By: Anthony Martinez, Sports Editor
The end of the 2019-2020 NBA season was one of the weirdest and unique situations in league history. From the shutdown to the bubble, the seasons’ end was unorthodox, but still, it was an exciting one. Now on the heels of the shortest offseason in NBA history, the league is once again underway.
The biggest storyline at this point in the season, and most likely, the biggest of the entire season, was the recent four-team trade that included the Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Brooklyn Nets, and Indiana Pacers. Some relatively big names were included in the trade, like Victor Oladipo, Caris LeVert, and Jarrett Allen, along with several draft picks that the Nets sent away.
Obviously, however, the big piece in the trade was former MVP James Harden being traded to the Brooklyn Nets where he’ll team up with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. First-year head coach, Steve Nash, has a plethora of talent to work with of which most head coaches could only dream:. two former MVPs, Harden and Durant, and a superstar in Irving.
Durant and Harden were former teammates almost a decade ago; now, they’re much more mature and developed, especially Harden. They are finally looking for their champion together.. The wildcard is Irving, not because of his talent, but because of his availability. He has missed seven games in a row due to non-specific “personal reasons.” Between that and a lack of inside presence, there are some concerns, but they’re title contenders, no doubt.
The Nets are a solid 9-6 at this point, but 2-0 with Harden, so we’ll see how they develop. Along with the Nets in the East, the Celtics have the early lead at just 8-4, no team in the East has really pulled away at all yet. Some East teams, like the New York Knicks, Charlotte Hornets, and Cleveland Cavaliers, are playing better than expected, while the Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors have surprisingly struggled.
For the Heat, COVID-19 has been tough for them as they’ve missed Jimmy Butler in multiple games as well as Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, recently. They should get back on track at some point this season.
In the West, the defending champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, are once again off to a hot start at 11-3. They’re leading in the west while starting off at only 2-2, as well. The other Los Angeles team, the Clippers, are a game behind them at 10-4— still a great start, nonetheless.
The Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets have struggled much more than people anticipated after the promise they showed last season. It’s still early, but a team doesn’t want to take too long to find their rhythm.
The Pelicans have a lot of young talent but they’re still building chemistry with their new head coach, and are trying to find ways to shoot at a more efficient rate, as they have been a bad three-point shooting team: something that is hard to overcome in the modern NBA.
Some significant personal standouts so far this season, from a scoring perspective, are Bradley Beal who currently leads the league with 34.9 points per game this season. Andre Drummond is averaging the most rebounds at the moment at 15.8, an insane number, over two more than the second-highest. The assist leader, currently, is Nikola Jokic with 10.3; Jokic is actually averaging a triple-double at the moment, with those assists along with 25 points and 11.4 rebounds.
Defensively, Larry Nance Jr. surprisingly, has the most steals per game at 2.4, while Myles Turner leads the league in blocks with over four, an incredible number.
Along with these standouts are some of the rookie ones so far in the season. Undoubtedly, the rookie who has made the most impact at this point into the season is also the most polarizing rookie, and the third overall pick of the draft, LaMelo Ball.
Ball is averaging 11.8 points per game, 6.8 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 1.5 steals. All but points lead rookies currently. Ball has created opportunities for his teammates that Charlotte was not accustomed to having last season and it’s evident in their start to the season. Because he’s doing all this while coming off the bench, once he starts and his minutes’ increase, the numbers will as well.
First overall pick, Anthony Edwards, leads rookies in scoring, but has been unspectacular elsewhere else and inefficient in his scoring as well at shooting just 37 percent from the field. James Wiseman has been more versatile than some anticipated. Tyrese Haliburton has arguably been the second-best rookie at this point, while Tyrese Maxey is on the rise.
The season still has a ways to go to finish its 72-game season whilst hopefully avoiding more issues with COVID-19 and creating more fantastic basketball for the world to watch.
Will teams like the Lakers continue to dominate? Will the Nets become the most feared? Who wins MVP? A lot of questions will be answered shortly in the 2020-2021 NBA Season.
