2019~20 NBA season has begun. Do you see a familiar logo back there? (Photography source. flickr.com/nikk_la)

The biggest basketball league on Earth that gives people joy and heartwarming moments with just a ball, NBA, begun its 2019~20 season on October 23rd. 30 clubs divided into east side and west side conference will play 82 games each until April 15th 2020, and the top 8 teams for each conference will go into the ‘2nd season’, the playoffs. Here’s a summary of noteworthy issues of 2019~20 NBA, which has gotten much more interesting than usual due to many issues that took place during the off season. And here’s NBA’s trustworthy sponsor and old friend that is also a very familiar name to us.

Who owns Los Angeles?

2 teams that represent LA share the home stadium. Who will own this stadium this season? (Photography source. Staples Center official homepage https://www.staplescenter.com/)

The team to look out for this season is none other than LA Clippers. This is the team voted no. 1 top club of the season by the club heads; the team that’s getting most attention from the fans and the team the common enemy of all the other teams. The reason is simple; they have the organizational skills that left the first runner up team in the previous season NBA playoff, Golden State Warriors, sweating, the raging power and 2 new superstars who recently joined the club. They are Kawhi Leonard, who led Toronto Raptors to victory last season and Paul George, who was voted one of the top 5 players who had the best performance previous season in the NBA. They both left their teams Toronto and Oklahoma City and met here with the same goal, victory. With these two new players, LA Clippers became a great candidate to win the season. Let’s see if any other team will be able to win the necessary 4 games out of 7 in the playoffs against them.

LA Lakers, who has been traditionally strong, is consisted of superstars just like LA Clippers.

It’s not just the LA Clippers you have to pay attention to Los Angeles. There’s also LA Lakers, the team that pops into your head the minute you hear the word ‘LA.’ LA Lakers got most votes (38%) on the survey about ‘which team do you look most forward to in showing most growth during the 2019~20 season?’ among the club heads. It’s because they now have Anthony Davis, the mightiest force in NBA, to partner up and help the team’s pillar, LeBron James. LA Lakers has had a long history of victories since the 1950s, but always with fantastic tall players. So, the fans believe that Davis will continue that legacy of legendary big men. As two most all around talented players in NBA have gotten together, if they manage to build a strong teamwork, Los Angeles will be able to carry out a hot season with the rivalry between LA Clippers and LA Lakers.

On the other hand, this season will be an important one for LeBron James himself. Last year was his first season since joining LA Lakers, but he didn’t get to show his true talent due to injury and discord. It was his first season since 2005 he didn’t get to go to playoffs, which must have ben humiliating. He certainly got ready for this season though; he focused on preparing for the new season all summer long. Will he be able to put his team to the top this season and get the nickname ‘KING’ back?

What is at the end of the throne?

Golden State Warriors moved their home stadium to Chase Center (Photography source. https://www.chasecenter.com/).

141:122 loss, 120:92 loss. It was Golden State Warriors who suffered tragic 2 losses in a row which shattered their anticipation for the rest of the season early on. For the past 5 years, Golden State Warriors was the ‘ultimate’ team. People even joked about how Golden State would win the season no matter what happens. Team’s front man Stephen Curry is the biggest superstar who shoots the most 3 pointers on Earth and who sold the most NBA uniforms ever. Last season 6,000 people gathered to buy season home stadium tickets. Thanks to the great sales, they moved their home stadium to the bigger and more glamorous Chase Center from this season. Ticket prices have also risen.

League’s biggest shooter and superstar Stephen Curry has a lot on his shoulders this year.

But this season Golden State Warriors may not resemble what we have seen in the past 5 years. Maybe we will witness big losses with 10 or 20 point gaps more frequently. The biggest reason for this is team’s weakening. Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, Season Livingstone, Andrew Bogart… all the members who wrote the victorious history have all left. Klay Thompson, who showed off amazing shoots and formed the ‘Splash Brothers’ with Stephen Curry has not yet gotten back on the court since he hurt his knee during the NBA finals last June. So in the end, it all comes down to Curry who will have to get the team through.

May be that was why coach Steve Kurr said “this is the reality” after the 2 big losses. It’s not just about having no player who will score a lot. When they ruled the NBA, they had strong players for all positions, even on the bench, and behind them, they had veteran players who maintained and shared the unique team culture. But there aren’t that many players left who remember this culture. So they may just lose that victory DNA completely. Whether their throne will be shattered for good or whether they will find a way to bounce back is one of the reasons why we need to focus on how Golden State Warriors gets through the 2019~20 season.

