After a long 4 months, the 2023-2024 NBA season is finally here!
In case you missed them, here are some of the major things that happened this offseason:
- Damian Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks
- Chris Paul was traded to the Golden State Warriors
- Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday were traded to the Boston Celtics
- Bradley Beal was traded to the Phoenix Suns
- Grant Williams was traded to the Dallas Mavericks
- Jordan Poole was traded to the Washington Wizards
- Deandre Ayton and Malcolm Brogdon were traded to the Portland Trail Blazers
- Derrick Rose signed with the Memphis Grizzlies
- The San Antonio Spurs drafted Victor Wembanyama with the #1 pick in the draft
Along with many other trades!
To start off this season the teams that have been given the highest odds of winning the finals are the Milwaukee Bucks, the Boston Celtics, and the Denver Nuggets. The teams that have been given the lowest odds of winning the finals are the Washington Wizards and the Detroit Pistons.
This is going to be a very exciting NBA season! Don't believe me? Here are a few of the exciting matchups to look forward to in just the first week of the season!
Lakers Vs. Nuggets - October 24th. The Nuggets swept the Lakers in the conference finals last season, and they will be facing off again for the very first game of this season, on the same day as the Nuggets ring ceremony. This is the Lakers' chance to get their revenge and the Nuggets' chance to prove they have what it takes to win back-to-back championships.
Suns vs. Warriors - October 24th. This will be Chris Paul's very first regular season game as a Warrior, and it will be against his former team. Additionally, Steph Curry will face off against former championship teammate Kevin Durant.
Mavericks vs. Spurs - October 25th. This is #1 overall draft pick, Victor Wembanyama's NBA debut. One of the most hyped-up NBA prospects since Lebron James. In the summer league, he played amazingly in one game and terribly in the other. This is his chance to show how good he really is.
Suns Vs. Lakers - October 26th. Lebron James and Kevin Durant have somehow managed to not play against each other in a regular season game since 2018. Now the 2 star players are facing off in one of the first games of the season for an exciting matchup.
Warriors vs. Kings - October 27th. A rematch of last season's most exciting playoff series. After not making the playoffs in 16 years, the Kings made it all the way to game 7 against the Warriors in round 1, in which Steph Curry scored 50 points to eliminate them.
All though we already got to see a few of these matchups in the preseason, that is very different from the regular season. Now we will get to see the star players play full minutes and see how good the teams really are against each other
The first game of the season is the Los Angeles Lakers Vs. the Denver Nuggets on October 24th at 7:30 pm EST.