5 Stories to watch at the Start of the Season

We are less than 2 months away from the start of the 2024-25 NBA Season. It's been a long summer, so here are 5 stories to watch out for as training camp starts and the season begins.

Knicks or Sixers : Battle for Second

Coming into the season, the #1 team in the East clearly seems like it will still be the Celtics. However, the second spot is more up for grabs and the two primary contenders are the Knicks and the Sixers. Both teams enter the season after some pretty significant offseason moves. The Knicks made a big push to acquire Mikal Bridges from the Nets, while the Sixers were able to steal Paul George from the Clippers in Free Agency. Both teams are coming off solid regular seasons with dissapointing playoff exits, but it remains to be seen who will be able to bounce back better this year. I personally think a healthy Knicks roster has the edge here, but we'll see once the season starts who comes out hot.

How will Luka start the Year

Luka Doncic is one of the NBA's most impressive stars, but he is also coming off a NBA Finals run and his longest season in his career. It is probably best from the standpoint of the Mavericks that Doncic and Slovenia were knocked out early, before the Olympics started. With how high usage Doncic is as a player, him playing deep into August with the Slovenian national team would have mean even less time to rest and prepare for the season. With all that said, Doncic is still young as far as NBA standards, and this is probably the deepest Mavericks team he has ever been a part of. It may not be the worst idea to cut his minutes slightly in the early part of the season so he can be ready to make another run. I will be intersting to see how much he plays and how his stamina is to start the year.

How big of a Jump will Wemby Make

Victor Wembanyama is not only coming off a season where he won Rookie of the Year, but also a summer where he lead France to a Silver medal against team USA where he put up a pretty good fight for a 19 year old (Probably an understatement). We all saw how good he can be in last year and he even was second place for Defensive Player of the Year as a Rookie (he should have beat Rudy Gobert in my opinion). All of that was in his first NBA season. The question now is how will much better will he be in year two. He has proven he already is the most promising young talent in the league and he has handled his NBA transition perfectly. How far could he go this year? Most Improved? Defensive Player of the Year? MVP? Its feasible he could do all 3.

Kat and the Timberwolves

Karl Anthony-Towns has spent his entire career with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but ever since they traded 5 first rounders for Gobert it seems like the end of his tenure there is innevitable. It does not seem like Gobert and Towns can be on the floor at the same time, especially in the playoffs. Unfortunately, KAT has been too inconsistent and often finds himself in foul trouble to justify him staying over gobert. Coming off a western conference finals, it seems like Minnesota wants to make a push for the finals now, and the best way to do that is to continue to put pieces around Anthony Edwards. That is a much easier task when the highest paid player on the roster can be on the floor at the same time as your other 2 highest earning salaries. I think we can see that trade in the next 2 months if there is a team interested.

JJ Reddick Rookie Coaching Season

After a very public, long and drawn out coaching search. The Lakers have their new coach in JJ Reddick. Reddick has shown his intelligence not only as a player, but also as an analyst, broadcaster and podcaster. As a NBA Veteran who played 15 seasons in the league, his players should have confidence in their first year coach. He is very promising even in his first year, the only worry I have it how the Los Angeles media will affect his year. The Lakers want to win now, and regardless of who you are that first year as head coach is hard. Reddick comes in without any NBA coaching experience and although I believe he will overcome that, the pressure and noise that comes from coaching in LA will not make his new job any easier.