This Tuesday marked the start of what is sure to be another drama-filled, high-quality roller coaster of an NBA season. Unlike last year, this upcoming season is not preceded by a holistic landscape-altering offseason. Though not as many stars switched teams between July 1 and Oct. 16th this year as they did last year, the caliber of the players who switched teams in 2018 is nonetheless high enough to send shockwaves around the league. Among the faces in new places are LeBron James, who took his talents to the Los Angeles Lakers; Kawhi Leonard, who forced a trade from the San Antonio Spurs to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for DeMar DeRozan; Carmelo Anthony, whore located to Houston from Oklahoma City; and Demarcus Cousins, who shocked the whole league (and those who still believe in competitive spirit) by signing with the Golden State Warriors.
Additionally, during this offseason, there was no new jersey sponsor, though Nike made some fun upgrades to teams’ retro and city edition jerseys. While the All-Star game did not receive a dramatic overhaul, the league made a few commons sense rule tweaks for regular season to the clear path foul and changed the shot clock reset after an offensive rebound to fourteen seconds instead of twenty four — presumably speeding up the game in the process.
These free agency signings and trades, continued uniform creativity, and minor rule tweaks shore up what is arguably the most entertaining and culturally relevant major sports league in the United States. As a result, the upcoming NBA regular season and playoffs promise be as exciting as ever, with (some) mystery and intrigue surrounding this years finals matchup. This season’s slate of games began on Tuesday, when the Philadelphia 76ers visited the Boston Celtics and the Golden State Warriors hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC). The Celtics and Warriors claimed victory in their respective season openers. Still, all four teams are potential top-three seeds in their conference and boast star caliber rosters befitting an opening night showdown.
OKC’s offseason hinged on keeping Paul George in tow, and much to everyone’s surprise, the team did so seemingly easily. The core of Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Steven Adams all have a year of chemistry under their belt and will be closer to contenders than pretenders in a loaded West. This team will struggle with finding reliable shooters from deep — outside of Paul George — especially on their bench, and their rotation will suffer while they await Andre Roberson’s return from a knee injury. Nonetheless, rookie Hamidou Diallo looked promising in the preseason and OKC’s trio of stars plus reliable coach Billy Donovan should be enough for a playoff berth around the three or four seed in a crowded West.
Over in Philly, fans are predicting this young core will cement themselves as a powerhouse in a LeBron-less East, but it is more likely this team is a hair behind Boston and the Toronto Raptors in the East’s hierarchy. Markelle Fultz is attempting jumpers and threes with confidence and could be the key to this team taking the next step towards a Finals berth as he provides the ball-handling skills and pick-and-roll playmaking ability it takes to run high scoring offense in this league. The absence of some the shooting specialist from last year’s squad — Marco Belinelli in particular — may hurt this team ever so slightly over the course of the regular season, but health more than anything will define Philly’s regular season win total. If star Joel Embiid is healthy for more than 65 games this year, Philly will comfortably snag the East’s three seed and be a serious challenger for spots one and two.
The Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors project as the one seeds of their respective conferences, and for good reason. Both teams have a plethora of All Stars and are helmed by two of basketball’s more innovative and charismatic coaches. If you want to know why Golden State will command no more than a sentence or two in this preview, consider that last year’s title team added an All-Star center to their starting five, which now consists of five All Stars, all in their prime, who can spread the floor and play above elite defense. Golden State is boringly amazing. They have nothing to prove and are frankly uninteresting until the Western Conference Finals, or Finals.
Boston, on the other hand, may have the league’s best lineup for matching up with Golden State’s nuclear arsenal. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, and Al Horford are all stingy defenders who can create offense for themselves at the other end, and Kyrie Irving is an offensive magician capable of breaking down even a locked-in Warrior’s defense, and last year he showed flashes of improved defensive engagement across the regular season. Irving always seems to match up to the task of guarding Curry every time the two square off against one another, so Boston matches up well with Golden State at all five positions. Even with injuries to their stars, coach Brad Stevens has proven he is capable of leading this team on a deep playoff run. With LeBron in a different conference for at least three more years, this Celtics team should be the class of the east for the foreseeable future.
Golden State and Boston’s biggest challengers for conference supremacy appear to be the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors, respectively. Houston quietly became worse this offseason, opting to let Trevor Ariza leave in free agency and replacing him with Carmelo Anthony. Anthony can hit threes but not defend; Ariza can do both. To be fair, Houston’s historically awful stretch of three point shooting in game seven of last year’s Western Conference Finals is why the team missed the Finals, not defense, but their improved play on the defensive side of the ball is the reason they captured the one seed in the west. Without sustained regular season defense, this Rockets team will be hard pressed to overcome the talent deficit they face in comparison to Golden State, but should fall no lower than the West’s two seed.
