On October 22, Beijing time, one day later, the 2024-25 NBA regular season will officially kick off. What are the new highlights of this new season? Can Celtic successfully defend their title? What new stars and dark horses will emerge in the alliance? James, Durant, and Curry will all unlock new milestones, and the top eight award favorites have been announced.

The new champion? Can the Green Army replicate the feat of the Warriors

In the past 6 seasons, there have been 6 different NBA championships. The last team to defend their title was the Warriors, who won two consecutive titles in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Can Celtic become another team to defend their title in the new season?

Judging from the road to winning the championship last season, the Celtics eliminated the Heat 4-1 in the first round, the Cavaliers 4-1 in the second round, swept the Pacers 4-0 in the Eastern Conference finals, and defeated the Mavericks 4-1 in the finals, losing only 3 games in the playoffs in total. In the new season, the Green Army has retained the core lineup, and many people are optimistic that they will defend their title.

However, a number of strong teams have strengthened the roster in the offseason, which could pose a threat to the Green Army. Judging from the current odds to win the championship, the Green Army is still the top favorite to win the championship, the other two teams in the top three in the East are the Knicks and the 76ers, the Knicks brought in Towns and Mikal Bridges to build a luxurious starting lineup, and the 76ers signed George to join Embiid and Maxey to create the All-Star Triumvirate.

The top odds to win the Western Conference are the Thunder, Nuggets, Mavericks and Timberwolves. The Thunder brought in Hartenstein and Caruso to focus on improving their defense, the Nuggets added Westbrook to the bench, the Mavericks acquired Klay Thompson, and the Timberwolves traded Towns for Randle and DiVincenzo.

Will the 2024-25 championship be crowned with a new king as it has been in the past six years, or will the Green Army repeat the Warriors' feat and become the next team to successfully defend the title?

The new dark horse? Who will be the next lone ranger

Before the start of last season, I am afraid that not many people thought that the Mavericks could make it to the Finals, they were an out-and-out dark horse. The Mavericks had a 50-32 record in the regular season, eliminated the Clippers 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs, defeated the Thunder 4-2 in the second round, defeated the Timberwolves 4-1 in the Western Conference finals, advanced to the finals, and finally lost to the Green Army 1-4 and missed the second championship in team history.

Which team will be a dark horse like the Mavericks in the new season?

The official NBA website mentions two teams in the East and West, with the Cavaliers and Pacers in the East and the Kings and Pelicans in the West.

The Cavaliers were plagued by injuries last season that hampered performance, with Mitchell, Garland and Mobley combined for just 162 games and a combined attendance rate of 65.9 percent. In the new season, if they can be fitter, they will be able to go far. The Pacers have a full season for Siakam, and he, along with Haliburton, Turner, Mathurin and others, can help the Pacers continue to climb in the East.

The variable for the Kings and Pelicans is that they both bring in good new signings. The Kings took DeRozan, he formed a trident with Fox and Sabonis, and the Pelicans brought in Dejounte Murray, and his combination with Yingge, Zion, and McCollum is also expected. Who can shine as well as the Mavericks last season?

In addition, the Rockets, who selected Shepherd, are also improving, they won 41 regular season games last season, 22 more than the previous year, can the Rockets return to the playoffs in the new season?

Record? Countdown to the milestones of the stars

The 2024-25 season will be James' 22nd season, Durant's 17th season, and Curry's 16th season. Janduku is about to reach a new milestone.

James is just 1,364 points away from a career 50,000 points (regular season + playoffs), and last season James scored 1,961 points (1,822 points in the regular season and 139 in the playoffs), and under normal circumstances, he will unlock this scoring milestone in the new season. In addition, James's appearances are expected to surpass 4 stars in a row and rise to the second place in history; He is on track to surpass Korver and Miller in three-point shooting; He has a chance to surpass Moses Malone in free-throw shooting to move up to second all-time, and he is also expected to continue to move up the rankings in defensive rebounds and steals. Of course, he and Bronny will officially become the first pair of NBA players to share the same stage.

