NBA 2022/23: few surprises, LeBron on the verge of an all-time record and impressions from the start of the season

The NBA action has resumed and all basketball lovers have high expectations for everything that can happen in the new season. Many things at stake, many records to break and many shows to enjoy will grace the 2022/23 campaign, which already left some interesting impressions at the start.

To begin with, in the transfer market there were not so many novelties. Neither significant operation rocked the basketball world, as perhaps some expected. The best players in the prestigious league – the brightest superstars – remained on their teams.

Perhaps the move of Rudy Gobert from Utah to the Minnesota Timberwolves and the signing of Donovan Mitchell (also from Utah) to the Cleveland Cavaliers was the highlight of that transfer phase.

“Kevin Durant, one of the best in the league, was about to leave. He told his team (Brooklyn Nets) that he wanted to leave and that paralyzed the market, until he decided to stay “says Leonardo Torres, a Peruvian journalist specializing in the NBA.

The new season, then, started on October 18 without many relevant changes, but with great intensity. Two weeks have passed and, of course, no conclusion can be drawn yet. However, the teams have already been in charge of leaving us some signs of what more or less will be the fight for glory.

The most surprising thing has been the negative start of the Los Angeles Lakers in this 2022/23. The Los Angeles team, the most successful team in the NBA along with the Boston Celtics, chained five consecutive losses in the league and only last Sunday did they get their first joy of the season, beating none other than the Nuggets 121-110.

“The thing about the Lakers is that they changed their coach (Darvin Ham). They have three stars: LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, but that third one doesn’t fit in yet. And the worst: they don’t have good 3-point shooters. The NBA now plays a lot with the line of 3 for a big data issue “Leonardo Torres points out.

Be that as it may, Lakers have already been able to taste the honey of victory for the first time in the current campaign and now it’s time to continue along the same path to be able to reverse the situation, since for now they are in the penultimate position in the Western Conference.

And it is also necessary to talk about the leaders. The Giannis Ougko Antetokounmpo’s Milwaukee Bucks They sit in first place in the Eastern Conference after a great start to the campaign. Five victories and no defeats have established them at the top, being the only undefeated team in the NBA.

Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, Portland Trail Blazers They are the revelation of the moment with five wins and one defeat that strengthen them as leaders in the area along with the phoenix suns, also great starter. But this is just beginning and anything can happen along the way. From now on, a very attractive fight is announced.

“It has been an interesting start because the candidates are not playing at their best level. The 76ers, Nets, Lakers, Celtics, Suns and Warriors have all started with ups and downs. The Dallas Mavericks, the last finalist in the Western Conference, have not yet found their best version. There are no big favorites yet. That’s good, because the competition is at a point where everyone can beat anyone except one or two teams.”details Leonardo Torres.

“My candidates? Bucks, Clippers and Mavericks. Surprise: Utah Jazz. Despite changing its 2 stars, the team is playing very intense basketball and with good results”Add.

LeBron James on the prowl

Although the Lakers have not started the season well, LeBron James is equally excited about writing his name in another historical record, as usual. ‘The King’ is pretty close to being the top scorer in NBA history.

With 37 years on top, LeBron accumulates a total of 37,217 points in 1,372 regular season games played in his entire career so far. He is not far from catching up with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who leads the historic ranking with 38,387 points in the 1,560 games he played from his debut (1969) until his retirement (1989) at the age of 42.

The safest thing is that ‘The King’ can break the record before the end of the current season. And, once again, he will make history.

Luka Doncic, impressive

One of the best starts to the season on an individual level -if not the best- has been that of Luka Doncic. He is 23 years old, he is going through a wonderful moment in his career and his numbers totally reflect it. In fact, he has established himself as the great figure of the Dallas Mavericks, consistently scoring in every game.

In fact, he recently led his team with 44 points in the victory over the Orlando Magic (114-105) and with that he achieved a record not seen since Michael Jordan in 1986: scored 30-plus points in each of the first six games of the season.

Before delighting the Orlando Magic with that many points, Doncic celebrated 35 points against the Phoenix Suns, 32 against the Memphis Grizzlies, 37 against the New Orleans Pelicans, 41 against the Brooklyn Nets and 31 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Just fantastic.

And as if that were not enough, the Slovenian already has 220 points, 57 rebounds and 52 assistsbecoming with those figures the first player in NBA history to add 200 points, 50 rebounds and 50 assists in the first six games of a season.

It is for these things that Doncic is one of the candidates to be the MVP of the season. For now, he backs him up as the league’s scoring leader with an average of 36.7 points per game. And he will surely continue along the same lines, fighting to establish himself as the best in the NBA with players such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant and Stephen Curry.

“For me, Luka will be a fixed top 3”says Leonardo Torres.