Die-hard basketball fans everywhere will have the date marked in their calendars.
The 2019-2020 NBA regular season will begin on October 22nd, 2019 until April 15th, 2020, with the playoffs beginning on April 18th and ending with the Finals in June of 2020.
All eyes will be fixed on the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers from the very start of the regular season and likely throughout. October 22nd will see two games featuring the two LA teams going head to head, in addition to an Anthony Davis-less New Orleans Pelicans vs. Kawhi Leonard-less Toronto Raptors matchup.
WHAT’S GOING DOWN IN THE WEST
After bringing a historic win to the Toronto Raptors last season, MPV Kawhi will need to bring that same heat to the Clippers along with former Oklahoma City Thunder forward Paul George. On the other hand, the Lakers’ fresh duo of LeBron James and former New Orleans Pelican Anthony Davis could bring just the right touch of talent the team needs.
The Utah Jazz might be another Western team to watch; tacking on former Memphis Grizzly Mike Conley and signing Bojan Bogdanovic to assist in Donovan Mitchell’s playing power.
Needless to say – there might not be as sharp of a focus on the five-time-defending-champions-of-the West-Golden State Warriors this time around. But the good news is, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green will be returning, with Klay Thompson also joining, but expected to sit out most of the season due to a torn ACL from last season’s Finals. The addition of D’Angelo Russell should help with this offense loss, but keep in mind that they’ll also be losing Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will be saying hello to Chris Paul and goodbye to 11-year teammate Russell Westbrook, who will be joining the Houston Rockets.
WHAT’S GOING DOWN IN THE EAST
The Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers might be the strongest teams of the East. MVP Giannis the “Greek Freak” Antetokounmpo will be playing with the Bucks again this season alongside most of the same core players that worked up to an NBA-best 60 wins last season. The Sixers swapped out Jimmy Butler for Al Horford and even added shooting guard Josh Richardson.
Unfortunately for the 2018-19 NBA Season champs, Leonard’s absence will be a rough new reality – but a retuning championship cast of Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, Pascal Siakam, Serge Ibaka, OG Anunoby and Fred VanVleet may just be enough to drive Toronto into the postseason.
And then there’s the Brooklyn Nets who got lucky with signing on former free agents Kevin Durant and former Boston Celtic Kyrie Irving for this season – but of course, Durant will only be making a return on the basis that his achilles tendon is recovered and ready to play (a hard injury to forget). Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie, Garrett Temple, Taurean Prince and Joe Harris will be returning to support their new team members and potentially take the Nets to new heights.
The NBA’s 2019-2020 Season Countdown Begins…
With a totally new landscape of diverse teams in both the East and the West, including a fresh new focus on fiery LA competition (LeBron and Leonard, we see you) – the 2019-2020 NBA Season will indubitably be a hot one to follow.
Hurry up and get here, October 22nd!
