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The NBA season begins with the Celtics looking for their 19th title and several challengers looming

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

Jayson Tatum was already a proven winner before last season.

In Tatum’s first six seasons, no NBA player won more games with one team than him. Tatum earned 334 wins for the Boston Celtics during that period, including the playoffs. He was a five-time All-Star, a legitimate MVP candidate, a four-time All-NBA pick and even an Olympic gold medalist.

He just wasn’t a champion.

“I had to listen to everything people said about me,” Tatum said.

That’s all in the past now. The Celtics are champions, coach Joe Mazzulla is leading them to that crown, and when the season begins Tuesday night in Boston — where last season ended — Tatum doesn’t seem to be thinking that this is the start of a title defense. He sees it as the start of a hunt for a 19th title, and according to BetMGM Sportsbook, the Celtics are the favorites to win the 2025 championship.

“It was never just about winning one,” said Tatum, who added a second Olympic gold to his collection this summer. “Now you can be mentioned – at least be in the same room – with the other great Celtics teams and great players. All the guys I looked up to as a kid won at least one championship. Now it’s just a question of, ‘How great do you want to be?’ Ultimately, in what space or level do you want to be mentioned?’”

That journey begins with Ring Night in Boston, where the Celtics face New York in the first game of a doubleheader, officially opening the league’s 79th season. The nightcap is Minnesota at the Los Angeles Lakers, a game in which LeBron James will tie Vince Carter in his 22nd NBA season – and possibly the first official game in which a father and son are teammates, with Bronny James his rookie season begins.

If we repeat in Boston, there will be challengers, and lots of them. New York (with Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns) and Philadelphia (with Paul George) tried to displace Boston at the top of the Eastern Conference. And there are up-and-coming teams in the East too, like the Paolo Banchero-led Orlando Magic and the Donovan Mitchell-led Cleveland Cavaliers – who reached the second round of the playoffs last season.

“We just have to put our foot down,” Mitchell said. “We have to keep going.”

And the Western Conference also has several contenders.

BetMGM has Oklahoma City – the No. 1 seed in the West last season, led by MVP hopeful Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – as the slim favorite to win on this side of the league, with 2023 NBA champion Denver the reigning West champion Dallas and a Minnesota team that reached the West final a season ago, all things considered.

“You have to be careful with your expectations of the results,” Thunder forward Chet Holmgren said. “Here we place great emphasis on setting expectations for processes, for our daily demeanor, for the way we do our work, for what we do, and for the attention to detail with which we do it . That’s what we’re really focused on.”

Golden State’s Stephen Curry helped the U.S. win Olympic gold this summer; The Warriors can never be counted out. And with James, the Lakers can’t do that either.

“We are the hunters among many other teams,” Curry said. “What can this team do to maximize all the skills we have in this locker room? That is the challenge for us.”

The West is simply loaded. But these Celtics — who return virtually unscathed from a year ago — know what it takes to be the last team standing.

“Boston can say whatever they want to say. You deserve it. They beat all of us and got crowned,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “So they can feel however they want at the start of this season. However, they still have to earn it. But it’s a new season, a new year. There will be a lot of teams aiming for this title.”

Coach on the go

JJ Redick coached the fourth-grade team at Brooklyn Basketball Academy earlier this year. He now coaches the Los Angeles Lakers.

Redick is one of three coaches nearing their NBA debut, along with Charlotte’s Charles Lee and Brooklyn’s Jordi Fernandez.

Other coaches with new jobs this season include Mike Budenholzer in Phoenix (a franchise he led Milwaukee past to the 2021 NBA title), as well as Kenny Atkinson in Cleveland and JB Bickerstaff in Detroit. Bickerstaff coached the Cavaliers last season and the schedulers happened to have the Pistons as their opponent for Cleveland’s home opener on Friday.

Brian Keefe is also technically a new coach. He finished last season as Washington’s interim coach for the final 39 games and had the interim tag removed in the offseason.

Half of the league’s coaches – 15 of the 30 – enter this season having served two years or less with their current clubs.

Important dates you should know

Some notable events this season:

– Nov. 2: Miami plays Washington in Mexico City.

– Nov. 4: All 30 teams will be in action, with all start times staggered by 15 minutes.

– Nov. 5: For the third straight year, no games will be played on Election Day.

– Nov. 12 Dec. 17: The NBA Cup is back for a second season, with the semifinals Dec. 14 in Las Vegas and the title game there three days later. The Lakers are the defending champions.

– Dec. 25: The Christmas games are San Antonio at New York, Minnesota at Dallas, Philadelphia at Boston, Lakers at Golden State and Denver at Phoenix.

– Jan. 20: The league celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Highlight games include Minnesota at Memphis and Boston at Golden State.

– Jan. 23 and 25: Reigning Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama returns to Paris, where San Antonio faces Indiana in two games.

– Feb. 6: The trade deadline.

– Feb. 16: The NBA All-Star Game takes place in San Francisco.

– April 11 and 13: The final two game days of the regular season, with all 30 teams in action on both days.

– 15th-18th April: Play-in tournament, followed by playoff openers on April 19th.

– June 5: The 2025 NBA Finals begin.

The Associated Press contributed to this article