7 compelling NBA storylines to watch this season
With the start of the 2023-24 campaign days away, here are seven intriguing plot points to follow throughout the basketball calendar.
Dame and Giannis form newest dynamic duo
There was nearly unprecedented parity across the league last season, with no team winning more than 71% of their games for the first time since 2000-01. The NBA has implemented multiple measures in recent years to curb super teams, and that’s largely meant a more even distribution of top players throughout the Association.
That makes it all the more notable that Damian Lillard – seven-time All-NBA point guard and one of the greatest long-distance shooters of all time – has joined two-time Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Milwaukee Bucks. Along with elite 3-and-D contributor Khris Middleton and top shot-blocker Brook Lopez, the Bucks are on the very short list of teams that can contend for the league’s best record in 2023-24.
As per usual in the NBA, though, the true mark of this new superstar duo will come once the playoffs roll around. A championship is the sole piece missing from Lillard’s Hall of Fame career, and Antetokounmpo has been very open about his desire to get back to the Finals after taking home the Larry O’Brien in 2021. Lillard’s outstanding shooting should mesh perfectly with Antetokounmpo’s powerful inside game, but one of the greatest pieces of intrigue as the new campaign begins is exactly how Dame Time and the Greek Freak pan out as a tag team.
Wemby takes over in San Antonio
It feels like it’s taken forever to get to this moment, but Victor Wembanyama is set to play in his first NBA game for the San Antonio Spurs this coming Wednesday against the divisional rival Dallas Mavericks. After over a year of waiting to see the young French phenom, it’s officially the Wemby show.
The Spurs shut the 19-year-old down after two Summer League games, but he dazzled by dropping 27 points and 12 rebounds in his final contest. Against more NBA-level competition in the preseason, Wembanyama has shown that he can play. He averaged 19.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.8 blocks, 1.5 assists, and a steal in only 20.9 minutes per game. He’s even unleashed some astonishing moves for a 7-foot-4 player, including crafty Eurostep dunks and dazzling behind-the-back baseline passes.
San Antonio is being cautious with the new face of its franchise, playing him at forward beside Zach Collins. That’s moved second-year player Jeremy Sochan into the lead distributing role alongside Devin Vassell. Though Sochan has averaged just 3.3 assists per game in the preseason, the 20-year-old flashed playmaking skills during his rookie campaign. The starting lineup’s strength is its height and wingspan – no player is shorter than 6-foot-5 or has a wingspan less than 6-foot-9. Be prepared for the Spurs to smother offenses with Wembenyama’s superstar potential leading the way.
Navigating the new resting policy
The NBA cranked up its efforts to curb load management this offseason, implementing a stricter resting policy that prohibits teams from resting multiple stars for nationally televised games and in-season tournament contests. While the new guidelines should theoretically reduce the number of notable absences, there are several exceptions that defeat the purpose.
For example, players can receive permission from the league in advance to skip a back-to-back game if they’re over the age of 35 on opening night or have amassed at least 34,000 regular-season minutes or 1,000 regular-season and playoff appearances combined. LeBron James and Stephen Curry are among those who meet that criteria. The Association can also exempt players with a “serious” or “unusual” injury history from participating in the first or second game of a back-to-back set. There seems to be a lot of gray area, and we’ll quickly find out how much the NBA adheres to its modified standards.
Violating the new rules will incur a team fine of $100,000 the first time, $250,000 the next, and $1 million more than the previous penalty for each additional violation. The financial sanctions aren’t chump change for most teams, but some owners will certainly be willing to bite the bullet for their stars.
End of an era in the Bay Area?
Just one season removed from their fourth title in eight seasons, is the end of the Dubs dynasty upon us? It’s a fair question to ask even with the core of their 2021-22 championship squad still intact. Bob Myers, the architect of those dominant Golden State Warriors teams, stepped down as president and general manager in the summer following an incredible 12-year run with the franchise. Meanwhile, head coach Steve Kerr and Klay Thompson are both entering the final year of their contracts.
