NBA storyline roundup ahead of the 2025 season

This NBA season, as always, is colored by the events of the last. Achilles injuries to Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton have changed the landscape of the Eastern Conference. Aging superstars like Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant in the Western Conference exited the playoffs with another chance at winning a ring passing by.

The Oklahoma City Thunder stayed healthy and dominant and won their first NBA Championship in the franchise’s young history. After that, so much happened. Offseason moves, teams falling apart or coming together and an exciting NBA Draft leave basketball fans a lot to digest.

So, some housekeeping needs done. I just entered a fantasy basketball league and was blown away by the fact Kristaps Porziņģis plays for the Atlanta Hawks. If you took last season off or need a refresher on the Association’s biggest storylines, I’m here to help.

Were the Clippers caught red-handed?

This is a rabbit hole. On Sept. 3, the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast revealed shocking evidence to allege the Los Angeles Clippers circumvented the NBA’s salary cap when they re-signed Kawhi Leonard in 2021. The story involves a fraudulent tree-planting bank, Mark Cuban, a “no-show” job and more.

If NBA commissioner Adam Silver finds the Clippers guilty of the Association’s “cardinal sin,” the Clippers may face serious punishment. Unfortunately for the Clippers, they just built the Intuit Dome, the home for this season’s All Star game. They gave James Harden an extension, signed veteran guard Bradley Beal and brought back franchise legend Chris Paul for a swan song. Everything is pulling in the right direction for a historically impoverished franchise, so it’s an unfortunate year for this allegation to appear.

After winning 50 games last season and losing Game 7 in the first round of the playoffs to the Denver Nuggets, the Clippers have an experienced, talented group. Could foul play from the richest owner in American professional sports foil their plans of winning the franchise’s first championship?

Giannis’ future with the Bucks

Since bringing Milwaukee an NBA Championship for the first time in 50 years in 2021, two-time MVP forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has expressed intermittent discontent with the franchise that drafted him. He wants to compete for a championship, but he and the Bucks have lost in the first round of the playoffs the last three seasons.

After waiving-and-stretching Damian Lillard’s contract and signing Myles Turner away from the rival Pacers, the Bucks are a sinking ship. They have talented role players, but Turner needs to play the best he ever has to make the Lillard decision and his contract worth it. That’s not even to mention the quality of play Antetokounmpo has to see out of his teammates to resist requesting a trade.

Other teams hear the haul creaking. Teams like the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs have a malleable salary structure, good players and first-round draft picks to offer Milwaukee. But for now, Giannis is a Buck.

The Warriors want to ride off into the sunset

After a trade-deadline acquisition of Jimmy Butler last season, the Golden State Warriors went 22-5 with Butler and Curry on the floor. Then, after a seven-game series against the Rockets, Curry strained his hamstring in Game 1 of the next series. These Warriors aren’t getting any younger.

This offseason, the Warriors signed Boston Celtics center Al Horford — a quality replacement for Kevon Looney in the front court. While the Warriors like to change their starters depending on the opponent, the average age of a potential starting five of Curry, Buddy Hield, Butler, Draymond Green and Horford is 35.8 — an NBA record.

Like every other Warriors team since 2014, they’ll go as far as Curry leads them. In the playoffs last season, the Warriors’ offensive rating fell a staggering 16.0 points with Curry on the bench or sidelined with injury.

Can the Knicks capitalize on an injured east?

The New York Knicks were stopped just short of the NBA Finals by the Pacers — a double-edged result. It was the Knicks’ first trip to the Conference Finals since the 1999-2000 season. But the Knicks ran out of gas in their final few games — a common issue with head coach Tom Thibodeau’s teams in the past.

So the Knicks made the controversial decision to let Thibodeau go. Plan A, a strange one, was to pry away a coach comfortable with their current team. Plan B, a successful one, was to hire former Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown.

In his first year, Brown led the Kings to the playoffs for the first time since the 2005-06 season and won Coach of the Year honors unanimously. But, he hasn’t won a playoff series since 2012 with the Los Angeles Lakers — a goal he’ll have to meet four straight times to get the Knicks their championship.

The time is now for the Knicks. Their five best players are all making $19 million or more and are under contract for at least the next three seasons. Look deeper at the roster, and the quality of the players dips to match their salaries. If Jalen Brunson, his buddies from Villanova Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby ran out of gas last season with Thibodeau, a shallow bench under Brown’s leadership likely won’t resolve that issue.