From October 5th, 8th: Ja takes flight and a lottery pick prints his first NBA poster

The 2024-25 NBA season begins in exactly two weeks. Lauri Markkanen can already see it.

---

THE LINEUP 🏀

What's in today's edition?

The preseason will be hot: Eight teams opened the preseason on Monday and delivered the highlights

The next step: Is superstardom on the horizon for indy PG Tyrese Haliburton?

GM survey: How well did the GMs do last season before today's release?

Win or go home: It's Game 5 of Lynx-Sun and a spot in the finals is at stake

Hall of Fame bound: Get to know the class of 2024, which will be awarded on Sunday

---

BUT FIRST… ⏰

More preseason baskets and a win-or-go-home Game 5 in the W…

Six other NBA teams — the Bulls, Cavs, Heat, Pacers, Hawks and Nets — make their preseason debuts tonight during the five-game slate.

While freedom waits, The Lynx and Sun meet in Minnesota (8 ET, ESPN2) for a crucial fifth game for a final spot in the WNBA Finals.

---

1. DIMES, ALLEY-OOPS & POSTERS HIGHLIGHT MONDAY'S PRE-SEASON PLANNING

Grizzlies 121, Mavs 116: Ja Morant played for Memphis for the first time in nine months and led the Grizzlies with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists past the Mavs, who were without Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving and newcomer Klay Thompson. | statistics

• All Grizz: Brandon Clarke (17 points) led seven Grizzlies in double figures, while rookie Zach Edey scored six points and seven points in his debut, including Morant's alley-oop finish above
• Block party: Not only did Morant and Edey stay in the loop, they also posted two of the game's highlight rejections
• The hard way: Jaden Hardy led all players in points (21) and dimes (8), while Dereck Lively (12 points on 5-5 FG) and Quentin Grimes (8 points, 4 reb, 4 ast in his Mavs debut) combined for 20 points added

Thunder 112, Spurs 107: Jalen Williams (18 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast, 3 3s) needed just 17 minutes in the first half to make his mark in OKC's win over San Antonio, which played without Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul. Chet Holmgren added 10 points and two blocks in nine minutes. | statistics

• OKC debuts: Alex Caruso (5pts, 5ast) and Isaiah Hartenstein (4pts, 8reb, 7ast) combined for 17 minutes and finished with a plus-20 for OKC
• Game 1 Poster: Rookie Stephon Castle (5 pts, 3 ast) printed his first NBA poster before committing a foul in his preseason debut
• Top scorer: San Antonio's Julian Champagnie had 22 points and six 3s to lead all scorers, while Ajay Mitchell led OKC with 19 points

Jazz 122, Rockets 113: Lauri Markkanen (17 pts, 4 reb), Jordan Clarkson (14 pts) and Keyonte George (13 pts, 4 ast) combined for 44 points to lead the Jazz past the Rockets. | statistics

Pelicans 106, Magic 104: Zion Williamson left the first half (16 pts, 8 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl), Dejounte Murray (6 pts, 6 ast) scored his first NOLA shot and Jordan Hawkins scored a game-high 18 off the bench and walked leading the Pelicans to victory. | statistics

• Not enough magic: Paolo Banchero scored 15 points while Jalen Suggs and Cole Anthony added 11 each for Orlando, which trailed by as many as 14 points before taking the lead in the fourth but couldn't complete the comeback

Sixers 139, New Zealand Breakers 84: In just a quarter of work, Tyrese Maxey scored 15 points (5-7 FG, 4-5 on 3s) to give the Sixers the lead for a 55-point win without Joel Embiid or Paul George. | statistics

• 15s across the board: Guerschon Yabusele (6-6 FG), rookie Jared McCain (4-9 3s, including his first basket) and Reggie Jackson (3-5 3s) joined Maxey in scoring a team-high 15 points

---

2. HALIBURTON'S NEXT STEP, RISACHER'S FIRST STEP

If the Pacers and Hawks make their preseason debut tonight in Atlanta (7:30 ET, NBA TV), Indy point guard Tyrese Haliburton begins his fifth NBA season, while Atlanta forward Zaccharie Risacher will make his first appearance for the Hawks after Summer League.

Haliburton is the driver behind Indiana's fast-paced offense – who averaged 123.3 points per game last season, the highest the NBA had achieved in four decades.

And just like an elite driver Haliburton is gaining momentum at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and has continued to improve his game since entering the NBA in 2020.

• 2020-21: He went from 12th overall in the 2020 NBA Draft to third place as Rookie of the Year and was named to the All-Rookie Team
• 2021-22: He moved from Sacramento to Indiana midseason, returning to his roots in the Midwest, 350 miles from his hometown of Oshkosh, Wisconsin
• 2022-23: Earned his first NBA All-Star selection with the Pacers and helped Indy improve by 10 wins over the previous season
• 2023-24: Earned his second NBA All-Star selection (and first All-Star start), led the NBA in assists (10.9 per game), received his first All-NBA selection (Third Team) and led the Pacers to the In-Season Tournament Championship Game and the East Final in the playoffs
• 2024-25: Begins its fifth season on the precipice of superstardom

Tonight on the other side will be a Hawks squad that missed the playoffs for the first time in four years in 2024, but adds a young talent in Risacher to pair with the scoring and playmaking abilities of Trae Young.

