The NBA is dominated by the storylines. For better or for worse, the marketing, the schedule and the temperature of the draft lottery envelopes are controlled by the storylines.

Last season was the comeback from the Bubble, the first question everyone rightly asked was would the NBA survive without the Bubble’s protection from the virus ending the season again?

Ultimately, the season struggled at times, like with the Washington Wizards being shut down for a fortnight. But in the end, the NBA proved it could survive and have a riveting NBA Finals with 16,000+ fans at each of the six games — while also showing that the small-market superstars can still win it all.

When it came to basketball there were endless storylines: Could the Lakers repeat with a retooled roster? How does the James Harden saga in Houston end? And after being traded, will the Nets embarrass the league’s competition? Who will be the MVP? Will it be Joel Embiid?, Nikola Jokić?, LeBron James?… or Chris Paul? for no other reason than “we need something to talk about in May”.

This 2021-22 season we could see one of the most competitive championship races the league has seen in some time. Or the Nets just could unleash hellfire upon the NBA and all we can do is watch as the NBA Mediadel burns to the ground.

This season has a number of stars on the trade block, a variety of diversely-styled contenders and many budding young stars ready to take that next leap. So, these are the biggest storylines going into the 2021-2022 NBA Season.

Preface: This is a discussion on the biggest storylines, predicting what the media and fans will talk about most – so apologies to most of the league, especially Phoenix Suns fans.