to be one of the best teams we've ever seen, it's just a matter of how seriously they want to take the regular season after playing 106 games (82 regular season, the NBA Cup final and 23 playoff games). Something tells me that they won't be satisfied with coasting through and flipping the switch in April.
SGA joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal as the only players to ever win the scoring title, MVP and Finals MVP in the same year, and at 27, he may not have even hit his peak yet. Jalen Williams similarly still has room to grow, and Chet Holmgren missed 50 games with a scary pelvic fracture before coming back and elevating an already dominant defense to new heights.
We all saw that winning 73 games isn't the same as winning a championship, as the 2015-16 Warriors famously blew a 3-1 lead to the Cavs to ruin their dream season. With that being said, it would be a fantastic subplot to this season if the Thunder embraced the role of being the league's first dynasty since Golden State. That defense will show up every night, their 10-deep rotation will allow them to weather most injuries, and all of their players are only getting better. Reaching 73 wins may be unlikely, but it's possible.
A sooner-than-expected Wemby MVP campaign
The Thunder are set up for success now and well into the future, but if there's one smart pick to challenge them in the years to come, it's Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs. Wemby is coming for it all, it's just a matter of when. He's already the most impactful defensive player in the league by a wide margin, and he's adding new weapons to his offensive repertoire all the time.
This feels like the first season that the Wemby-era Spurs will make a bid to really compete. They just got through their first camp with February trade deadline acquisition De'Aaron Fox, they drafted special talent Dylan Harper with the No. 2 overall pick, and they may get a leap from Rookie of the Year winner Stephon Castle.
Getting some help from his supporting cast will be essential to Wemby's growth, but there's also a chance that he just goes full Beast Mode and lays waste to the rest of the league, right now. He has every tool in the bag to make it happen. Check that, he has tools that we didn't know existed. You're not going to find this stuff in Home Depot, folks. There's just nothing anybody will be able to do with this guy once he realizes his full potential.
Why wait? Wemby has been on a globe-trotting extravaganza this summer to broaden his horizons, and if he stays healthy, there's every reason to believe he'll be right there with SGA, Jokic, Giannis and Luka in the MVP race. Give us the full Wemby experience right now. We want to see a quadruple-double, a 50-point game and blocks so demoralizing that his opponents need postgame counseling.
An Eastern Conference Finals made up of two of the Pacers, Magic, Hawks and Pistons
The Knicks and Cavs are the clear favorites in the East, but there's a tier of up-and-coming teams that seem ready to break out. Give us some more postseason chaos and let us see two of them meet for the right to go to the Finals.
The Magic added a perfect piece to solve their shooting woes in Desmond Bane, and combined with their elite defense and the continued evolution of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, it could be enough to get them there.
The Hawks added Kristaps Porzingis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker this offseason, and they already had thrilling young pieces in Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels around longtime leader Trae Young. Quin Snyder will have them moving the ball and pushing the pace, and they'll be relentless defensively.
The Pistons overcame years of abysmal-ness last season (if it wasn't a word already, it should be for how bad they were before last year's turnaround), and they have their sights set on a bigger prize now that Cade Cunningham and Jalen Duren have really taken off. J.B. Bickerstaff did an incredible job to fix this team around, and if Ausur Thompson becomes the force most people expect him to be, a deep run is within reach.
The Pacers don't fit neatly into the same group of teams on the verge since they were a game away from winning a title last year, but if they could find a way to make another run, it would be just as noteworthy since they'd be doing it without Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner. Haliburton put on his Superman cape in crunch time again and again, but he only had a chance for his heroics because players like Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathurin and Aaron Nesmith played so far beyond expectations. Pascal Siakam and Rick Carlisle won't let this team make excuses.
Kevin Durant vs. Steph Curry in a legacy playoff showdown
Kevin Durant and Steph Curry were teammates for three years in Golden State, but they've both been in the West on different teams for 10 other seasons. How is it possible that they've only met in the playoffs one time?
That meeting was an epic one, with Steph's Warriors overcoming a 3-1 deficit and prevailing in the 2016 Western Conference Finals. That was followed just over a month later by Durant jumping ship to join forces with the Splash Brothers, a move that, even two Finals MVPs later, didn't burnish his legacy in the way he thought it would.
At this point in their careers, we need to see Steph vs. KD at least one more time. This isn't a blood feud, as there seems to be no hard feelings over Durant's Golden State exit. On the contrary, the two have tremendous respect for one another, and it was incredible to see them team up one more time in the 2024 Paris Olympics as they led Team USA to glory.
Durant escaped the dumpster fire that was the Suns this offseason for greener pastures in Houston, while Steph was reinvigorated by the trade deadline acquisition of Jimmy Butler. Durant is still searching for the respect he deserves, and he'll have a chance to get it with the Rockets, especially since Fred VanVleet went down for the season. Steph hasn't given up hope that he still has one more title run in him. Both the Rockets and Warriors enter the season with high expectations, so a playoff clash is certainly in play.
It may be too much to ask for another Western Conference Finals matchup between the two all-time greats, but a six- or seven-game war at any point would be more than enough.
A healthy season for the game's biggest stars
This may be the longest of longshots given how devastating the injury news has been in the last year, but would it be OK if we could keep our stars upright for an entire season? There's ample evidence by now that playing an 82-game season is more than even the most athletic human body can handle, and we'll already be without Haliburton and Dame Lillard for the year, and Jayson Tatum, Kyrie Irving and Dejounte Murray for most of it.
It's a lot to ask, but I don't care. I need to see Zion Williamson and Ja Morant stay in one piece. Protect Anthony Davis and Luka Dončić at all costs. While we're at it, get a heating pad or something for LeBron James' back. I need a full season of Chet and Paolo and Wemby, and let's see what the Sixers can do if Joel Embiid, Paul George, Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain can share the court together.
I'd ask for good health for Kawhi Leonard, but I don't want to get on Pablo Torre's radar, lest he investigate me, too. I will ask though for the rest of Kawhi's aged teammates to keep those creaky bones oiled up, and for Jamal Murray and Jaren Jackson Jr. and every other player who's had difficulty staying healthy to do it for at least this season.
The owners don't want to give up any revenue, but the league is going to need to look at shortening the schedule eventually. Today's players are suffering career-altering injuries at such a high rate. The wear and tear is too much, and we're missing out on seeing stars doing what they do best. It's probably impossible, but keep the ones that aren't hurt already in good health, and protect Tatum, Kyrie, Murray and Tyler Herro when they come back, too.