Durant will hit the 30,000-point milestone in the regular season, and he is 1,076 points away from unlocking the achievement, after the 30,000-point club before Durant included James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe, Jordan, Nowitzki and Chamberlain.

In addition, Durant is 50 goals away from reaching the 10,000-goal milestone of his career, and he can make another 113 three-pointers to surpass Pierce on the three-point list and move up to 14th all-time. He is on track to overshoot Jerry West, Nowitzki and Jordan in consecutive free-throw attempts.

Curry is currently the only player in history to hit at least 3,000 three-pointers, and he is expected to become the first player to hit 4,000 three-pointers this season. Curry has made 3,747 three-pointers and is 253 miles away from reaching that milestone. Curry made 357 three-pointers last season and has hit more than 253 three-pointers in 10 seasons of his career so far.

In addition, stars such as Harden, Paul, and Westbrook will also hit their respective milestones. Harden's scoring, three-pointers, free throws, assists, and triple-doubles are all expected to continue to move up the rankings, with Paul still 198 assists to surpass Kidd to move up to second on the all-time assists list, and 71 steals to surpass Kidd to move up to second on the all-time steals list. The top spot in steals and assists is Stockton, and it's hard to beat. Willis' scoring, assists and steals will also continue to move up the rankings.

New façade? The league's next generation of stars will rise

The back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, the era that belongs to Zhan Duku will eventually pass, and the league will usher in a new generation of stars. Recently, ESPN named some of the best players under the age of 25, including Banchero, Wembanyama, LaMelo Ball, Edwards, Haliburton, Scottie Barnes, Holmgren, Cunningham, Zion, Maxey and Shin Jing. They will hold up the future of the Alliance. Morant, who is just over 25 years old, has also been mentioned by many people.

Among these players, perhaps the most anticipated are Wembanyama and Edwards, who are perhaps the most frequently mentioned new faces of the league by insiders. Wembanyama is very talented and wants to play all the roles on the pitch with the goal of becoming a versatile player. Edwards plays with a punchy style and a tough mentality, and is widely regarded as the most important hopeful star of the United States men's basketball team.

Last season, Doncic, who was just over 25 years old, led the Mavericks to the Finals and became the center of attention. Tatum, 26, and Jaylen Brown, 27, teamed up to win their first career title. Will there be younger stars on the stage of the playoffs and even the finals in the new season? Let's wait and see.

New winner? Eight awards who are the biggest favorites

It may be too early to talk about the regular season awards, but the rankings are given early on the odds list. At the very least, we can see who are the top favorites in the eight categories at this stage.

The biggest favorite for the regular season MVP was Doncic, followed by Alexander and Jokic. Last season, Jokic lifted his third regular-season MVP trophy, with Alexander and Doncic second and third, respectively. This time, is it Doncic's turn to be the MVP?

Wembanyama's number one favorite for Defensive Player of the Year is Wembanyama, and he's a wide lead, with Bam Adebayo and Holmgren tied for second. Wembanyama is also the top favorite for the Most Improved Player of the Year, with Jalen Williams second and Giddey and Jalen Johnson tied for third.

As for the Key Player of the Year award, Curry and Alexander are currently tied for first place, followed by Doncic and Edwards. The number one favorite for Sixth Man of the Year is Monk, followed by Mathurin, Reid and Jaime Hakes Jr. The number one favorite for Head Coach of the Year is Udoka of the Rockets, followed by Budenholzer of the Suns and Mosley of the Magic.

The top favorite for Rookie of the Year is the Grizzlies' Zach Edie, followed by the Hawks Lisa Shee and the Rockets Scout Shepard. The top favorite for MVP in the NBA Cup is Alexander, followed by Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

The offseason has finally come to an end, and the 2024-25 NBA regular season is upon us, so let's look forward to a great season just ahead.