• The 19-year-old striker from France brings the Hawks an intriguing mix of size, length and shooting ability
• Meet the newbie: Risacher talks about his path to the NBA and how his father – who played professionally in Europe and won silver for France at the 2000 Olympics – influenced his love of the game

---

3RD ANNUAL GM SURVEY RELEASED TODAY

This year marks the 23rd season that NBA.com conducted the annual GM Survey – in which NBA general managers make predictions and answer questions about the upcoming NBA season.

Before the results Now that all of the results from this year's survey are out, let's take a look back at last year and see which predictions turned out to be true – and some of them were Only out of.

Which team will win the 2024 NBA Finals?

• T-1. Boston Celtics – 33%
• T-1. Denver Nuggets – 33%
• 3. Milwaukee Bucks – 23%
• 4. Phoenix Suns – 7%
• 5. LA Clippers – 3%

Partially correct: The GMs gave the Celtics and Nuggets each a 33% chance of winning the title, and Boston prevailed while Denver was eliminated in the West semifinals.

Who will win the 2023-24 Kia ​​MVP?

• 1. Nikola Jokic, Denver – 43%
• 2. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee – 20%
• 3. Jayson Tatum, Boston – 13%
• 4. Luka Doncic, Dallas – 10%

Correct: Jokic proved the GMs right by winning his third MVP in the last four seasons, but they didn't have runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the top four.

Who will be named the 2023-24 Rookie of the Year?

• 1. Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio – 50%
• 2. Scoot Henderson, Portland – 27%
• 3. Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City – 20%
• 4. Sasha Vezenkov, Sacramento – 3%

Correct: Wemby received half of the GM voters, but received 100% of the official first place vote to win the award.

Which player do you think would take a shot when the game is on the line?

• 1. Stephen Curry, Golden State – 37%
• 2. Kevin Durant, Phoenix – 27%
• 3. Damian Lillard, Milwaukee – 17%
• T-4. Jimmy Butler, Miami – 7%
• T-4. Nikola Jokic, Denver – 7%

Correct: Curry was named the Kia Clutch Player of the Year for the second time after recording 59 clutch buckets, the most in the league.

Which team will improve the most in 2023/24?

• 1. Oklahoma City Thunder – 30%
• 2. Houston Rockets – 23%
• T-3. Dallas Mavericks – 10%
• T-3. Detroit Piston – 10%
• T-3. Orlando Magic – 10%

Close but… The GMs' first two picks should have changed, as Houston achieved a 19-win improvement compared to OKC's 17-win jump.

---

4. WNBA: ONE WIN FROM A FINAL PLACE

The New York Liberty is waiting. The No. 1 seed in the playoffs secured a berth in the WNBA Finals for the second straight year on Sunday and will be watching along with all of us tonight (8 ET, ESPN2) to see who they will face for the championship .

• Will it be the Minnesota Lynx? As one of only two teams in WNBA history to win four titles (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017), Minnesota is looking to become the first franchise to achieve five WNBA titles
• Will it be the Connecticut Sun? No team has a better record than the Sun (181-91) over the last eight seasons – nine games better than the second-place Aces (172-100). But The Sun are still searching for that elusive first title

After a back and forth series In which both teams won on the other team's home court, Game 5 from the Target Center in Minneapolis will be a win-or-go-home game. How did we get here?

• Game 1 (Sun 73, Lynx 70): The Sun struck first, behind Marina Mabrey's 20 points and Alyssa Thomas's near-triple-double, to gain home-field advantage
• Game 2 (Lynx 77, Sun 70): While MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier had a poor night, Courtney Williams (17 points) and the Lynx supporting cast evened the series
• Game 3 (Lynx 90, Sun 81): Collier shined (26 points, 11 rebounds) as the Lynx used Game 1 in Connecticut to regain home-field advantage
• Game 4 (Sun 92, Lynx 82): The Sun dominated the 2nd half (49-32) and extended the streak with big games from Tyasha Harris (20 points, 4 3s), Thomas (18 points, 11 ast) and DeWanna Bonner (18 points, 4 stl).

The price of winning tonight's decisive game is a matchup with a Liberty team that went a league-best 32-8 in the regular season and is 5-1 in the playoffs.

The freedom went 3-1 against the Sun and 1-2 against the Lynx this season, as Minnesota was the only team to beat NY in its season series.

---

5TH HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 2024 TO BE ENCORED THIS WEEKEND

On Sunday in Springfield, Massachusetts, Thirteen players, coaches and contributors to the game will achieve basketball immortality by being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Lead the Class of 2024 is one of the all-time high flyers (Vince Carter), one of the strongest players (Chauncey Billups) and one of the best lockdown defenders (Michael Cooper).

• North American Committee: Billups, Carter, Cooper, Walter Davis, Bo Ryan (coach), Charles Smith (coach)
• Women's Committee: Seimone Augustus
• Men's Veterans Committee: Dick Barnett
• Women's Veterans Committee: Harley Redin (coach)
• International Committee: Michele Timms
• Contributing committee: Doug Collins, Herb Simon, Jerry West

Jerry West – who was inducted into the Hall as a player and member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team – will be inducted for the third time after his playing career for his contributions as a league manager with the Lakers, Grizzlies and Warriors.

He will make history as the first member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame to be inducted as both a player and a contributor.

NBA TV is broadcast wall-to-wall of the inauguration weekend, starting with the press conference on Saturday (2 ET) and the awards gala (8 ET) and continuing on Sunday with the red carpet (5 ET), followed by the inauguration ceremony (6 ET).

From tomorrow, The Starting 5 celebrates the careers of the Class of 2024, so get ready to see Carter's most thunderous dunks, Billup's most clutch shots, and much more.