The National Basketball Association (NBA) is about to kick off its much-anticipated 2024-2025 season with a superstar-studded lineup that’s sure to be a blast to watch. All eyes will be on the defending champions, the Boston Celtics, who lifted the championship trophy last season and signaled a generational shift.
The NBA 2024-2025 regular season kicks off on March 23 at 8:30 a.m. ET with the opening game between Boston and the New York Knicks. The Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves will follow. The regular season will run through next April with 30 teams playing 82 games each. The playoffs (POs) and 엔트리 파워사다리 championship game will follow in June to determine the best of the best.
Last season, the NBA saw the fading of the superstars of the 1980s and the emergence of a new generation of stars from the 1990s and 2000s. The dominant veterans of the 2010s, such as LeBron James (39-Lakers), Kevin Durant (35-Phoenix Suns), and Steph Curry (35-Golden State Warriors), were largely eliminated from the PO, and Boston, a team of 20-somethings, lifted the championship trophy. The First Team, the best player at each position in the regular season, was also dominated by 20-somethings, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (26-Oklahoma City Thunder), Luka Doncic (25-Dallas Mavericks), Yanis Adetokunbo (29-Milwaukee Bucks), Jayson Tatum (26-Boston), and Nikola Jokic (29-Denver Nuggets).
This season is expected to be another year of young bloods racing to become the heroes of a new era and veterans showing their last spark.
The favorite to win the title is Boston in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics will lose Kristaps Porzingis to a season-ending left ankle injury, but they have a healthy core of championship players, including Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The Celtics were the overwhelming “championship favorite” in a survey of 30 NBA general managers before the season began, with an 83% response rate.
The Celtics have spent an astronomical amount of money protecting their core players and are looking to win back-to-back championships. The last back-to-back championships were won by Golden State in 2017 and 2018.
Boston’s opponents in the Eastern Conference will be the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers. New York acquired All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns from Minnesota earlier this month. Towns is a versatile center with a big frame and a natural knack for shooting. The “big three” combination of Mikal Bridges and Towns, along with ace Jaylen Brunson, is a force to be reckoned with. Philadelphia, which acquired veteran forward Paul George to form a luxury lineup with Joel Embiid and Tyreese Maxie, is also a force to be reckoned with.
In the Western Conference, the favorites include the Oklahoma City Thunder, who won the regular season title last season, as well as Dallas and Denver, who finished runners-up in the championship.
Led by guard Shai Gilgeous Alexander, the No. 1 Most Valuable Player (MVP) candidate in the head coaches’ poll, Oklahoma City has added Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, and others to help them reach the top. Oklahoma City will be looking to bounce back from last season’s first-place finish in the regular season and a second-round exit in the PO. Dallas bolstered its offense with the addition of “one-two punch” Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, as well as “three-point machine” Klay Thompson from Golden State.
Denver, with reigning MVP Jokic, and Minnesota, who reached the Western Conference Finals last season, will also be in the hunt for a trophy as Western Conference powerhouses. It will be interesting to see how far Golden State, anchored by Curry, the league’s biggest star, can go with its young players. The King of the Lakers, LeBron James, will set a record for playing on the same team as his son, Brownie. It will be interesting to see how the father-son duo will perform during the season.