Top 5 storylines from the 2024-25 NBA season to watch

The 2024-25 NBA season begins Tuesday night at 4:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. ET with a match between the reigning champion Boston Celtics and the newly-relaunched New York Knicks.

Here are the five most intriguing storylines to start the year.

1. Will the outstanding New York Knicks make it through the regular season unscathed?

The New York Knicks traded away a lot of future draft equity and depth this summer in exchange for All-Defensive Team small forward Mikal Bridges and four-time All-Star center/power forward Karl-Anthony Towns. In New York, former starting center Isaiah Hartenstein also moved to the Oklahoma City Thunder in free agency.

Read more: NBA executives believe Knicks have lost out on blockbuster 3-team Karl-Anthony Towns trade

After a 50-32 run in the 2023-24 season and a second straight playoff round exit, team president Leon Rose clearly wanted a rotating, defense-focused roster centered around All-NBA Second Team point guard Jalen Brunson go all in. The addition of Towns and Bridges was intended to help improve the team's 3-point shooting, but Bridges was terrible from distance in the preseason, shooting less than 20 percent from distance.

Only three healthy players on the Knicks bench have any experience in the NBA. The team's top two frontcourt reserves, power forward/center Precious Achiuwa and center Mitchell Robinson, have long-term injuries that could force head coach Tom Thibodeau to rely too heavily on his starters early this season – something Thibodeau already has represents risk.

One could argue that New York was in this situation in the playoffs, as nearly all of Thibodeau's overworked rotation players were sidelined with injuries at the end of the Knicks' semifinal loss to the Indiana Pacers.

2. Can the Boston Celtics win their second straight title before potentially having to break up their core?

Boston swept its four opponents in the playoffs this season, went 16-3 in the postseason and won a record 18th title.

Equipped with the best starting lineup in the league – with two current All-Stars on the wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, former All-Star center Kristaps Porzingis and All-Defensive guards Jrue Holiday and Derrick White – and fresh confidence, this one is expensive squad is the big favorite to return to the final for the third time in four seasons.

Read more: Celtics win record 18th NBA Finals with stunning victory over Mavericks

Extension contracts for Holiday and White come into effect at the start of the 2025/26 season, making Boston the most expensive team in the league by a significant margin. This year could be the last time Celtics owners are willing to field this roster as is.

That's assuming the 34-year-old Holiday isn't out this year and that the club's front line is healthy again by the playoffs (Porzingis is out for several months with an injury, while his replacement, 38-year-old Al Horford, is one of the oldest Players of the League), Boston seems like a safe bet to at least return to the Finals.

3. Will the Oklahoma City Thunder return to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012?

The Oklahoma City Thunder finished the 2023-24 season with a 57-25 record, the best in the Western Conference, but lost to the Dallas Mavericks in a six-game semifinal series. After former lottery pick Josh Giddey failed as a shooter in the playoffs, Oklahoma City managed to plunder the terrible Chicago Bulls front office in a straight deal, signing All-Defensive Team guard Alex Caruso, who fits perfectly Both ways fit on this roster with championship pedigree.

Read more: Bulls and Thunder agree to huge trade to send two-way star to Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City continued to subtly win the offseason by adding the aforementioned Hartenstein in free agency. Now, a club that boasts 2024 league runner-up MVP honors, point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and plenty of developing young future stars appears poised for perhaps the league's best regular season.

Can it be implemented in the playoffs? Thanks to another year of season from young frontcourt stars Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, as well as new additions, it seems possible that the Thunder could be a real threat in the West.

4. How will the new-look Dallas Mavericks' roster changes impact their hopes of Western Conference supremacy?

The Dallas Mavericks, who advanced to the NBA Finals as a No. 5 seed but were quickly blown out by the Celtics in five quick games, made three notable adjustments to the roster that got them this far this summer.

Will it be enough to help the Mavericks to their second straight Finals? Time will tell. On paper, either deal could be viewed as an upgrade. Dallas has signed former New Orleans Pelicans winger Naji Marshall to replace the departed Derrick Jones Jr. as starting small forward. Marshall is a far better shooter than Jones, but a worse defender. The Mavericks also acquired Jaden Hardy and gave up Josh Green as a solid two-way bench guard.

The move that garnered the most attention this summer was Dallas' signing of former Golden State Warriors five-time All-Star winger Klay Thompson, replacing Tim Hardway Jr. Earlier this offseason, Hardaway was released to the Detroit Pistons in a trade.

While he may be weakened defensively, Thompson himself is now a better and more reliable scorer than Hardaway – and Hardaway wasn't a good defender at the end of his tenure in Dallas either.

Read more: Klay Thompson wants to achieve similar success with Kyrie Irving

Dallas may appear to have improved, but ultimately the team will go as far as All-Star guards Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving can go. The team appears to have doubled down on the winning formula that got them to the finals last season, which is a positive first step.

5. Will the Philadelphia 76ers finally reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001?

The Philadelphia 76ers are the most reconstructed of all the NBA's semi-legitimate contenders, boasting a revamped roster centered around reigning All-Stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. The most prominent name to join the fray is injury-prone 34-year-old combo forward Paul George, who already has a hyperextended left knee injury and will miss the team's season opener.

Meanwhile, Embiid has missed all of Philadelphia's preseason games and has also been ruled out for the Sixers' debut against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, according to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.

Read more: 76ers stars Joel Embiid and Paul George are out of the season opener

Health has already been such a major obstacle in the 31-year-old Embiid's career that he has announced he will never play back-to-back games again as the club tries to manage him well.

With the free additions of undersized forward Caleb Martin, former two-time All-Star Andre Drummond (in his second stint with the team), point guard Reggie Jackson, small forward KJ Martin, shooting guard Eric Gordon and forward Guerschon Yabusele. Philadelphia also re-signed point guard Kyle Lowry, small forward Kelly Oubre Jr. and Maxey.

It's a solid roster, but considering Embiid and George fell apart in the playoffs due to injuries or erosion, it still seems unlikely that Philadelphia can defeat a healthy Boston Celtics or New York Knicks club in the playoffs.

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