In Toronto, self labeled “fun guy” Kawhi Leonard will look to return to his 2016–17 form which established him as a top-three player in the league. If Leonard can return to his efficient offensive production and elite smothering defense, he alone can single-handedly take over games and throw anyone — including LeBron or Kevin Durant — out of rhythm. That could be enough for Kyle Lowry and Toronto’s depth to win a game on any given night. Most likely, there will be a learning curve for Leonard in Toronto, and Boston’s chemistry and democratic offense will keep them ahead of the organization in the North. Though Leonard is reportedly open to remaining in Toronto, anything short of a Finals berth will be disappointing and likely not enough to convince Leonard to stay in Toronto in favor of Los Angeles.
The other two most interesting teams in the East are the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers. Both organizations took superior teams to seven games in the first round of the playoffs last season and are anchored by young stars hungry to further cement themselves at the top of the league. Giannis Antetokounmpo is a bonafide star and serious MVP contender despite not possessing a reliable outside shot, a second fiddle, or bench support in Milwaukee. Indiana is not as top heavy. While Victor Oladipo is not quite as transcendent as Antetokounmpo, his surrounding cast is deeper and more talented than Antetokounmpo’s counterparts in Milwaukee. These teams are most likely to find themselves in the four and five seeds come playoff time, and they could combine for the most entertaining first round matchup across the board.
As for East seeds six through seven, the Detroit Pistons, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat, Charlotte Hornets, and Cleveland Cavaliers project to battle it out for one of those spots. Miami, should they acquire Jimmy Butler from the Minnesota Timberwolves, almost certainly will grab one of those spots, maybe even spots four or five. The rest of the teams, most experts feel, are tossups and at the mercy of their best players and health. Most notably, should the Cavaliers sneak into the playoffs following the loss of LeBron James, it would be a small source of pride for the franchises as they plummeted into the lottery the two previous times that James took his talents to warmer climates
The Western Conference beyond Golden State, Houston, and OKC is jam-packed with talent and playoff potential. The Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trails Blazers, and San Antonio Spurs all have legitimate claims at one of the final five playoff spots. The more things that changed in the West this offseason, the more things stayed the same in Utah. The Jazz opted not to test free agency interest from stars and instead focused on building around Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, and Ricky Rubio. Teams will see Mitchell coming this season, but he showed he is capable of being heavily schemed against in the playoffs, and Derrick Favors, Gobert, and Rubio will keep the offense and defense for the Jazz humming along.
In New Orleans, Julius Randle is a fiery and productive replacement for Demarcus Cousins, and barring an injury to Anthony Davis, this team could make some noise as Davis seems motivated to prove himself as a top three player in the league — Google his quotes about where he views himself in relation to LeBron and KD for proof. The Spurs may be in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1997 as injuries to their back court during preseason deplete the amount of reliable guard play on this team. Expect Gregg Popovich to work his magic and keep this team in the playoff hunt, but don’t be surprised if the Spurs are not in the playoff picture for the first time since 1997 come May 2019.
And finally, for the most interesting, entertaining, confounding, and mysterious team to open the 2018–19 NBA season: the Los Angeles Lakers. Signing LeBron this past summer was exciting but not necessarily surprising as there was a well-documented trial of crumbs connecting the Lakers and the world’s best player for at least the last year. The true surprise of the Lakers offseason was all the moves they made after signing The King. Lance Stephenson, Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee, and Michael Beasley all signed one-year deals in Los Angeles after LeBron and those mentioned will be leaders and serious contributors for this team. After watching some of the Lakers’ preseason games, it is clear this team has a high ceiling. Virtually any team with LeBron is guaranteed a playoff spot, even in a loaded West. The combination of veteran leadership and playmaking paired with young talent — perhaps budding stardom — will be enough to keep this team in the playoff picture and possibly make them a tough matchup for any opponent.
In the best case scenario for the Lakers, Brandon Ingram blossoms into a viable second star; his gradual growth in the league to this point suggest that over the course of this season this is more likely than not. Also in this scenario, Josh Hart proves to be the three-and-D player that fits so nicely with LeBron, the veteran’s general playmaking abilities compensates for their lack of shooting, and this team makes a deep playoff run that is enough to woo a second superstar to fill one of the organization’s two max contract slots next offseason. If the experiment fails and the Lakers’ youngsters do not develop quickly enough or the shooting difficulties are too much for pace of play to overcome, expect one youngster, likely Lonzo Ball, to be on the trading block at the deadline. Even if it seems more than likely LeBron’s streak of eight straight finals will come to an end this season, there is no way that LeBron does not make the playoffs. If most goes right for the Lakers, and early preseason returns and media buzz suggests it will, and LeBron puts up another gaudy season to guide them to the Western Conference’s four or five seed, the Lakers may have a Warrior-free path to the Western Conference Final and historical precedent (Russell Westbrook’s 2016 MVP season) suggests The King could be due for a fifth MVP award.
No matter what happens this regular season, the NBA is inching closer to a state of parity that many fans have been longing for ever since Durant joined Golden State in the summer of 2016. While Golden State remains the team to beat in the Western Conference (and the league), the East is wide open for the first time in eight years, and by extension, for the first time in four years, fans will be treated to a new NBA Finals matchup.
