The 2024-25 NBA season tips off at 4:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday night, with a matchup between the reigning champion Boston Celtics and the revamped New York Knicks.
Here are the five most intriguing storylines at the start of the year.
1. Will the starry, depth-challenged New York Knicks survive the regular season intact?
The New York Knicks offloaded a lot of future draft equity and depth in exchange for All-Defensive Team small forward Mikal Bridges and four-time All-Star center/power forward Karl-Anthony Towns this summer. New York also saw former starting center Isaiah Hartenstein depart for the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency.
Read more: NBA Executives Think Knicks Lost Blockbuster 3-Team Karl-Anthony Towns Trade
Following a 50-32 run in 2023-24 and a second straight second round playoff exit, team president Leon Rose clearly wanted to go all-in on a switchy, defense-first roster surrounding All-NBA Second Team point guard Jalen Brunson. The additions of Towns and Bridges were designed to help augment the team’s 3-point shooting, but Bridges was terrible from distance in the preseason, shooting below 20 percent from long range.
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Only three healthy players on the Knicks’ bench have prior NBA experience at all. The team’s top two frontcourt reserves, power forward/center Precious Achiuwa and center Mitchell Robinson, have long-term injuries that could compel head coach Tom Thibodeau to rely too much on his starters early this season — which is already a risk with Thibodeau anyway.
One could argue that’s what did New York in during the playoffs, as almost all of Thibodeau’s overexerted rotation players were sidelined with injuries by the end of the Knicks’ semifinal series loss to the Indiana Pacers.
2. Can the Boston Celtics win their second straight title before they may have to break up their core?
Boston ran through its four opponents in the playoffs this season, going 16-3 in the postseason to claim a record-setting 18th title.
Armed with the best starting lineup in the league — boasting two current All-Stars in wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, former All-Star center Kristaps Porzingis, and All-Defensive guards Jrue Holiday and Derrick White — and a fresh confidence, this pricey squad is the heavy favorite to return to the Finals for the third time in four seasons.
Read more: Celtics Win Record-Breaking 18th NBA Finals With Blowout Win Over Mavericks
Extension deals for Holiday and White will kick in to start the 2025-26 season, which will make Boston the most expensive team in the league by a significant margin. This year could be the last time Celtics ownership is willing to field this roster as-is. Assuming the 34-year-old Holiday doesn’t fall off this year, and that the club’s frontline is healthy in time for the playoffs (Porzingis is out for several months with an injury, while his backup, 38-year-old Al Horford, is one of the league’s oldest players), Boston looks like a safe bet to at least return to the Finals.
3. Will the Oklahoma City Thunder return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012?
The Oklahoma City Thunder finished 2023-24 with a Western Conference-best 57-25 record, but were vanquished by the Dallas Mavericks in a six-game semifinal series. After former lottery pick Josh Giddey fell apart as a shooter in the playoffs, Oklahoma City managed to fleece the Chicago Bulls’ horrific front office in a straight-up deal to acquire All-Defensive Team guard Alex Caruso, a perfect two-way veteran fit on this roster with championship pedigree.
Read more: Bulls, Thunder Agree to Huge Trade to Send Two-Way Star to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City continued to subtly win the offseason by adding the aforementioned Hartenstein in free agency. Now, a club boasting the 2024 runner-up to league MVP honors, point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and plenty of developing young future stars, seems poised for perhaps the best regular season in the league.
Can it translate in the playoffs? Thanks to another year of seasoning for young frontcourt stars Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, plus the new arrivals, it seems possible that the Thunder could be a real threat in the West.
4. How will the new-look Dallas Mavericks’ roster changes impact their hopes of Western Conference supremacy?
The Dallas Mavericks, who advanced to the NBA Finals as a No. 5 seed but were quickly booted by the Celtics in five quick games, made three notable adjustments to the roster that got them that far this summer.
Will it be enough to help the Mavericks return to their second straight Finals? Time will tell. On paper, each of the deals could be seen as an upgrade. Dallas signed former New Orleans Pelicans wing Naji Marshall to replace departed Derrick Jones Jr. as its starting small forward. Marshall is a far better shooter than Jones, but a poorer defender. The Mavericks also traded to acquire Jaden Hardy and ditch Josh Green as a solid two-way bench guard.
The move that got the most attention this summer was Dallas’ sign-and-trade for former five-time Golden State Warriors All-Star wing Klay Thompson, who is replacing Tim Hardway Jr. Early this offseason, Hardaway was offloaded to the Detroit Pistons in a trade. Though he may be diminished defensively, Thompson is a bigger, more reliable scorer even now than Hardaway — and Hardaway was not a good defender by the end of his Dallas tenure, either.
Read more: Klay Thompson Looking to Find Similar Success Playing with Kyrie Irving
Dallas does seem to be improved, but ultimately the team will go as far as All-Star guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving take it. The team seems to have doubled down on the formula that got it to the Finals last season, which is a positive first step.
5. Will the Philadelphia 76ers finally advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001?
The most reconstructed of all the NBA’s semi-legitimate contenders, the Philadelphia 76ers boast a revamped roster around incumbent All-Stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. The marquee name joining the fray is injury-prone 34-year-old combo forward Paul George, who is already hurt with a hyperextended left knee and will miss the team’s season opener. Embiid, meanwhile, has sat out all of Philadelphia’s preseason games, and has also been ruled out for the Sixers’ debut Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
Read more: 76ers Stars Joel Embiid and Paul George Out for Season Opener
Health has been such an impediment in the 31-year-old Embiid’s career already that he has announced he will never play back-to-back games again, as the club looks to already load manage him. With the free agency additions of undersized forward Caleb Martin, former two-time All-Star Andre Drummond (in his second stint with the team), point guard Reggie Jackson, small forward KJ Martin, shooting guard Eric Gordon, and forward Guerschon Yabusele. Philadelphia also re-signed point guard Kyle Lowry, small forward Kelly Oubre Jr., and Maxey.
It’s a solid roster, but given Embiid and George’s history of falling apart due to injuries or erosion in the playoffs, it still seems unlikely Philadelphia will be able to overcome a healthy Boston Celtics or New York Knicks club in the playoffs.
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