We’ve almost made it, NBA fans.
The start of the 2022-23 NBA season is set for Oct. 18, meaning we’re within one week of Opening Night where the Celtics will host the 76ers and the Warriors will host the Lakers.
It’s been a long offseason with no shortage of drama, including a chaotic draft night, two blockbuster trades and months of other trade rumors that didn’t end up coming to fruition.
Before the season tips off, we’re going to take a closer look at where each division stands entering the season, next up being the Atlantic Division.
Will the Celtics be able to put all of the offseason issues aside and get back to the Finals? Will this finally be the year the 76ers get over the hump? What can we expect from the Nets, Raptors and Knicks?
Let’s dive in and take a look.
MORE: Additions and departures for all 30 NBA teams
Best team
Boston Celtics
If someone had told you the Celtics were the best team in the NBA — not just the Atlantic Division — after trading for Malcolm Brogdon and signing Danilo Gallinari this offseason, you wouldn’t have received much pushback. Fast forward to a week removed from the regular season, and a lot has changed since then.
Gallinari suffered a torn ACL competing for Italy at EuroBasket over the summer, leaving a void in the Celtics’ frontcourt. Then, head coach Ime Udoka was suspended for the entire season for an “improper consensual relationship with a female member of the team staff.” Just days after that news broke, the team announced starting center Robert Williams III would be sidelined for 8-to-12 weeks after undergoing surgery on his left knee, which caused him to miss some games at the end of last season and during Boston’s playoff run.
But even with interim head coach Joe Mazzulla filling Udoka’s shoes and a depleted frontcourt until Williams returns, it’s still hard to imagine the Celtics not being the best team in their division this season.
Boston’s core of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart is still intact, and the two Jays only continue to get better. The Celtics still have key rotational players like Al Horford, Derrick White, Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard, and the addition of Brogdon solves a lot of playmaking issues we saw during the low-lights of Boston’s Finals run.
They should still be one of the best defensive units in the NBA and with two stars like Tatum and Brown, this team is poised to make another title push, regardless of what’s going on around them.
Best player
Joel Embiid, 76ers
This was the toughest decision to make in this entire piece. With a division that has Embiid, Tatum and Kevin Durant, it felt like any one of those three superstars could have been a correct answer.
Shortcomings in the NBA Finals aside, Tatum was one of the five best players in the entire playoffs last season. He locked up Durant in the first round and went toe-to-toe with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jimmy Butler en route to a pair of seven-game series wins.
The reasoning for Durant doesn’t need to be explained at this point. You know who he is.
But Embiid is coming off of an MVP-caliber season where he was one of the most unstoppable forces in the league. Averaging 30.6 points per game, he became the first center since Shaquille O’Neal in 1999-00 to lead the NBA in scoring. Embiid played more games last year (68) than he has in any other season of his career, and it was a scary sight to see how dominant he can be when he stays relatively healthy.
As long as Embiid can stay on the floor again this year, he’ll be the best player in this division again.
MORE: Where does Embiid rank among the 30 best NBA players in 2022-23?
Best rookie
Christian Koloko, Raptors
Unlike most divisions, the Atlantic didn’t have many impact players selected in the 2022 NBA Draft. The Knicks had the highest pick of the group (No. 11 overall) but traded it to the Thunder for multiple future first-rounders instead.
That leaves us with the Raptors’ second-round pick, Koloko, who I was very high on immediately after Toronto made the selection. I had Koloko graded as a first-round talent in my final Mock Draft and Big Board, and I love his fit in the Raptors’ renowned player development program.
Here’s what I wrote on Koloko back in June:
Standing 7-feet tall, 221 pounds with a 7-foot-5.25 wingspan and a 9-foot-5 (!) standing reach, Koloko passes the test for the size and length of an NBA big with ease. When you factor in his athleticism and mobility, you start to craft the perfect type of center for what head coach Nick Nurse and president Masai Ujiri are looking for in their players.
Koloko was one of the best defenders in the entire country last season. The Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year averaged 12.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game, serving as Arizona’s back-line anchor. In 39 games played, Koloko had 29 games with multiple blocks while recording 10 double-doubles.
It didn’t take long for Koloko to show flashes of promise in Summer League, something TSN’s Gilbert McGregor covered back in July. He may not be a flashy lottery pick, but Koloko has all the makings of an impact rookie for a Raptors team that needs help in the frontcourt.
Best new addition
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
While players like Malcolm Brogdon (Celtics), P.J. Tucker (76ers) and T.J. Warren (Nets) could make significant contributions to their respective teams, the Knicks landing Brunson in free agency easily surpasses the magnitude of any of those additions.
Brunson enjoyed a breakout season last year, averaging 16.3 points, 4.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game for the Mavericks. When Luka Doncic was forced to miss the first three games of the playoffs, Brunson stepped up in a big way, giving us a glimpse of what a team might look like when the offense is run through him.
