The NBA season is officially back, with new championship teams emerging this offseason and players becoming better than ever before. As of right now, anything can happen in a season due to things like injuries or trades, but I am going to do my best to predict what the major points of this NBA season could look like.

With the race to earn regular season awards, it is tough to be 100% accurate, but based on stats and general basketball knowledge, there’s a chance I can get close. There was a close race last year between Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama for Defensive Player of the Year. Most people believe that Wembanyama should have gone home with the award last year. However, he most likely lost the race due to still being a rookie—not to mention voter fatigue from Rudy Gobert having already won four Defensive Player of the Year awards. I believe that Victor Wembanyama will win the award easily this year.

With the Most Improved Player award, you never really know who will take that next jump until you are well into the season, but there are some ways to make educated guesses by looking at how players progressed in the past season to predict the next big leap. I believe that this season, Jonathan Kuminga will break out as a star because of the absence of Klay Thompson. He averaged 16 points last season, and with less depth in the roster, he’ll have more opportunities to score. He will then put up more points, becoming a large contributor to the Golden State Warriors.

The 6th Man of the Year award is also somewhat complicated to predict because you don’t know how rotations will change by the end of the season. A few guesses have been thrown out, including last season’s winner, Naz Reid, and Malik Monk, the runner-up. Then, several other players have been mentioned. One name I’ve seen is Tre Mann from the Charlotte Hornets. If the Hornets keep Brandon Miller as a shooting guard instead of a small forward, Tre Mann will take on the 6th man role. He has already proven he can put up good numbers, and at only 22, he still has a lot of room to improve this season.

Rookie of the Year is a tough call, especially this season, due to the weak draft class. The only way to know how well a player will do is based on their performance in college or overseas. I think Zach Edey will win the award, primarily due to the significant impact he’s likely to make as a rookie. He’s on the older end of rookies at 22 but starting at the center position. With Memphis looking strong this season, some credit will likely go to Edey, making him a good candidate.

This year, the Most Valuable Player race is relatively easy to predict. It’s the year for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Dončić. Luka Dončić has been snubbed for MVP for about two years, but this is his year. Last season, he averaged 34 points, 9.8 assists, and 9 rebounds. Nikola Jokić has dominated the MVP race for over four years, but I believe it’s now Luka’s time.

For this year’s finals matchup, it’s quite close on both the Eastern and Western sides. This year’s real contenders in the East are Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee. Out west, the contenders are Denver, Minnesota, OKC, and Dallas. New York and Boston have the best shot at making the finals. New York made a lot of big moves this offseason by adding Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns while giving up key pieces like Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle.

Meanwhile, Boston didn’t make any big moves, but that might be for the best, given their dominant regular and postseason. So, I think Boston will ultimately come out of the East. In the West, I think OKC and Dallas are the top contenders for the postseason. This offseason, Dallas acquired Klay Thompson, one of the best three-point shooters in NBA history, though it cost them Derrick Jones Jr., weakening their defense. OKC, on the other hand, traded away Josh Giddey to gain Alex Caruso, boosting their perimeter defense. They look like one of the best defensive teams now, especially with the advancement of Chet Holmgren. I believe OKC will make it out of the West to face Boston in the NBA Finals, and I think Boston will win the series, possibly in six games, to go back-to-back.

Of course, there are many other ways the NBA season could unfold. To get another perspective, I asked Kalib d’Erizans, a student at Apex High School, his thoughts on the awards. For 6th Man of the Year, he said Malik Monk would most likely win due to his strong performance last season. For Most Improved Player, he chose Alperen Şengün after his third solid year. For Defensive Player of the Year, he agreed that Victor Wembanyama would win due to his impressive defensive plays. He thought Dalton Knecht would take the award for Rookie of the Year because of his early impact. For Most Valuable Player, he also picked Luka Dončić. Lastly, for the Finals matchup, he predicted a showdown between the New York Knicks and the OKC Thunder.

In conclusion, each NBA season is very unpredictable, but there’s still a good chance that some predictions will come true. Watching these athletes evolve into champions is always exciting. Every season has its ups and downs for each team, but only one will emerge as NBA champions.