Damian Lillard went to Milwaukee, Bradley Beal went to Phoenix, Jrue Holiday ended up in Boston and Chris Paul ended up with Golden State. Victor Wembanyama arrived in San Antonio, Nick Nurse took over in Philadelphia and LeBron James is now the oldest player in the league.
The NBA’s 78th season starts Tuesday, with a ring ceremony in Denver — the traditional celebration of the reigning champions — highlighting the opening-night celebration. The Nuggets beat Miami last June to become the league’s fifth different champion in the last five years, a run of parity the likes of which the league hasn’t seen in more than 40 years.“We’ve gone from being a team that’s hunting the teams in front of us to now we’re going to be the hunted,” Denver coach Michael Malone said.
The offseason included several major transactions. Lillard’s quest to get traded to Miami wound up with him getting traded to Milwaukee and instantly forming a championship-caliber duo withEverybody is chasing the ring. Which means, for now, everybody is chasing the Nuggets. “Anything that’s going to create higher quality basketball, better competition, more intensity and more fan engagement is a great growth opportunity for us,” said Evan Wasch, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball strategy., the president of the National Basketball Players Association, knows there are skeptics. He points out that there also were skeptics when the NBA added the play-in tournament – which has turned out to be a massive success and ratings bonanza.