The NBA season is underway, and per usual, the league did not waste any time grabbing our attention. LeBron James and the new-look 76ers ruined ring night for the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder beat the Spurs handily on their floor and left Victor Wembanyama dealing with a crisis of confidence.
Anthony Edwards dropped 45 points in an easy Timberwolves victory over the Heat as Giannis Antetokounmpo was left carrying a heavy load on his new team. We're only a few days into a months-long marathon and it already feels like we're spoiled for content -- like anything could happen. What do we believe will unfold over what figures to be a wild season?
What follows is our list of sure things (not to be confused with our bold predictions). It's a compilation of what you can count on to transpire in the NBA this season. The Sixers have gotten a little touchy at times when asked how all these big-name, high usage players will fit together.
Joel Embiid predicted that no one needs to sacrifice, while Jaylen Brown insisted, "It doesn't have to be anybody's team." That's fine as far as locker room chemistry goes, but for the purposes of who will be the primary scoring option, especially when the team needs buckets, that's a little less useful. Of the starting five, we can safely eliminate VJ Edgecombe from being the main man on the offensive end. He had an excellent rookie season, but the vets ahead of him will eat first.
Embiid said he wants to prioritize the other end of the floor, where he believes that getting back to being an All-Defensive caliber player "changes everything for us." He isn't wrong. James was happy to step back and let Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves take the lead scoring roles in Los Angeles last year, and there's every indication that his do-anything-that's-needed skillset will work nicely to fill in various game-to-game gaps. That leaves Brown and Tyrese Maxey.
Brown is coming off his best regular season, where he posted career highs in points, rebounds and assists per game. But that was for a Celtics team missing Jayson Tatum for much of the season that desperately needed Brown to take the lead. The Sixers are in a much different situation.
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