The 2024-2025 NBA season begins Tuesday, October 22 with the eternal LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. For his part, Victor Wembanyama has made it his mission to discover the play-offs for his second season. The Boston Celtics, defending champion, are huge favorites.
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LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant make the pleasure last. The three big stars of the league born in the 1980s, a rarity now, continue to attract attention, with a sporting level that is still exceptional. At a combined age of 111, the three friends found themselves this summer within Team USA and quite easily dominated the basketball tournament of Paris OlympicsStephen Curry extinguishing France’s hopes in the final with a series of long-range shots. They will once again be at the forefront, in an NBA which is becoming international with, among others, 14 French players, a record. LeBron James signed a new two-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers in July, with the second year remaining at his discretion. With his 22nd season, he equals Vince Carter’s longevity record.
Europeans at the top of the pyramid
Last season, 125 players (out of 450) came from 40 countries outside the United States. The Europeans have settled at the top of the pyramid: the Serbian Nikola Jokic was MVP in 2021, 2022 and 2024, the Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2019 and 2020, the Slovenian Luka Doncic took Dallas to the final in the spring and the French giant Victor Wembanyama (2.24 m), who is entering his second season, is set to dominate the league in the coming years. At the heart of the San Antonio Spurs project, Victor Wembanyama has made it his mission to discover the play-offs.
The French giant (2.24 m), Olympic vice-champion this summer with France and expected to dominate the NBA in the future, had individually succeeded in his first season (rookie of the year, best NBA blocker, 21.4 points average), despite the messy play of the Spurs who remained stuck at the bottom of the ranking (14th out of 15 in the West, 22 victories and 60 defeats). “ We want to put ourselves in this situation of being a winning team, a play-off team. It is a culture that must be established. Reaching the play-offs or play-offs is the minimum objective “, proclaimed “Wemby” at the beginning of October, while Spurs have not reached the final table since 2019.
In addition to the natural progression of its young squad, San Antonio decided this summer to accelerate the reconstruction by recruiting two experienced elements: winger Harrison Barnes (32 years old, champion in 2015 with the Golden State Warriors), and especially the playmaker Chris Paul, NBA star and new mentor of the young Texans.
The Boston Celtics, defending champion, are eagerly awaited. After largely dominating the regular season (64 wins – 18 losses), the Boston Celtics crushed the play-offs, losing only three matches, and won a first title since 2008, rewarding a homogeneous group led by their young coach Joe Mazzulla . Without any major change in the squad in the offseason, the “C’s” of the Jayson Tatum/Jaylen Brown duo, who have reached maturity (26 and 27 years old), are the big favorites: 83% of NBA franchise bosses predicted a 19th title for Boston in the traditional pre-season poll. “ Their chemistry is unique, they deserve the opportunity to tackle this new challenge together », Commented Brad Stevens, general manager of the Celtics.