He averaged 32.0 points, 5.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds in the three games Doncic was out, going for 41 points in Game 2 and 31 points in Game 3 to get Dallas out to a 2-1 series lead. He averaged 21.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game over the entire playoffs, earning him a four-year, $104 million contract with the Knicks this offseason.
Now the engine of New York’s offense, Brunson gives the Knicks a playmaking point guard that the franchise hasn’t had in quite some time. Playing at the Mecca of Basketball comes with plenty of pressure, but Brunson, who grew up a Knicks fan, will be ready to bring his winning ways to New York.
MORE: Is Jalen Brunson a star?
Wildest X-factor
The Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving saga
Even though everything seems to be ironed out in Brooklyn at the moment, we quickly learned last year that nothing is guaranteed with the Durant and Irving tandem.
The Nets entered last season as favorites to win the NBA title but came up well short of those expectations. Irving participated as a part-time player — only competing in road games — for the majority of the season due to COVID-19 vaccination mandates in New York City. The Nets traded James Harden for Ben Simmons at the deadline, breaking up a short run for the franchise’s Big 3.
Brooklyn went on to make the playoffs through the Play-In Tournament but it was the only team swept out of the playoffs when it fell to the Celtics in the first round.
Following an offseason of chaos and turmoil, Durant, Irving and Simmons will try and help the Nets reach their full potential. With plenty of talent on the roster, there is no question Brooklyn has what it takes to compete for a championship, but can its trio put all the off-court stuff aside to reach the ultimate goal?
Biggest unanswered questions
Boston Celtics
How will the Celtics adapt to a new head coach? Joe Mazzulla will take over interim head coaching duties with Udoka suspended for the year, but he doesn’t have any experience as a head coach at the NBA level. The 34-year-old will enter this season with high expectations to lead this team back to the Finals.
Will the Celtics’ frontcourt be able to withstand Robert Williams’ injury? This mostly falls on the shoulders of Al Horford, who will have to turn back the clock (again) and give the Celtics a ton of minutes as a 36-year-old entering his 16th NBA season.
Can this team handle the pressure of being preseason title favorites? With a new head coach and a starter out for the first few months of the season, will they be able to handle the pressure that comes with being preseason title favorites?
Philadelphia 76ers
Will Joel Embiid stay healthy again? Last season, Embiid played a career-high 68 games and led the league in scoring while averaging 30.6 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. His health and availability will determine everything for Philadelphia this season.
What version of James Harden will we see? Harden had his ups and downs last season but the former MVP seems to be coming into this season in better shape and more prepared than we’ve seen from him in the past few years. If he can be the elite playmaking version of Harden we know, this team could be scary.
Will Tyrese Maxey continue to emerge as the 76ers’ third star? Maxey was one of the league’s breakout players last season, averaging 17.5 points and 4.3 assists per game. In Year 3, he has the chance to cement himself as Philly’s third star and a franchise cornerstone.
Brooklyn Nets
What will the Nets get from Ben Simmons? Simmons missed all of last season but he is back on the floor, competing for the Nets in the preseason. If he can get back to his All-Star, All-Defensive Team form, look out.
How many games will Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving play together? Between Durant’s injuries and Irving’s part-time player status last season, the duo only played 17 regular season games together. That number will have to be much higher this year if the Nets want to compete.
Will Steve Nash be the head coach by the end of the season? Durant, Irving and Nash have supposedly talked through their issues from this offseason, but the Hall of Famer will likely be on the hot seat if the Nets don’t start the year strong.
Toronto Raptors
Are the Raptors in the conversation with other top teams in the East? The East is loaded with teams like Boston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Miami, Brooklyn, Cleveland and Atlanta. Toronto proved to be in that mix last season, but can it do it again?
Will Scottie Barnes continue his development as the future of the franchise? Barnes is coming off of a Rookie of the Year campaign where he looked like one of the most promising young players in the league. The 21-year-old will face a lot of pressure to improve in Year 2.
What is the ceiling for a Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet-led team? Siakam got back to All-NBA status last year and VanVleet cracked his first All-Star team, but the Raptors were eliminated in the first round. Can they advance to the East Semis and beyond with this core?
New York Knicks
What version of Julius Randle will we see? Randle was an All-Star and the Most Improved Player in 2020-21 but he took a major step back last season. Is he as good as we saw two years ago, as bad as he was last year, or somewhere in the middle?
Will Jalen Brunson prove to be “the guy”? Brunson’s new lucrative contract will make him an easy target if he doesn’t find immediate success in New York. He’ll look to establish himself as the Knicks’ leader immediately this season.
Is a Big 3 of Randle, Brunson and RJ Barrett enough to crack the Play-In/Playoffs? The Knicks have committed a total of $340 million to their core of Randle, Brunson and Barrett. Anything short of the Play-In Tournament would be considered a failure.
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