2025-26 NBA season: What you missed, biggest storylines to watch - ESPN

The NBA is never boring — and this season is no different.

There have been surprising starts, both in good (we see you, Pistons) and bad (unfortunately, we see you, too, Clippers) ways. There have been scandals (yes, plural) that have cast a shadow over multiple franchises. There has been one ignominious ending (maybe) for an all-time great in Chris Paul, and we could potentially be seeing the last season of LeBron James, arguably the greatest player in the history of the sport.

Along the way, there have been plenty of remarkable performances by the league's stars, leading to fun action on a nightly basis.

With all of that in mind, we created a cheat sheet to get you caught up on everything that has happened across the NBA over the past few months — and everything that is set to happen between now and June, when the next NBA champion will be crowned.

Here's a look at the past, present and future stories across the league, and everything our reporters and analysts think you need to know:

Jump to:
What you missed so far | Biggest questions
All-Star projections | Award races
All-NBA ballots | Projected standings
Lottery watch | Trade candidates

The champs are back with a vengeance, but can they go back-to-back? The 2024-25 Thunder were the second-youngest championship team in league history, behind the 1977 Trail Blazers. The Thunder followed that historic season with a 24-1 start to this campaign and a record-setting point differential. Just a couple of weeks ago, it seemed like their march to a second title — and snapping a seven-year stretch without a repeat champion — was inevitable.

But that was before three matchups with Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in a 12-day span — one in Las Vegas in the NBA Cup semifinals, one