Five Things to Know Before the NBA Regular Season Starts

Manny Swain, Staff Writer
October 11, 2022

With the NBA regular season starting October 18, 2022, here’s five things you should know about this upcoming season. 

  1. Donovan Mitchell was traded from the Utah Jazz to the Cleveland Cavaliers. This trade shocked many people because for months it looked as though Mitchell wanted to take his talents to New York and play for the Knicks. In this trade, the Utah Jazz received Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji and a handful of draft picks over the next several years. 
  2. On July 31, 2022 the world lost basketball legend and five-time NBA Most Valuable Player Bill Russell at the age of 88 to natural causes. Russell won two NCAA championships as a player with the University of San Francisco, and 11 NBA finals with the Boston Celtics. Because he was so great, the NBA decided to retire the number 6 throughout the whole league. Players who are already wearing the number 6 may continue to still wear it.
  3. Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka was suspended for the whole 2022-2023 NBA season for “violations of team policies.” The Celtics have named Joe Mazzulla as the interim head coach. He played college basketball at West Virginia University.
  4. Chet Holmgren was drafted second overall in the 2022 NBA draft to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was expected to do well in his first NBA season. Unfortunately, while guarding Lebron James in the Pro-am event, Seattle at The CrawsOver, Holmgren suffered a foot injury and will miss the entirety of the 2022-2023 NBA season. 
  5. In the offseason, the Los Angeles Lakers were looking to rebuild their team after a 33-49 record last year. They acquired guard Patrick Beverly from the Utah Jazz in exchange for Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson. Beverly is a great defensive guard and have a positive impact on the team and win the finals with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as teammates.

The NBA season officially begins on October 18 with the Philadelphia 76ers visiting the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers visiting the Golden State Warriors. Both games will be televised on TNT.