The NBA is back, and a lot of the teams around the league look different than last season. In the first matchup of the season, the defending champs, Oklahoma City Thunder hosted the Houston Rockets. Before this game on October 21st, the Thunder were awarded their rings from last season. This game came down to the wire going into two overtimes, but the Thunder used their home court advantage to gain momentum to carry them to a win. The Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Golden State Warriors for the second game of the NBA season opener. The Warriors took care of business and earned a ten-point win on the road over Luka Doncic and the Lakers. This will be Luka Doncic’s first full year with the Lakers after the blockbuster trade last year with the Mavericks, who sent Anthony Davis to Dallas.
The Dallas Mavericks had the first overall pick in last year’s draft, and drafted 6 ‘7 guard Cooper Flagg. Flagg graduated from IMG Academy high school and went on to play one year at Duke before being drafted at 18 years old. Despite being the youngest, Cooper Flagg is being compared to Hall of Famers and has lots of high expectations coming into the season.
The Houston Rockets received a Hall of Fame trade, Kevin Durant who is trying to lead the team to be a key contender in the western conference. Historically, they are known for their defense and gritty style of play.
Another talented NBA team, The Indiana Pacers are gonna be without their star player Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton tore his achilles in Game 7 of the NBA finals last year, which resulted in favor of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The NBA will have its 3rd in-season tournament this year. The last two winners have been the Los Angeles Lakers in 2023. and the Milwaukee Bucks in 2024.The NBA wants the regular season to be more competitive, so the winner of the in-season tournaments gets incentives up to 500,000 for each player on the team starting this year. The team also gets a trophy and a medal. The NBA also makes the hardwood on the courts the colors of the team instead of the classic brown. The 2025-2026 NBA season is loading to be a fun and exciting one!
