The NBA advances, reinvents itself, survives in times of pandemic.

It appears on December 22 as a Christmas gift for the fan, with the shortest preseason in its history, even with the recent aftertaste of what happened at Disney.

But it does it precisely so as not to miss these always attractive dates, as it was also hit by the economic crisis.

And his star contracts are still monstrous, like the one Antetokounmpo signed, never seen before:

$ 228 million for five more seasons with the Bucks

.

The Greek will undoubtedly be one of the focuses of attention, his efforts at the moment frustrated to conquer a ring that this time has an obvious favorite.

Again the Lakers, again LeBron.

It will be an old new NBA.

That of the emerging stars already consolidated, so many with a European accent.

In addition to Anteto,

Doncic (21 years) and Jokic (25)

, two geniuses from the Balkans.

They head a list that could also include Kahwi Leonard (29), Anthony Davis (27), Karl Anthony Towns (25) or Joel Embiid (26), the new order that has not however demolished the previous one.

Because LeBron is still the King on the way to 36 and suddenly two guys who come back from eternal downtime after very serious injuries raise their voices.

Nobody forgot Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, both 32, welcome enticements, opening night teaser.

Because not an iota of merit can be subtracted

from the Lakers title

, but not everyone was in the successful Orlando bubble.

Missing, for example, the Warriors struck by fatality, a dynasty whose injuries curtailed its dominance.

Since those Finals of 2019, Durant has not dressed in shorts after exploding his Achilles.

He returns with other colors, those of some Nets that threaten to break the established order, because there he met with Kyrie Irving, in a ship that will command, in his first experience as a technician, a member of the Hall of Fame like Steve Nash.

Cousins, Wall ...

Klay Thompson had also been expected since then, but in full recovery from the torn cruciate ligament in his left knee during the bloody finals of 2019, the Achilles broke.

So Curry, who only played five games of the season prior to the bubble - he had broken his hand in March - will not have his squire.

Not with DeMarcus Cousins, another of those who return, now enrolled in the troubled project of the Rockets of Harden, from which he

left for the Wizards Russell Westbrook

.

Traded for John Wall, another star from not so long ago, another hero from the recent past: he hasn't played an official match for exactly two years.

It will therefore be a strange trip to the recent past.

Durant, Curry, Cousins ​​or Wall return to a scene in which during their impasse

Doncic or Zion Williamson emerged

very strong

.

Trae Young or Karl Anthony Towns represent the mixture of both rarities: members of the new batch, more than seven months without shining, because their teams were absent from the final phase of Disney, a success within the need, unforgettable for their neatness against the virus and its historical vindictive episodes against racism.

EZRA SHAWAFP

The NBA, which returns readapted so as not to collide with the Games in summer, for the moment without an audience, with 10 fewer games per franchise (it will be 72) and with a new 'Play-in' (a tie to enter the playoffs between teams between the 7th and 10th best percentage of wins in each Conference), has the Lakers as a rival to beat, with its two stars renewed.

Because after the 17th ring of its history they were driven with ambition in the market, with pieces such as Montrezl Harrell, best Sixth Man of the past year,

Matthews, Schröder and, the icing on the cake, a Marc Gasol

looking to put a unique climax to his career .

The threat is close at hand from the West, as the Clippers protest their usual fatalism and have added Serge Ibaka to the Paul George-Kawhi Leonard pairing.

Much will also have to say Jokic's Nuggets, in which

Campazzo

will try to make room for his revolutions and his impudence.

Also Doncic's Mavericks, who will bid without embarrassment for the MVP.

From the East, more alternatives.

A project like that of the Nets that could not be more ambitious to face

Anteto's Bucks and the Miami Heat

, last finalists.

And that nobody dares to remove the Sixers or Celtics from the pools.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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