The 2022/23 NBA season season tips off this Tuesday, October 18th and wraps up on Sunday, April 9th with each of the league’s 30 teams playing an 82-game schedule.
The annual NBA All-Star Game is set to take place at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Sunday, February 19th. The postseason gets underway with the the play-in tournament between April 11th and 14th and the playoffs come next on April 15th with the finals scheduled to begin in June.
This is the 77th National Basketball Association campaign and the Golden State Warriors enter it as the defending champions.
International games will return to the NBA schedule this season after a three-year absence due to the world-wide Covid-19 pandemic. The Miami Heat will battle it out with the San Antonio Spurs in Mexico City on December 17th while the Chicago Bulls meet the Detroit Pistons in Paris, France on January 19th.
All eyes will be on 6-foot-10-inch power forward Paolo Banchero this season as the 19-year-old was drafted first overall in the summer by the Orlando Magic. Banchero played with the Duke Blue Devils university team and was named the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) rookie of the year last season.
There were several head coaching changes during the offseason as the Charlotte Hornets relieved James Borrego of his duties and replaced him with Steve Clifford. The Los Angeles Lakers sacked Frank Vogel and hired Darvin Ham to take his place while the Sacramento Kings let interim coach Alvin Gentry walk and signed Mike Brown. In addition, the Utah Jazz replaced Quin Snyder with Will Hardy and the Boston Celtics have suspended Ime Udoka for the season and replaced him with Joe Mazzulla as interim coach.
The biggest offseason trades included: The Houston Rockets sending Christian Wood to the Dallas Mavericks for Boban Marjanovic, Trey Burke, Marquese Chriss, Sterling Brown and Wendell Moore.
They then acquired Derrick Favors, Maurice Harkless, Ty Jerome, Theo Maledon and a draft pick from the Oklahoma City Thunder for Trey Burke, Marquese Chriss, Sterling Brown and David Nwaba.
The Cleveland Cavaliers sent Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji, and three first-round draft picks to the Utah Jazz for Donovan Mitchell. The Jazz also traded Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jared Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, Walker Kessler and five first-round draft picks. They then picked up Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson from the Los Angeles Lakers for Patrick Beverley and got a first-round draft pick from the Brooklyn Nets for Royce O’Neale.
The Detroit Pistons received Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks from the New York Knicks for the rights to Nikola Radicevic and a draft pick.
The Boston Celtics added Malcolm Brogdon from the Indiana Pacers for Daniel Theis, Aaron Nesmith, Malik Fitts, Nik Stauskas, Juwan Morgan and a first-round draft pick while the Sacramento Kings acquired Kevin Huerter from the Atlanta Hawks for Justin Holiday and Mo Harkless. Atlanta also picked up Dejounte Murray and Jock Landale from the San Antonio spurs for Danilo Gallinari and four first-round draft picks.
The Denver Nuggets received Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith from the Washington Wizards for Monte Morris and Will Barton while the Memphis Grizzlies acquired Danny Green and David Roddy from the Philadelphia 76ers for De’Anthony Melton.
Some of the most-expensive free agent signings in the offseason included Bradley Beal remaining with the Washington Wizards for five years at $251 million; Zach LaVine re-signing with the Chicago Bulls for five years for $215 million; the New York Knicks signing Jalen Brunson from the Dallas Mavericks for four years at $104 million.
Some of the best-value free-agency signings during the offseason saw the Los Angeles Clippers sign John Wall from the Houston Rockets; Andre Drummond sign with the Chicago Bulls from the Brooklyn Nets; Donte DiVincenzo join the Golden State Warriors from the Sacramento Kings and the Denver Nuggets sign Bruce Brown Jr. from the Brooklyn Nets.
Heading into the 2022/23 NBA season the oddsmakers at bet 365 have listed the Golden State Warriors as the favorites to win the playoff championship at +600. They’re followed by the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers at +650 while the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets are both at +700.
Mid-table teams include the Atlanta Hawks at +5000, the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks both at +6000 with the Portland Trailblazers and Charlotte Hornets at +8000. The longshots are the Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Orlando Magic and Sacramento Kings all at +50000.
Other popular NBA futures wagers at bet365 include the regular-season MVP, to win the division, to win the conference, to make the playoffs, the regular-season awards winners and the regular season stat leaders etc.
Remember, you can also wager on each individual NBA game and take part in bet365’s live in-play betting feature.
