October is arguably the month of sports—but with the NFL and college football in full swing, MLB’s two biggest teams facing off in the World Series, the NHL’s opening weeks, and the rise of the WNBA, the NBA season, which tips off Tuesday night, seems to have crept up on the calendar.

Basketball had an extended run in fans’ consciousness after last season as the Olympics came just a month after the Celtics won banner No. 18. But the rest of the offseason has been relatively quiet for the league, outside of a shocking Karl-Anthony Towns trade last month. Unlike last season, there was no extended Damian Lillard–esque saga.

The NBA still boasts quite a few compelling storylines entering this season, best summarized by the aforementioned defending champions.

A Complicated Quest to Repeat

The Celtics are the favorites to repeat as champions—and if they pull it off, they would be the first since the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 to win two in a row. 

While Boston isn’t perceived to be an unbeatable juggernaut, a favorite winning consecutive titles would be a counterpoint to the league’s last two collective bargaining agreements, which kicked in during the 2017–2018 and 2023–2024 seasons, respectively, and were designed to bring greater parity to the NBA.

But the Celtics have approached roster construction without much consideration of the penalties that come with passing the luxury tax and second apron, which are thresholds above the league’s soft salary cap. Those penalties include limitations to making trades and signing free agents, and come with financial penalties—which is why the franchise has a projected payroll north of $500,000 for the 2025–2026 season.

Championship contenders like the Timberwolves and Nuggets have taken a more defensive approach to the CBA rules, and they have lost key players to try to cut their payroll.

Boston’s growing bill is reportedly a key reason why team owner Wyc Grousbeck and his father put the team up for sale soon after winning the title. The team’s goal is to finalize the sale within the next two years, though Grousbeck will stay in charge until 2028.

Other Key Storylines

League expansion: The Celtics sale may impact league growth as the franchise sale price could reset the market price for expansion fees. Commissioner Adam Silver has teased the league’s desire to add teams, which would be its first since 2004, and cities like Las Vegas and Seattle are the leading candidates to receive teams.

TNT Sports’ last dance: The NBA agreed to a new media-rights deal in July with ESPN, NBCUniversal, and Amazon, but left out Warner Bros. Discovery. While there is ongoing litigation between WBD and the NBA, the new deal leaves just one more year left for the NBA on TNT. This could mean a final run for the iconic studio show, Inside the NBA.

In-season tournament 2.0: It’s Year 2 for the regular-season tournament—now branded as the Emirates NBA Cup. The format is similar to last year’s, with each player on the winning team earning $500,000. How players approach IST games—and whether fans will pay more attention—will be worth watching, especially as many were confused about last year’s format.

Wemby watch and Flagg bearing: Victor Wembanyama will continue to garner a ton of attention this year as the French phenom enters his second season with high expectations following a run to the silver medal in the Paris Olympics. But there will also be an eye on the slew of teams at the bottom of the standings hoping for the best chance at Duke’s Cooper Flagg, the best U.S. prospect since fellow Blue Devils alum Zion Williamson—and maybe as far back as Kentucky’s Anthony Davis.

Monumental Sports & Entertainment founder and chairman Ted Leonsis is again going against the grain as he and the District of Columbia remake Capital One Arena. 

Seven months after Leonsis and the parent company of the NBA’s Wizards, NHL’s Capitals, and WNBA’s Mystics struck a surprise renovation deal with the District and abandoned a proposed $2 billion arena and mixed-use development in Virginia, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser and the council there are now advancing legislation to purchase Capital One Arena and lease it back to Monumental. 

The $87.5 million deal will see Capital One Arena, which was privately owned as part of the Monumental portfolio, become publicly owned. Monumental will then lease the building back from the District, paying a minimum of $1.5 million until at least 2050, and it will retain venue operating rights. If lease extensions potentially going to 2070 are all exercised, Monumental’s annual lease payments will reach $3.3 million. 

The deal, however, differs from many other arenas around the country where teams increasingly prefer to have full ownership of the venue, even if it was originally built with taxpayer funds.  

The arena purchase price will be part of the District’s broader $515 million contribution toward the renovation of Capital One Arena. Leonsis and Monumental are committed to spending at least $285 million toward the project, which will dramatically remake the 27-year-old venue. 

Monumental is fully behind the arena sale-and-leaseback plan, and the legislation codifies several months of negotiations following the original renovation deal struck in the spring. The Capital One Arena renovations are due for completion in 2028. 

“This structure creates the most efficiency for the use of the public funds and have that go directly into the building,” Monica Dixon, Monumental chief administrative officer and president of external affairs, tells Front Office Sports. “It’s really about creating that efficiency and having the best operation possible of this public-private partnership.”

Bigger Vision

While the overall footprint of the remade Capital One Arena remains far smaller than the expansive project contemplated in the ultimately scuttled deal in Alexandria, Va., there are still plans to stretch beyond the current venue walls.

The overall D.C.-Monumental deal also includes an expansion of more than 200,000 square feet to the arena footprint into the neighboring Gallery Place, allowing Leonsis to get at least a portion of the additional space that was fundamental to the Virginia plan.

The A’s will play on a grass field in Sacramento, not artificial turf as previously expected, in the first major modification of the team’s three-season interim stay in the California capital before relocating to Las Vegas.

After emotionally finishing a 57-season stay in Oakland, the A’s will play the 2025–2027 campaigns at Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, also home of the Giants’ top farm club, the River Cats. But a previous plan of installing turf to help manage that heavy ballpark use soon ran into concerns given the extreme summer heat of Sacramento. Temperatures can routinely reach triple digits there—conditions that would be exacerbated by the turf field—and the city this past summer had its hottest 20-day stretch in recorded history. 

Instead, the league and the A’s have bowed to consistent concerns from players. 

“Our shared, primary concern is ensuring the best and safest playing surface for the A’s, River Cats, and visiting players,” an MLB spokesman said in a statement. “In light of the players’ clear preference for natural grass, and after weighing with the MLB Players Association the potential risks and benefits of maintaining natural grass versus replacing the playing surface with synthetic turf, all the parties are aligned in moving forward with a natural grass field for Opening Day 2025.”

There will be a series of other upgrades at Sutter Health Park to help the facility meet MLB standards, including a new batter’s eye, renovated bullpens and home clubhouse, and expanded dugouts. MLB also intends to schedule as many A’s home games as possible at night. 

The A’s, meanwhile, plan to raise their payroll in Sacramento after ranking last in MLB this year with an outlay of $63.4 million.