tribtoday
The NBA's 81st season begins Tuesday with a tripleheader, headlined by LeBron James and the Philadelphia 76ers traveling to face Jalen Brunson and the defending champion New York Knicks. Before the game, the Knicks will receive their championship rings and watch a banner rise to the rafters of Madison Square Garden, then set their sights on accomplishing something no team has done in nearly a decade: winning back-to-back titles.
New York captured the franchise's first championship in decades last season, becoming the NBA's eighth different champion in eight years—a streak of parity unmatched in league history. Despite that success, the Knicks are not the favorites to repeat; that distinction is shared by Victor Wembanyama's San Antonio Spurs and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Oklahoma City Thunder. However, New York defied expectations last season, and Finals MVP Jalen Brunson views the title as proof that external noise is irrelevant.
"There's only potential distractions when you read and believe what people are saying," Brunson said. "So, no matter what's being said and no matter what's been talked about, consistently or not, you believe what you want to believe, you hear what you want to hear. It's on us as teammates and individuals and professionals to understand what the nature of it is. .. The way we won was just because of how connected we were as a group. We've got to keep that."
The offseason saw a dozen or so former All-Stars, most of them former All-NBA selections, change teams, all chasing the Knicks. In the Eastern Conference alone, four of the last eight Finals MVPs switched uniforms: Kawhi Leonard returned to Toronto, Giannis Antetokounmpo went to Miami, and James and Jaylen Brown joined Philadelphia. Detroit and Cleveland retained their cores, as did New York. Boston plugged Paul George into the void left by Brown and paired him with Jayson Tatum. Indiana welcomes back Tyrese Haliburton for the first time since losing Game 7 of the 2025 Finals and expects to contend again.
"From a team perspective, we don't have any conversations about anything but winning a championship," Haliburton said. "That's our goal. There's nothing more to talk about. There are no small wins. To me, the year's successful if you win a championship. If not, it's not."
Out West, the conference is loaded as usual. Wembanyama and Gilgeous-Alexander are two of the league's brightest stars, and their Spurs and Thunder lead the pack. Nikola Jokic, a perennial MVP candidate, will try to push Denver back into title contention. Golden State still has Stephen Curry, the Los Angeles Lakers still have Luka Doncic, Houston is expected to contend with Kevin Durant leading the way, Portland will finally have Damian Lillard in uniform, and Minnesota has assembled what is expected to be an elite backcourt by pairing LaMelo Ball with Anthony Edwards.
"New beginnings," Ball said. "It's literally a new story. We're all excited here. It's going to be fun."
The Spurs reached the Finals last season by winning Game 7 in Oklahoma City, ending the Thunder's hopes of becoming the league's first back-to-back champion since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018. That loss stung Oklahoma City, but the Thunder's offseason focused on preparing for all 29 opponents, not just San Antonio.
"We need to make sure that what we are doing is broad enough that it gives us a chance to be competitive across opponents, including ones that we are not aware that are going to be really good teams. That happens every single year," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "And so we need to be laser-focused on ourselves. We need to take the lessons from that series, for sure, and we did. But it's certainly not something that we overcorrect for because you end up chasing your shadow, and it prevents you from being your best as you move forward."
Key Analysis
The NBA's landscape is as wide open as ever, with parity at an all-time high. The Knicks' title defense will be tested by a host of star-studded challengers, while the Spurs and Thunder enter as co-favorites. The offseason's flurry of moves has reshuffled the balance of power, setting the stage for a compelling 2025-26 season.
Six new head coaches will make their debuts: Dusty May, who won an NCAA title with Michigan last spring, takes over in Dallas; Micah Nori in Portland; Tiago Splitter in Chicago; Taylor Jenkins, tasked with overseeing the post-Giannis rebuild in Milwaukee; Sean Sweeney in Orlando, replacing Jamahl Mosley; and Mosley in New Orleans.
The NBA Cup final will move from Las Vegas to Indianapolis this year, All-Star weekend is set for Phoenix, and No. 1 draft pick AJ Dybantsa is already turning heads in Washington. But ultimately, all eyes will turn to June and the next team to hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
"We did something great last year," Knicks wing Mikal Bridges said. "That was last year. I think the biggest thing coming into this year is that we know what it takes."
Originally reported by tribtoday.