There are many questions with which the new NBA season is presented and very few certainties, beyond the fact that the Golden State Warriorsthe defenders of the ring, have many arguments to extend their dominance, already converted into one of the best dynasties in the history of the League (four titles in the last eight seasons) but also with some weaknesses that could put an end to their career .
Los Boston Celtics, finalists a year ago, and the Milwaukee Buckscon Giannis Antetokounmpo as a firm contender for MVP, they are the two teams that stand out as the most dangerous threats for the champion, but the price of Los Angeles Clippers has skyrocketed with the return of the recovered Kawhi Leonard y Paul George. the season in which Lebron James can become the all-time leading scorer (needs 1,326 points to beat 38,387 points Kareem Abdul Jabbar) is also presented with other well-known comebacks: Zion Williamson (New Orleans) o Jamal Murray (Denver), some first line signing like the one from Rudy Gobert (Minnesota), Donovan Mitchell (Cleveland) o Dejounty Murray (Atlanta) and reserves the option of a jackpot for those teams with the worst record of the year, entry into the Frenchman’s next ‘draft’ Victor Wenbanyamaa pivot of 18 years and 2.20, capable of becoming a differential player in the next decade.
The crisis unleashed by the fight between Draymond Green y Jordan Poole has put the Warriors in check. No one knows for sure how much coexistence will have been damaged in the locker room of the Californians where their great star, Stephen Curry, He is walking towards 35 years old (he will be in March 2023) and whose hunger for titles may be satiated.
“It is the biggest crisis since I have been a coach. It is something really serious”, admitted the technician Steve Kerr about the fight between his two players to agree that, after many internal meetings, it was decided to reinstate Green in the discipline of the staff and punish him with a fine.
Green is one of the fundamental pieces, together with Curry y Klay Thompson, of the four rings of the franchise. But Poole is the future and Warriors They just extended his contract for four years and 140 million dollars. The other piece to prop up the project is Andrew Wigginsalso renewed for four years and 110 million, while the renewal of Greenwhich has also been dragging on since the summer, with an option to extend for another year, seems stuck.
Earthquake in Boston
Los Celtics seemed on the way to building a winning project around Jayson Tatum y Jaylen Brown and the competitive level they showed last summer against the Warriors. But the one-season suspension of the coach Making Udoka for maintaining a consensual relationship with a co-worker has caused an internal earthquake, and has given way to a replacement on the bench, now in the hands of his assistant, Joe Mazzulla. Complicated times for the Celtics, who have incorporated another luxury piece (Malcolm Brogdon).
Much more solid appear the Bucks option of Giannis Antetokounmpo, for many the most unbalanced player in the championship. Recovery of Kris Middletonwho missed the ‘playoffs’ and Brook Lopez They are the best backup Buckswho keep on payroll Serge Ibaka.
The return of Kawhi Leonardafter 15 months absent due to a ligament injury in his right knee, and also Paul George (out of 51 parties) the shares of the Clippers, that they have added three luxury pieces to a luxury payroll: John Wall, Robert Covington y Norman Powell.
The unknowns, instead, surround the level of which the Brookyln Netsconfirmed the continuity of Kevin Durant y Kyrie Irving, about whose exit did not stop to speculate throughout the summer, and ready to join the project to Ben Simmons. Also the competitive level of the Philadelphia 76ers of Joel Embiid if they manage to add the best version of James Harden. And the Phoenix Suns, dominators of the regular phase of 2022 (64 wins, 18 losses) if they manage to squeeze the last essences of Chris Paul, at 37 years old.
The panorama is much darker for the Lakers de LeBron James, who is 38 years old, who is in danger of staying out of the ‘playoffs’ again. The unknown of Russell Westbrook, whom the club is still trying to transfer, the locker room chemistry remains.
Six Spaniards in the most global NBA
Six will be the Spanish players who will compete this season in the NBA. There are already 21 in a row with at least one player in the League, a figure that reached ten in the 2017 season and which is part of an increasingly globalized competition, with a record 128 foreign players from 42 countries, 63 European .
Ricky Rubio He will enter his 13th season after signing this summer with Cleveland, where he left an incomplete job due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. His return is not expected before the end of the year. At 31 years old, after two serious injuries to the same knee, he must be cautious. After the emergence of Garland and Mobley, the Cavs have signed Donovan Mitchell to earn a postseason spot.
Equally ambitious will be the commitment of Santi Aldama in the emerging Grizzlies. In his second year, the Canarian center has gained weight and also centimeters (2.14) after intense work in the preseason, which led him to resign from the national team. Jaren Jackson’s injury works in his favor. “It’s a good opportunity and I feel ready. Stronger, faster », he says.
In its 14th season, Serge Ibaka He will fight for the second ring of his career with the Bucks, although his role, at 33 years old, will be complementary in a squad that with Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Holiday is a candidate for everything.
For Willy Hernangomez, at 28 years old, the third course in New Orleans, must be that of consolidation. His MVP title this summer with the national team at the Eurobasket is an exceptional reinforcement. “I’m hoping the confidence from this summer translates into minutes.” It will be more complicated for his brother Juancho, 27 years old, the year in the Raptors with an excess of exteriors in Toronto (Siakam, Achiuwa, Scottie Barnes, Porter, Anunoby…).
It should also be an expansive year in Houston for Usman Garuba20 years old, after a first year marked by injuries, in which he had to fight for minutes in the G League subsidiary.
