October is full of professional sports, and with this month comes the start to the regular season of the NBA. Since the Golden State Warriors won the NBA championship in June, the NBA season has been on a hiatus, but it’s set to return on Oct. 18.
Like many others, this season is bound to be exciting.Several teams are trying to look past last season’s disappointments in the regular season, while other teams look to pick up right where they left off. After winning last year’s NBA championship, the Golden State Warriors are hoping to bag another finals win, while the Boston Celtics will try to have a redemption year after losing in the finals.
The Celtics coach, Ime Udoka, however, will be suspended for the upcoming season after the team discovered he was violating team guidelines. Joe Mazzulla will serve as the interim head coach for the season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The Los Angeles Lakers will try to bounce back from last year’s devastating season. Many fans were disappointed after the team missed the playoffs.
Throughout Lebron James’ career, he has only missed the playoffs four times. And just two years ago, in 2020, he helped the Lakers win the championship alongside Anthony Davis. After that season, the Lakers traded Malcom Brogdon for Russel Westbrook. This year, James, Westbrook and Davis will surely aim to lead the team back to the playoffs.The Lakers also traded for guard Patrick Beverley to help them this season.
Some big trades also occurred during the offseason with some superstar players traded to new teams. The Utah Jazz sent center Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves and guard Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The new season will also permanently implement the play-in tournaments at the end of the season for teams. The play-in tournaments are played by the 7th and 10th seeds of a respective conference.
The regular season is set to end on April 9, 2023,with the playoffs starting on April 15.
