Seeing all the fruits borne of an incredible summer of player movement. It feels like three years ago that Giannis Antetokounmpo was traded to the Heat, because since then, Jaylen Brown and LeBron James went to the 76ers, and a ton of other deck chairs were reshuffled. This is the most intriguing NBA opening week in eons.
Claire de Lune Washington and Utah clawing their way out of the doldrums. Both have been in perpetual poverty for almost half a decade. Both now surround young cores of switchy, two-way wings with playoff-tested veterans like Anthony Davis and Jaren Jackson Jr.
Lee Escobedo The NBA’s great chemistry experiment. After a summer in which Antetokounmpo landed in Miami and LeBron and Brown somehow wound up together in Philadelphia, the league feels like someone hit the reset button. Whether any of these hastily assembled superteams can actually function together is another question entirely.
I’m particularly interested in how quickly the novelty wears off and the finger-pointing begins. Bryan Armen Graham Can I be a homer and pick da Bulls? It appears they have their own generational Caleb – Caleb Wilson – to match the dynamic Bears quarterback, and the North Carolina prospect has looked like a draft steal since falling to fourth overall.
Mix in the free-agent signing of Norman Powell (a veteran tough guy who expands his offensive range each year) and the addition of Tiago Splitter (a Gregg Popovich disciple who spurred Portland to a surprising playoff campaign last year), and these young Bulls sure look ready to run again. Andrew Lawrence A healthy Indiana Pacers team. I watched a lot of Pacers games last season, convinced they’d still be a playoff team as Tyrese Haliburton recovered from a torn Achilles – their magical run to the NBA finals in 2025 was very much a team effort – only to realize in dismay how Haliburton was not only the team’s beating heart, but the engine of their offense.
Now Hali is back, Myles Turner is out, Ivica Zubac and Kelly Oubre Jr are in, and I am glued to my couch with a big bucket of popcorn. Owen Lewis Irrelevant to his legacy. For all the hand-wringing and consternation about what will or won’t happen for LeBron and the 76ers in his tenure there, it’s ultimately a moot point.
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