Staying In The Loop Now That NBA Is Back
October 18th marked the beginning of the 77th NBA season, which means BASKETBALL EVERY DAY UNTIL JUNE. Precisely 82 regular season games played by 30 teams over the course of 7 months…not including playoff games that run through April, May, and June! For readers that could care less, you may be rolling your eyes and sighing after reading those sentences. You may be thinking about all the people in your life that won’t be shutting up about their team not playing well. With the amount of basketball played every season, even avid basketball fans have a hard time keeping up with all the news. Thus, this article will inform you about some of the stuff going on in the game so you can surprise the fans in your life with your newfound NBA knowledge. To the lady readers that don’t watch basketball, this information can come in handy when a guy tries to mansplain to you. To the male readers that don’t watch basketball, this information will come in clutch during the situations where you usually nod and agree with your homeboys about how trash Ben Simmons is.
LeBron James Will Be The NBA’s All-Time Leading Scorer
You don’t have to be a fan of basketball to have heard of LeBron James. Debatably the greatest basketball player of all time, “The King” is now entering his 20th NBA season with no plans of retiring anytime soon. Throughout his career, he’s amassed countless accolades representative of his dominance in the league: 4x NBA Champion, 4x MVP, and 18x All-Star. The next achievement his eyes are set on is scoring the most points in NBA history, a record held by Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the last 38 years. At the time of writing this article, LeBron currently stands at 37144 points and needs 1,234 points to become number 1. Since he plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, which arguably has the worst roster of players in the league, fans expect his focus to shift from winning games to scoring a whole lot of points. This historic moment will be important not only for NBA history but sports history, period. Whenever LeBron decides to retire and set the record, it’s unlikely anyone will match his longevity and scoring ability to break it.
The Miami Heat Are Not Looking Like Championship Contenders
Now shifting from the most talked about player to the least talked about team in the NBA, the hometown Miami Heat. The lack of media attention can be blamed on the team’s style of play, which relies less on looks and flash and more on fundamentals and defense. Although not given the attention they deserve, they have earned recognition through playoff success. Since the signing of star player Jimmy Butler and the drafting of Jack Harlow’s friend Tyler Herro, the Heat have made it to the NBA Finals (which they haven’t done since they had LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in 2014). They reached the Eastern Conference Finals in 2020 and 2022. However, the story of the Heat has been “so close, but so far,” as they’ve yet to achieve the ultimate goal of a championship. With the Heat off to a slow start this year and competition getting better across the Eastern Conference, it seems that the championship window for the team has closed.
The Golden State Warriors May Win Back-To-Back Championships…Again
The most difficult achievement in the NBA has to be winning a championship. It requires an equal amount of talent, work, and luck that is difficult to duplicate. However, if any team has made it look easy, it’s the Golden State Warriors. Headlined by the trio of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, they’ve represented the Western Conference in the championship Game 6 out of the last 8 years. They won the Chip 4 of those times, with back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018. After winning their 4th trophy last season, the consistent success of the franchise has split the NBA fanbase in half, with one side holding the utmost appreciation for greatness and another side tired of seeing this team in the NBA Finals every year. With a deep, talented roster led by MVP-level player Steph Curry, the reigning champions are yet again the team to beat this year.
Strike Out,
JD Delcastillo
Boca Raton
JD Delcastillo is a Content Writer for Strike Magazine. He loves consuming media and thinking critically. A major know-it-all, anything related to pop culture, music, and sports, he has knowledge in. Reach out to him on Instagram @jd.delcastillo or email jd.delcastillo954@gmail.com
