The NBA season kicks off Tuesday night with Philadelphia-Boston and Lakers-Golden State games, where the Warriors will hoist the banner for their fourth championship in eight years.
Here’s a look at some bright spots on the Silver Circuit radar.
West Association
LeBron James, entering his 20th season, is 1,236 points away from dethroning Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the league’s all-time leading scorer. If spared from injury, he could have the distinction around his 50th game.
His teammate Russell Westbrook is six double-digit hat-tricks (at least 10 each for points, rebounds and assists) from 200 such games.
He is by far the record holder in NBA history in this regard, since May 2021.
Dreaming of leaving the shadow of the Lakers a little, the Clippers are betting a lot on the trio Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and John Wall.
A knee injury kept Leonard out last season, while George was limited to 31 games with an elbow injury. Wall has only played 40 games in three seasons due to various injuries.
The Clippers are building the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, slated to open in the fall of 2024.
Young regular of the games of the week, Ja Morant will try to keep Memphis in the heart of the race, after a season of 56 victories.
Also coming back from a knee injury that cost him a season, Ontarian Jamal Murray considerably increases the strike force of the Nuggets.
Dallas, Phoenix and probably Minnesota are the other clubs to watch out for in the West.
The Jazz is under reconstruction, but the gratin of the circuit will meet in Utah on February 19, on the occasion of the all-star game.
On January 13 against Golden State at the Alamodome, the Spurs will attempt to set the mark for the biggest crowd in NBA history.
The number to beat is 62,046, set when the Bulls played the Hawks at the Georgia Dome on March 27, 1998.
Association East
Boston retains the air of a titan of the geographical area, but at bay will be Philadelphia, Miami, Milwaukee and Toronto.
Earlier this year, the Raptors were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the 76ers. The club will want to go much further this time around. In particular, it will take a much better three-point shot success rate than in exhibition games (a starving 24.3%).
The Raptors have two of the four Quebecers in the NBA (Chris Boucher and Khem Birch), the others being Luguentz Dort, of the Thunder, and Bennedict Mathurin, of the Pacers.
Very confident, go-getter and demonstrative, Mathurin should delight Indiana supporters. Drafted sixth in June, he averaged 19.8 points over four preseason games.
In his 10th season, Giannis Antetokounmpo would like to guide the Bucks to glory again, as in 2021.
A volatile and often tinged with melodrama, the Nets will be either dangerous or outright in search of direction, depending on the moods and performance of their superstars.
Atlanta should benefit from the addition of Canadian Dejounte Murray, while Chicago and Cleveland also have elements to make noise.
Canada has a total of 23 representatives in the league: in addition to Murray, let us mention RJ Barrett (Knicks), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder) and Andrew Wiggins (Warriors). Among the youngest, Dalano Banton has started to show great things with the Raptors.
Among coaches, Erik Spoelstra, who has led the Heat since 2008, is 40 career wins from the 700 mark.
Reading section, will be released on November 1, from the pen of Timothy Bella, “Barkley – A Biography”, on the member of the Hall of Fame and well-known commentator Charles Barkley.
“Winning Time,” HBO’s series inspired by the 1980s Lakers, is available on DVD and Blu-ray since October 4.