Basketball is officially back, and so are my way-too-early predictions. The NBA offseason was full of excitement and drama, so I have picked five players with exciting storylines and a lot to prove as ones to keep an eye on this NBA season.
5. Jaylen Brown (SF, Boston Celtics)
After a devastating end to the last NBA season, the Boston Celtics have a lot of questions left unanswered. Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles tendon in a crushing loss to the New York Knicks in last year’s playoffs, which is a season-ending injury that can sometimes even be career-ending. The Celtics were a team built for winning a championship, but the core players were all on extremely large contracts, and it was not a sustainable model. So, this offseason, they were forced to dissolve the 2024 championship core. The 2023 acquisitions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday were both traded, as well as backup center Luke Kornet. Al Horford—the oldest veteran on the Celtics—decided to sign with the Golden State Warriors. Going into this season, only Jaylen Brown and Derrick White remain from the 2024 championship core. Brown has averaged 20+ points for the past six seasons as the number two option, landing himself a five-year, $300 million extension—the highest NBA contract ever at the time—and the 2024 Finals MVP. Now, it is the first-ever season where Brown will be the Celtics’ number one option. He will certainly have a large workload to carry the depleted Celtics this year, so will he prove himself as a reliable figurehead?
4. Luka Dončić (PG, Los Angeles Lakers)
The ’24-’25 NBA season was certainly one of the craziest years in Luka Dončić’s life. He came off one of his greatest seasons ever, leading the Dallas Mavericks to their first NBA championship since 2011, while also averaging a near 34-point triple-double. In 2024, he suffered a significant left calf strain on Christmas, which would sideline him for a month. Fearing health and conditioning concerns, the Mavericks GM traded Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. He recovered from his injury and still managed to average 28 points per game in Los Angeles, leading them to the third seed in the Western Conference. However, they fell in the first round to the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games. Now, Dončić has his first offseason and full season in Los Angeles. This summer, he averaged 35 points per game for his home country of Slovenia for the FIBA Eurobasket and has appeared all over social media for his noticeably slimmer physique. In what will most likely be LeBron James’ last year in the NBA, will Dončić and the Lakers be able to fight for one more championship for the GOAT?
3. Cooper Flagg (PF, Dallas Mavericks)
The Duke Blue Devils did not win the NCAA Championship, but they did have one of the most stacked rosters of all time, being led by the No.1 overall pick Cooper Flagg. Flagg is only 18 years old, making him one of the youngest rookies since James in 2003. His resume is already decorated: Naismith College Player of the Year, Gatorade National Player of the Year, High School national championship (Montverde Academy), college Final Four appearance (Duke University), and two summers ago, he was called up to practice with Team USA during Olympic training at 17, the youngest ever to do so. We know Flagg is going to be a special player, but what makes his situation even more eye-catching is that he was drafted to the Dallas Mavericks—an organization that had a 1.4 percent chance of winning the NBA draft lottery. The Mavericks are loaded with veteran superstars, such as Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson and Anthony Davis, so adding the No.1 overall pick should make them a special team this year.
2. Kevin Durant (PF, Houston Rockets)
Kevin Durant is 36 years old and now on his fifth NBA team. For most players, this is the stage where they are not able to put up numbers anymore and find themselves bouncing around the league on minimum contracts. However, Durant has averaged 26+ points on 50%+ shooting for the past 14 years in a row and has shown no signs of slowing down. Durant is known for defying the odds, after coming back from a torn Achilles tendon during the 2019 NBA finals, which many believed he would never recover from. Although Durant has had individual success for so long, his team has yet to make it past the second round of the playoffs since he left the Warriors in 2020. I believe Durant’s stint in Houston will be different from Brooklyn and Phoenix, as he is not joining a “big three.” Durant joined Kyrie Irving and James Harden on the Brooklyn Nets, and then Devin Booker and Bradly Beal on the Phoenix Suns—legends who were already established ball-dominant all-stars. On the Rockets, Durant is joining a superstar-less young team that was the second seed in the Western Conference last year, with a top-10 defense. Adding a perennial scorer like Durant is exactly the piece that the Rockets need to make a real playoff push.
1. Victor Wembanyama (C, San Antonio Spurs)
Victor Wembanyama (Wemby) is my top player to watch this NBA season. Wemby was averaging 24 points per game, 11 rebounds, and a whopping 3.8 blocks. After a rare shoulder injury ended his 2025 season in February, Wemby still ended up leading the league in blocks. Wemby’s wild summer went viral on social media, most notably when he traveled to the Shaolin Temple in China to undergo a 10-day intense Zen retreat with the Shaolin Monks. Photos surfaced of Wemby with a shaved head practicing Kung Fu, balance and meditation. The internet went crazy. In addition, Wemby was spotted training with 1994 and 1995 NBA Champion, Finals MVP, League MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year: Hakeem Olajuwon. At the start of the NBA preseason, Wemby weighed in at 245 lbs—a 30-pound increase from his rookie year. He measured in at 7’5”—a two inch increase in height. Wemby is going to be a force to reckon with this NBA season, and I believe he will propel the Spurs back to the playoffs.