Teams with ‘+α’

Last season MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo plays for Milwaukee Bucks, which is still a strong team in the east side (Photography source. NBA official homepage https://www.nba.com/).

In the east side conference, it is expected that Milwaukee Bucks will continue to play strong. It’s because last season MVP ‘monster’ Giannis Antetokounmpo is still ruling the court, and the team culture with him in the center is getting stronger as ever. Their biggest rival is considered to be Philadelphia 76ers. Philadelphia, with the outstanding center Joel Embiid, is an excellent team that played a great game with Toronto in the last season’s east side playoff 2nd round but allowed Kawhi Leonard a buzzer beater at the end of the 7th round, which gave them the series with 4 wins and 3 losses. On top of that, Philadelphia now has the ‘plus α’. It’s the veteran big man AL Horford. Philadelphia needed an experienced player who would help out in critical moments; Horford, with 10 years of experience under his belt, will make Philadelphia more savvy and stronger.

Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz are building up expectations in the west side. ‘3 pointer army’ Houston now has 2 league MVPs James Harden and Russell Westbrook who joined the club. Both players have been awarded MVPs and top scorers and are great at triple doubles which are the very barometer of being an all around player. They are getting much anticipation, but at the same time there are concerned about the two playing together as they are both players who can perform their best when they are the one with a ball. Fans are wondering how the two players will be able to play for each other without selfishness. Utah Jazz, the team which has always been strong, also upgraded its stability by bringing in the young prospect Donovan Mitchell and the league senior veteran Mike Conley who is to assist him.

Everyone is also looking forward to how well the big rookie Xion Williamson will do, who has shown fantastic performance in the college league (Photography source. NBA official homepage https://www.nba.com/).

Brooklyn Nets with Kyrie Irving, DeAndre Jordan and Boston Celtics with the speedy guard Kemba Walker are also looking to make it to playoffs with their new players. New Orleans Pelicans, which reorganized the team by letting Anthony Davis go and instead signing Lonzo Ball and Branden Ingram will give us ‘something fun to see’ rather than competing for ranking, as they signed the biggest rookie of this season, Xion Williamson, in the draft and got much attention from the NBA fans. He’s a player known for his unbelievable physical capacity and power and had ruled the college basketball world; everyone was looking forward to his debut game of the season, but with his knee injury he had to go into surgery the day before the season began. Unfortunately, we will have to wait a while to see his masterful play.

KIA, a familiar name in NBA

NBA has been with the reliable partner Kia Motors for 12 years now.

On October 23rd, NBA announced the beginning of the season with 2 big matches everyone was waiting for. At the same time, the season opening ‘Kia NBA tip off’ week took off as well. Since forming a partnership with NBA in 2008, Kia Motors was always there for the league’s most important moments. MVP, rookie awards, and many official events are held under the Kia Motors name. As the two have been through a long relationship, many memorable events took place together. One of the league’s biggest stars, Blake Griffin (Detroit), showed off a dunk in the All Stars game as he jumped over the Kia K5 (local name Optima) when he was just a rookie back in 2011 and became the Slam Dunk Champion. Kia Motors not only sponsors the official awards but also the fan awards as well, to participate in the core moments of the league. This helped Kia Motors raise brand awareness in America a lot.

MVP award is given out in Kia Motors’ name. Who will win this season?

During the ‘Kia tip off’ week, issues that are to be noticed during the 2019~20 season are constantly promoted. As there are 30 clubs, more than 450 players, and 30 coaches in NBA league, there are that many stories to be told; who will win this season’s MVP and rookie awards and how many records will be broken are talked much about by the fans. How many triple doubles Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic will succeed this season is also an issue as he played like MVP last season; while also paying attention to whether the ‘special shooter’ Stephen Curry, who has the whole team on his back, will get close to the most number of 3 pointers in the history of NBA (2,973). On the other hand, we won’t be able to see how well Kevin Durant (Brooklyn) will play this season, despite the fact that he was the biggest issue maker during the previous season’s transfer market. He’s recovering from surgery on his Achilles tendon injury and said that he would solely focus on his recovery this season.

New NBA season begins. This small basketball is enough to heat up the sports fans’ winter.

With superstars’ transfers, team reorganizations, mega rookies, risk of the ultimate club’s fall… many interesting stories built up the anticipation even before the season began. On top of all this, stunning plays and fun spectacles in NBA will definitely make this winter more than enjoyable. If you thought winter was boring, pay attention to NBA and that red, familiar, clear Kia Motors logo seen through the fantastic game on the court which will make the game more familiar and fun for you.

Written by Dae beom Son (editor in chief of monthly magazine Jump Ball)