Golden State can find some comfort in knowing that Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, and Curry are all locked in for at least three more seasons. However, building around the trio won’t be easy with the new collective bargaining agreement aimed at penalizing clubs deep into the luxury tax. Warriors owner Joe Lacob has been more than willing to pay lucrative amounts to keep the band together, but trading Jordan Poole before his $128-million contract kicks in shows that even he has his price.
Kerr was part of Michael Jordan’s famous “Last Dance” with the Chicago Bulls. Twenty-five years later, he might find himself in another final hurrah.
Familiar coaches in new places
Of the six teams with new coaches, half fancy themselves as championship contenders, while the other half believe they’ll at least be competitive.
Not only did the Toronto Raptors watch championship-winning coach Nick Nurse join the Philadelphia 76ers, but they also lost assistant Adrian Griffin to the rival Milwaukee Bucks as a new bench boss. While their two former coaches try to lead their new teams to titles, the Raptors will rely on first-timer Darko Rajakovic to return the squad to a competitive state.
The other team deemed to be a championship contender, the Phoenix Suns, also brought in a coach with experience winning trophies and undergoing vast roster changes – Frank Vogel. The Suns totally revamped the team, bringing in 13 new players to complement Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. As Los Angeles Lakers head coach, Vogel used 25 different players during their championship-winning season in 2020.
The Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons were the other two teams that brought in new coaches. Ime Udoka led the Boston Celtics to the Finals in 2022 during his lone season and will be tasked with bringing the Rockets out of the Western Conference basement. In a similar spot, it will be up to Monty Williams to return the Pistons to their former glory after the veteran coach also took the Suns to the Finals in 2021.
Grizzlies adapt without Ja
The first 25 games of the season can dictate the success of a campaign. How well the Memphis Grizzlies will play remains to be seen, but losing Ja Morant for the first quarter of the campaign will make things harder in the competitive Western Conference. The star guard was suspended for the first 25 games for detrimental conduct after he displayed a gun on social media for the second time this year. However, he’ll still be able to practice and travel with the team during the suspension.
Memphis has shown its ability to withstand long-term absences in the past, but this might be its biggest test. The franchise swapped out the dependable Tyus Jones for Marcus Smart, a former Defensive Player of the Year who can struggle to stay in the lineup. Derrick Rose also signed a two-year, fully guaranteed deal despite the veteran guard playing in 53 combined games since 2021. The injury bug also hit Memphis, with Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke suiting up for a respective 42 and 56 contests last season.
The Grizzlies will need to rely on their other stars. Jaren Jackson has the opportunity to step up offensively but will also need to keep his fouls down after leading the league in the category last year. After a scorching junior season in which he averaged 21.5 points per game, Desmond Bane will get more opportunities as the leading perimeter scorer. Young wings Ziaire Williams and Santi Aldama could strep up given their increased roles with Morant sidelined.
Debut of in-season tournament
Somewhat lost between all the player, team, and coach narratives is the fact that the NBA will have an entirely new wrinkle to its schedule this season. As part of the inaugural in-season tournament, each conference has been divided into three groups of five, and every squad will play four round-robin games against each of their group members. These games will take place each Tuesday and Friday in November, and no regular-season contests will occur on those dates.
From there, the winner of the six groups, along with the two best second-place finishers will advance to the quarterfinals. The semifinals and championship game will take place in Las Vegas in early December. The entire system is designed with the intention of adding excitement to the non-playoff portion of the NBA campaign. After all, every contest aside from the final in the in-season tournament outside of the finals will count toward teams’ regular-season records.
The incentive is also evident for the players, as each one on the winning team will receive $500,000, while the runner-ups get $200,000 each. Players on defeated semifinalists will earn $100,000, and quarterfinalists will rack up $50,000. Whether the in-season tournament will lead to better basketball or more early excitement in the NBA calendar remains to be seen, but it’ll certainly be interesting to watch it play out throughout November and December.
