‘Tis the season to be happy as Summer closes it season, and the NBA makes its comeback for its 76th season and could be one of the most competitive seasons in recent history.
The defending champion Golden State Warriors set to defend their title with Klay Thompson playing in his first full season since 2019, while Stephen Curry looks to climb into that unofficial top ten all time rankings adding another MVP, Championship and finals MVP to his already impressive resume. You have the Lakers looking to bounce back from one of their most disappointing seasons in recent history, with a healthy Anthony Davis coming back, a motivated King James, and a former star in Russel Westbrook playing with a huge chip on his shoulder.
We also have the Bucks, Mavericks, Clippers, Nuggets Celtics, Sixers, and last but not least the Nets all being contenders and looking to snatch the crown from Steph Curry and the Warriors.
The Los Angeles Clippers have a lot to prove. Since acquiring Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Clippers have had Championship or bust expectations, but have only had disappointing outcomes since then. In the bubble they were up three games to one in the semi finals against the Denver Nuggets and blew that series lead to lose the series.
Since then, they have major injuries to their two stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and haven’t had a fully healthy season to see what this duo could do.
This year Kawhi and PG-13 are healthy as ever, they’ve added Norman Powell last year who averaged 20 points per game before coming to LA, and this year John Wall who hasn’t played in a few seasons, but looks rejuvenated, healthy, and looks quick as ever.
The Clippers look to challenge the Golden State Warriors for the crown. The Denver Nuggets have faced similar circumstances with Major injuries to Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., the Nuggets have yet to have the opportunity to build on their Disneyland Bubble run to the Western Conference finals in 2020 where they gave the eventual Champion Lakers a competitive series.
The Western Conference will be as competitive as ever with the Lakers with something to prove after an embarrassing campaign last year, as do the Suns, who lost to the Mavericks after being the top seed in the Conference.
The Timberwolves getting Zion back along with the Timberwolves and their acquisition of Rudy Gobert make an interesting year in the wild wild west.
Out east the defending champs Celtics look to get back to the finals, but it won’t be easy with Chris Middleton coming back to join the most dominant player in the League in Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Nets with Ben Simmons joining Kyrie and KD, the Sixers with a healthy and slimmed down James Harden, theHeat who had and opportunity to go to the finals on a wide open Jimmy butler three point attempt, along with a resilient Raptors group, makes for one of the most balanced and competitive season coast to coast that we have seen in a very long time.
