The NBA season started on Tuesday October 26, 2010. Coming from what was arguably the best off-season in history, there are many high expectations by fans. The NBA preseason consisted of about seven or eight games which didn’t go into the record book, the regular season consists of 82 games. To the top 8 teams in their conference, they get a chance to enter the playoffs for a chance to win the NBA Championship.

The reason why many people expect a great season to come is the transactions that occurred in the off-season. Many teams signed superstar players, but the main attraction was the reigning two time league MVP, LeBron James, who left his hometown of Cleveland to join the Miami Heat. Along with multiple time all-stars, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the team is now considered the newer generations of the Big 3 and the favorites to win the championship.

“I like the Sacramento Kings because they are the home team and only a true fan will stay loyal to the team they like no matter how awful they are,” said Victor Jin, senior.

Coming in with back to back championships with defeats of the Boston Celtics and Orlando Magic, lead by Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers is another team favored to win the championship and go for a three-peat. However, any season in any sport can be unpredictable so any team has a chance to be a contender for the championship.

Every year, there is a class of players being drafted out of college. This event would be called the annual NBA Draft. The way the draft order is decided is that the 14 teams that didn’t make the playoffs would be entered in a lottery and the team with the worst record would have the best chances of winning the lottery and securing the 1^st overall pick in the draft. However, throughout the years, the team in the league with the worst record did not win the 1^st overall pick. Take the 2008-09 Sacramento Kings for an example, they had the worst record but was given the 4^th overall pick. With the first pick, most likely, they would have gone with the best college player in Blake Griffin, but ended up with what was the best pick that year in Tyreke Evans. This year, a new class of rookies has emerged with John Wall being the 1^st overall pick.

“I do not like the way that they have this lottery system set up, because the worst team doesn’t even get a chance to pick the best college player. The NFL doesn’t have that rule and the NBA shouldn’t have it either. I was upset that the Kings didn’t get the 1^st draft pick the other year,” said Aman Chand, senior.

With so many switches this past summer, this year should be an interesting and unpredictable year in the NBA. Also, this might be the last year that you will see a full season of the NBA or even NFL for a few years. The commissioner of both leagues wants to cut the players’ salary by 33% of what they are making. With upset players about this idea, it might force a lockout, which means there won’t be any games. However, it should still be an enjoyable year in the NBA.