Tag: Lebron James

2024-2025 NBA Season Opener Preview

By: Know Buxton

The 2024-2025 NBA season tips off on October 22 with the defending champions Boston Celtics facing the New York Knicks. That game will be followed by the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves. I really like these matchups for opening night because all four of these teams should be pretty competitive this season. In my opinion, the Boston Celtics look like the favorites to win the NBA Finals for the second year in a row. They definitely have all of the pieces they need in order to go back to back. They have two stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, they have two of the best defending guards in the league in Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, and they also have one of the best shooting and defending big men in the league in Kristaps Porzingis. They have a solid bench with players like Payton Pritchard, Al Horford, and Lonnie Walker IV, but it could be better. To me, their biggest threat to going back to back is their health. If one player in their starting five gets injured for an extended period of time, things could go downhill. Luckily for the Celtics, these players don’t have bad injury histories except for Kristaps Porzingis so this shouldn’t be much of a concern. For the Knicks on the other hand, they also have a good chance to make a championship push. I really like the additions they made with Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns. Their biggest concern is the depth which they lost by trading Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo. They also lost Isiah Hartenstein to the Thunder in free agency this summer which doesn’t help. As for the opening night game between the two, I think the Celtics will win a close game and this could potentially be a playoff matchup we see later in the season. 

The Lakers are a team to watch this season too. They are led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis , two of the best players in the NBA; but their biggest problem, as always, is the supporting cast for their two superstars. They signed JJ Reddick as a first time head coach and he seems to be very close with LeBron James. This is a make or break season for the Lakers in my opinion because LeBron’s career is coming to an end and Anthony Davis might not want to stay for much longer if there is no LeBron James. For the Timberwolves, I am very high on their young superstar Anthony Edwards. The Timberwolves finished as a top team last season and made a deep playoff run before losing to the Mavericks. They traded their star that went alongside Edwards in Karl-Anthony Towns, but I like the additions of Julius Randle and Donte Divincenzo. The biggest question for Minnesota is if their good season last season was a fluke or not. I think they have all the pieces in place for another successful season, but it largely depends on how the Towns trade turns out for them. In the Timberwolves vs Lakers game, I think the Timberwolves will win in a close one but it definitely could go the other way. This game comes down to which team plays better together because both teams made moves this off-season and have some new additions.

Do you draft Bronny James this year?

By Dylan Jones

Many basketball fans know of the name LeBron James as he is looked at as one of the greatest to ever play the game of basketball. LeBron has a son named Bronny James, and he is a freshman at University of Southern California. He was projected to be a mid-first round pick before this summer he suffered a cardiac arrest during a practice at USC. This sidelined him for the rest of summer workouts and practices. Leaving people to question if he will even declare for the draft this year because of the unfortunate start to his freshman year. He isn’t playing as well as he was projected to. This was most likely due to the tragic circumstances he had to deal with this summer. His father, LeBron, has stated numerous times throughout his career that before he retires he wants to play with his son (Bronny). 

As a manager of a NBA team you look at this as an opportunity to get Bronny and LeBron on your team. As the 2024 NBA draft class is looked at as one of the weakest draft classes we have seen in a while this gives teams more of a reason to draft Bronny. As Bronny is not NBA ready yet, drafting him would give you a great shot at getting LeBron via trade or signing him in the 2025 offseason. Teams would want LeBron in the final stretch of his career because they know no matter where he is playing he will sell a lot of tickets and jerseys. Bronny also has plenty of potential since he is the son of LeBron. He is an excellent finisher around the rim, and has great vision when playing point guard. His three point shooting ability is not great, but that is something that he can get better at over time with NBA shooting coaches. I am very excited to see what NBA team takes a chance on Bronny’s untapped potential and gets LeBron for the last few years of his career.