The pandemic emergency has returned and the Golden State Warriors are back to winning the Ring. The first objective in 2023 will be the renewal of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), then we will think about who can beat the Boston Celtics
The NBA’s 2022 took its leave in the most spectacular way possible, with what in a basketball game would have been a game-winner seconds away from the siren. The long-awaited Christmas matches did not disappoint expectations, on the contrary, and the exclamation point was the sensational epilogue of Denver-Phoenixsigned by Aaron Gordon (then came Luka Doncic’s 60 points):
Christmas Day games are the junction point between a significant year for the league and several of its protagonists, and a 2023 which comes with a first priority on the agenda: the renewal of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). These twelve months have represented the definitive return to normalcy, after two exhausting seasons marked by the consequences of the pandemic. And they were in a sense a return to basics, with the Golden State Warriors putting up their fourth title since 2015. The first as Finals MVP by Steph Curry, who along with Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and coach Steve Kerr definitively put the seal of “dynasty” on the recent past of the organization. Helping to make it, for the historic first time, the most valuable franchise ever.
It hasn’t been a year without ups and downs for the Warriors themselves, though. They had to handle the thorny case between Green and Poole (yes, the punch) in September, and currently sit tenth in the West, with Curry not returning from injury for two weeks. The distance currently seems wide from their last Finals challengers, the Boston Celtics, who instead come out of 2022 without a ring, but as a team to beat. The growth of the best players on the roster, primarily Jayson Tatum, and a couple of excellent moves on the market have made the team even more competitive, after the defeat against Golden State and the traumatic divorce with coach Ime Udoka.
As in Tatum’s case, last season was a turning point for Luka Doncic, who definitively consecrated himself in the league’s small elite, leading the Mavs to their first postseason successes in ten years; it was also for Nikola Jokic, MVP for two consecutive seasons who has now finally found Jamal Murray; and also for Ja Morant, who together with his Grizzlies represents the new advancing, looking for a place among the contenders.
Speaking of news, finally, the Rookie with a capital R of the 2022 Draft class is undoubtedly Paolo Banchero. For us Italians of course, but not only. Picked number one by Orlando, his start to the season has convinced everyone, the talent and potential seem to be those of a future star of the league. And so, from one first choice to another, we are moving towards the year that will bring the most awaited prospect since the days of LeBron James, Victor Wembanyama, to the NBA.
For the history of the game, in any case, 2022 will be remembered for the last farewell to Bill Russell. A pillar, on and off the field, of the league as we know it today, to which the NBA itself has been paying a long tribute in recent months.
