The 2024-25 NBA season kicks off Tuesday night at 4:30 PM PT/7:30 PM ET, with a matchup between the reigning champion Boston Celtics and the new-look New York Knicks.

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

1. Will the star-studded New York Knicks survive the regular season intact?

The New York Knicks gave 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. New York also saw former starting center Isaiah Hartenstein leave in free agency for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Read more: NBA Executives Think Knicks Lost Blockbuster 3-Team Karl-Anthony Towns Trade

After a 50-32 run in 2023-24 and a second straight second-round playoff exit, team president Leon Rose clearly wanted to go all-in on a volatile, defensive roster around All-NBA Second Team point guard Jalen Brunson . The additions of Towns and Bridges were intended to boost the team’s three-point shooting, but Bridges was terrible from distance in the preseason, shooting under 20 percent from distance.

Only three healthy players on the Knicks’ bench have any NBA experience at all. The team’s top two backups in the frontcourt, power forward/center Precious Achiuwa and center Mitchell Robinson, are dealing with long-term injuries that could force head coach Tom Thibodeau to rely too much on his starters early this season — which is a risk anyway is at Thibodeau.

You could say this was New York during the playoffs, as nearly all of Thibodeau’s overloaded 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 they have to break their core?

Boston defeated its four opponents in the playoffs this season and went 16-3 in the postseason to claim a record-breaking 18th title.

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

Read more: Celtics win record-breaking 18th NBA Finals with huge win over Mavericks

Extension deals for Holiday and White will kick in 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 the Celtics own this roster as is.

Assuming the 34-year-old Holiday doesn’t drop out this year and the club’s front line is healthy in time for the playoffs (Porzingis is out for several months due to injury, while his backup, 38-year-old Al Horford , is one of the league’s oldest players), 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 2023-24 with a Western Conference-best record of 57-25, but were defeated by the Dallas Mavericks in a six-game semifinal series. After former lottery pick Josh Giddey fell apart as a shooter in the playoffs, Oklahoma City managed to cover the Chicago Bulls’ atrocious front office in an outright deal to acquire All-Defensive Team guard Alex Caruso, a perfect two-way veteran . 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 this offseason by adding the aforementioned Hartenstein in free agency. Now a club with the league’s runner-up MVP in 2024, point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a host of developing young future stars appears poised for perhaps the best regular season in the league.

Can this translate into the playoffs? Thanks to another year of preparation for young offensive stars Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, plus the newcomers, it seems possible the Thunder could pose a real threat in the West.

4. How will the Dallas Mavericks’ new roster changes impact their hopes for Western Conference supremacy?

The Dallas Mavericks, who were seeded No. 5 for the NBA Finals but were quickly eliminated by the Celtics in five quick games, made three notable roster adjustments that got them this far this summer.

Will it be enough to help the Mavericks return to their second straight Finals? Time will tell. On paper, each of the deals can be seen as an upgrade. Dallas signed former New Orleans Pelicans wing Naji Marshall to replace the departed Derrick Jones Jr. as a starting small forward. Marshall is a much better shooter than Jones, but a worse defender. The Mavericks also traded to acquire Jaden Hardy and dump Josh Green as a solid two-way bench guard.

The move that received the most attention this summer was Dallas’ sign-and-trade for former five-time Golden State Warriors All-Star wing Klay Thompson, who signed Tim Hardway Jr. replaces. Early this season, Hardaway was transferred to the Detroit Pistons. in a trade.

While he may have diminished defensively, Thompson is even now a bigger, 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 find similar success playing with Kyrie Irving

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

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

The most reconstructed of the NBA’s semi-legitimate contenders, the Philadelphia 76ers feature a revamped roster centered around incumbent All-Stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. The big name joining the fray is 34-year-old combo forward Paul George, who is already injured with a hyperextended left knee and will miss the team’s season opener.

Embiid, meanwhile, has sat out all preseason games in Philadelphia and has also been ruled out for the Sixers’ debut Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.

Read more: 76ers stars Joel Embiid and Paul George out for season opener

Health has already been such a hindrance in the 31-year-old Embiid’s career that he has announced he will never play back-to-back games again as the club looks to manage him.

With the free agency 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 given Embiid and George’s history of falling apart due to injuries or erosion in the playoffs, it still seems unlikely that Philadelphia will have a healthy Boston Celtics or New York team in the playoffs. York Knicks club will be able to beat.

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