Our writers give their verdicts on the new season, which tips off Tuesday. Can New York or Houston thwart an OKC repeat? And which youngster will make the superstar leap?
If we’re lucky, a fully healthy campaign from Victor Wembanyama. He’s already shown flashes of his insane ceiling in his previous two seasons. He’s such a difficult matchup with the ball in his hands, and on defense, he changes the entire calculus of opposing teams’ schemes with his length. Jakub Frankowicz
From Wembanyama’s looming superstardom (he’s 7ft 5in now?!) to 18-year-old Cooper Flagg’s rookie spark, this season feels like a generational crossroads. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s encore, Paolo Banchero’s breakout and Nikola Jokić’s quiet dominance all converge. The old heads still matter, but the league now truly belongs to its twentysomethings: audacious, unpredictable and already rewriting the hierarchy. Bryan Armen Graham
The revamped Atlanta Hawks, whose summer trade for Kristaps Porziņģis sent shockwaves across the league. The question isn’t if the unicorn big man will vibe with Trae Young, an unselfish point guard famous for scoring threes in bunches; the question is, when will Porziņģis fall injured and how much time will he ultimately miss? Andrew Lawrence
