After an off-season of upheaval across the NBA, the real thing begins Tuesday.
Tipping things off is our first look at a Celtics squad that made arguably the most shocking off-season move when it dealt all-star Jaylen Brown to the 76ers for a package headlined by Paul George.
Even still, coach Joe Mazzulla’s troops look like title contenders with Tatum in his second season after an Achilles tear and depth across the board.
The situation in Detroit is equally dicey after a disappointing second-round playoff exit and an off-season contract standoff with star centre Jalen Duren.
A win for either squad would go a long way to setting a positive tone for the season.
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In primetime, LeBron James will make his Philadelphia 76ers debut at Madison Square Garden as the Knicks raise their championship banner.
How Nick Nurse deploys a 76ers lineup with many mouths to feed — James, Brown, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe — for Game 1 will be a fascinating subplot as a group of stars comes together for the first time.
And can the Knicks’ post-season dominance — going 16-3 en route to the title — translate into the regular season? New York is bringing back essentially the same roster, save for backup centre Mitchell Robinson, who left for the Celtics and was replaced by ex-76er Andre Drummond.
The nightcap pits a pair of bona fide title contenders.
Widely considered the top two teams in the West, the Spurs and Thunder will renew acquaintances for the first time since San Antonio won the conference finals last season.
Both teams are fairly similar from last year — though the Thunder, in a series of salary-cap moves, jettisoned Canadian Lu Dort along with rotational pieces Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins.
Whether the likes of youngsters such as Cason Wallace and Aday Mara can step into that role will be key to the Thunder’s hopes of returning to the Finals.
They’ll also have to get past Victor Wembanyama’s Spurs, who beat them four of five times in the regular season and in seven games in the playoffs.
San Antonio imported Tobias Harris from the Pistons as a veteran wing threat, but will mostly rely on growth from its young core such as Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle to avenge last season’s five-game Finals loss.
A first glimpse of how it will all shake out takes place Tuesday.
