There are plenty of interesting things that happen throughout the course of one NBA season.

Some things that happen are the retiring of older players, injuries, trade rumors, where star players are going to go in free agency, and many more. With all that being said, let’s get into the list of 5 things all NBA Fans should pay attention to next season.

5. Demarcus Cousins:

Last season the New Orleans Pelicans led by Anthony Davis and him looked destined to make some noise in the Western Conference playoffs, then Demarcus Cousins goes down with a torn achilles and misses the rest of the season at the trade deadline. There has been a lot of great NBA players who have had their careers cut short due to leg/ foot injuries and no one wants to see that happen to Demarcus. Some players include Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill, Derrick Rose, Ralph Sampson, Yao Ming, and many more. When healthy Demarcus Cousins is easily a top 2 center in the league no debate. In his last 5 seasons when healthy he has never dipped below 22.7 points per game, 10.6 rebounds per game, or 1.3 blocks per game. His contract also ends at the end of the season so we get to see if any team will pay him a max contract hoping he comes back from his injury 100%.

4. Where Paul George goes in free agency this offseason:

Being one of the best players in free agency this year, Paul George, will have a lot of money thrown at him by many teams this year. Paul George is one of, if not the best, two-way players in the NBA today. A two-way player is someone who is great on offense and defense. Since coming back from one of the more gruesome injuries in basketball history where he broke his leg and ankle going for a chase-down block, he has regained form and been playing even better than he did before the injury. Since coming back from his injury sustained in 2014 he has averaged 23.1 points per game, 23.7 points per game, and 21.9 points per game last season. The season after his injury he only played in 6 games in which he averaged 8.8 points per game. All that being said, he is worthy of a big payday from some NBA teams. He is rumored to most likely go home to Los Angeles and sign with the Lakers. If he doesn’t go there he will most likely resign with the OKC Thunder.

3. Where LeBron James goes in free agency this offseason:

Everyone knows who LeBron James is, I don’t think I need to explain how great he is. Ask someone who thinks he’s the G. O. A.T. if you want his stats they’ll be glad to tell you in a heartbeat. But at the end of this season, his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers ends. There are many a rumor of which team he will join, most are just hopeful fans who think their favorite NBA team has a shot at the LeBron Sweepstakes when in reality there is no chance. A lot of people think the top 4 teams LeBron will go to are The Philadelphia 76ers, LA Lakers, Houston Rockets, or he’ll resign with the Cavaliers. There is one completely ridiculous rumor saying he’s going to take a pay cut to go to the Golden State Warriors. He cares way too much about his legacy and it will be completely torched if he joined the Warriors. Many think LeBron would join the 76ers or the lakers due to the great young players he could help develop, and the promise each team shows. People rumor he might join the Rockets and team up with Chris Paul and James Harden to try to match the superteam that is the Golden State Warriors. LeBron and CP3 already have quite the friendship with the whole “Banana Boat” team and both being good friends. The Banana boat is a fictional superteam made up of LeBron James, CP3, Dwyane Wade, and Carmelo Anthony. Then people think hell stay in cleveland and retire in his hometown. Personally I think he’s going to leave Cleveland and join his friends down in Houston, because he wants more rings and might be tired of carrying a sorry Cavs team to the finals every year just to lose because his teammates are garbage.

2. If Kawhi Leonard gets traded or stays in San Antonio:

There are rumors on to of rumors and false reports on top of false reports that Kawhi Leonard wants out of San Antonio, and that his relationship with the organization is strained. Majority of the reports are fake and are opinions/ theories that are presented as facts. A lot of people think he wants out of San Antonio to make a bigger star from himself which is completely far fetched. He could easily do that in San Antonio, also he barely ever talks so why would he want to be a bigger star in the league when he barely ever speaks. He speaks so little that it has become who he is, he is the person who will drop 30 on you, clamp you on defense, and not say a word.  Most of the trade rumors started because in the Western Conference Finals last year he suffered an ankle injury, and at the beginning of this season tried to come back and got injured again. So he went to a facility in New York to rehab and stopped going to the Spurs team doctors and showing up to Spurs games. This spawned trade rumors due to the Spurs being sort of angry Kawhi didn’t go back to team doctors. The San Antonio Spurs are one of those teams who likes to handle everything behind closed doors with their staff, so this kind of made their relationship strained for a little bit. But anyways Kawhi will not get traded, when healthy he is a top 5 player in the league, one of if not the best defenders in the league, and has been quoted many times talking about how he wants to retire a San Antonio Spur.

1.  Dirk Nowitzki retiring:

Dirk Nowitzki has been in the league since before any of us students were even born. He is returning to Dallas for his 20th NBA season. 20 seasons in the NBA is a great accomplishment not many can do. In those 20 seasons Dirk is a one time NBA Finals MVP in 2011 were he upset the Miami Heat lead by lord LeBron, A one time League MVP in 2007, 13 time NBA All-star, 12 time All-NBA team player, ranked 6th in all time scoring, and many more stats. Throughout the 20 seasons he has averaged 21.2 points per game, 8 rebounds, shot .472% from the field, and .879 from the free throw line. He is a top 5, arguably top 3, best Power Forward in NBA history, and easily the best player to ever play for the Dallas Mavericks. He is one of the games best ever, one of the best foreign players in NBA History, a sure-fire first ballot Hall Of Famer, and it’ll be sad to see one of the games best retire. Least we can do as NBA Fans is watch the last you’ll ever see of this legend play, even if it isn’t at as high as a level as he used to be, and his team being absolute garbage.