While Minnesota’s regular season opener is slated for Wednesday in Portland, the NBA kicks off Tuesday when Oklahoma City hoists a banner ahead of its bout with Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets.

Ahead of another NBA season, here’s a look at what to watch for this season, followed by a prediction of each team’s finish:

Is there parity?

There have been six different champions over the past six seasons, which suggests the league is wide open. But it’s far from a crapshoot once the playoffs arrive.

The last four NBA champions had home-court advantage in every round of the playoffs en route to the title.

Denver was the clear top team in the West three years ago, while Boston and Oklahoma City were the obvious teams to beat in the entire NBA each of the past two seasons.

So while perhaps it’s possible for any team to rise to the top this season, you better do your work to separate yourself during the regular season.

Health over everything

While load management is often a dreaded talking point in the NBA season – and perhaps not the best overall practice – last season’s playoffs put into focus how important health is. The NBA season spans eight months for the eventual champion, and all it takes is one injury to end your title hopes.

The losses of Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton and Steph Curry ultimately doomed the Boston Celtics, Indiana Pacers and Golden State Warriors at various points of the postseason, while Aaron Gordon essentially playing on one leg left Denver defenseless in Game 7 of the conference semifinals against Oklahoma City.

With such a long regular season leading up to the marathon that is the physical postseason game, whichever top-tier team is lucky enough (or smart enough?) to keep its best players on the floor might be the one lifting the trophy come June.

Here’s a team-by-team look at the league, with a prognostication of their regular-season record.

The West

Thunder (59-23) – Motivation and fatigue are concerns for any defending champion in its pursuit of a repeat. They’re the only concerns that exist for this deep, talented roster.

Nuggets (54-28) – This is the best Denver roster ever constructed in the Nikola Jokic era, with the depth and shooting to legitimately challenge Oklahoma City.

Timberwolves (53-29) – Is continuity enough to help Minnesota take that final step in the postseason? Probably not. Anthony Edwards will need to be a two-way, MVP-caliber player for Minnesota to win the West.

Rockets (49-33) – Kevin Durant should help Houston score late in the games when the Rockets need buckets. But the injury loss of Fred VanVleet will put more on the plate of rising star Amen Thompson.

Lakers (48-34) – Luka Doncic looks like a potential MVP candidate given his current form and conditioning. But LeBron James’ health could be a lingering issue for the Lakers.

Warriors (46-36) – Golden State showed itself to be a legitimate threat in the West in the spring pre-Steph Curry injury. How much stock will the veteran Warriors put into the regular season?

Clippers (44-38) – They’re really old, but they also have the depth to consistently rotate veterans in throughout the regular season. But the Clippers haven’t won a playoff series since 2021.

Pelicans (42-40) – A healthy Zion Williamson is one of the NBA’s most dominant forces and could even lift this New Orleans roster to the playoffs in the frightening Western Conference.

Spurs (42-40) – It still remains to be seen how well all the Spurs’ pieces fit together. Victor Wembanyama and the young core have a high ceiling, but there still is no dominant stretch to point to as proof of concept.

Mavericks (41-41) – Dallas’ roster looks deep and talented and may be as good defensively as anyone. But this season’s success could hinge on Kyrie Irving’s return date from an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Grizzlies (40-42) – Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. remain strong basketball pillars, but there are simply too many injury concerns around this team to expect any level of consistent success.

Trail Blazers (38-44) – Offensive concerns for the Blazers are legitimate, but this might be the most tenacious defensive team in the NBA.

Kings (35-47) – Sacramento can scare opponents on any given night with its level of offensive firepower. But there aren’t many defensive stoppers to be found on that roster.

Suns (32-50) – Getting Durant and Brad Beal out of Phoenix provided a needed reset for the Suns. But there’s just not much talent on this roster. A young frontline needs to find its way, and fast.

Jazz (17-65) – Ace Bailey could prove to be a legitimate building block for Utah, which is heading towards another obvious tanking season.

East

Cavaliers (54-28) – The Cavaliers are running it back with the same roster that finished with the East’s best record last season. Can a healthy version of this core have better playoff success?

Knicks (50-32) – Tom Thibodeau was fired seemingly as a scapegoat for a front office that had to explain why it wasn’t better than the Pacers after making such all-in trades last offseason. What happens if this season’s results aren’t any better?

Hawks (50-32) – Atlanta went from seemingly lost in the sea of middling a year ago to now sporting one of the best, most dynamic young rosters. Does Trae Young fit the long-term vision?

Magic (48-34) – An all-in trade for Desmond Bane should help the Magic level up. Just how immediate those dividends are remains to be seen.

Pistons (46-36) – The leap from bad to good is far easier than the one from good to great. But Jaden Ivey’s return from last season’s injury could help Detroit achieve the latter.

Pacers (45-37) – No, they don’t have Tyrese Haliburton after his Game 7 Achilles injury. But the Pacers do have their firm identity of a high-pace team, and a guard in Andrew Nembhard more than capable of running the show.

Bucks (43-39) – Milwaukee is leaning into a youth movement, surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo with a more athletic, defensive core. At worst, the Bucks should be frisky.

Raptors (40-42) – Toronto won a lot of games at the end of last season by virtue of playing hard. If that can be replicated over the course of a full season, the Raptors could be playoff bound.

Celtics (38-44) – Boston’s offseason suggested this season will be treated as a reset season while Jayson Tatum recovers from his Achilles tear. While Jaylen Brown and Derrick White are still around, the roster is paper thin.

76ers (37-45) – If Joel Embiid is healthy, this number will be far too low. But if he has any injury concerns, this team is set up to again lose a lot of games.

Heat (37-45) – Miami continues to trot out a star-less roster without a true identity or direction in the wake of the Jimmy Butler era.

Bulls (36-46) – The run-and-gun Bulls are a fun watch that just don’t figure to consistently win games until they find an athletic center to better fit their current roster.

Hornets (34-48) – Charlotte has a lot of talented, young pieces. There’s an opportunity to finish much higher than this if the puzzle fits together correctly.

Wizards (17-65) – A roster full of intriguing young pieces. But the Wizards could stand to provide them with more direction in order to aid development.

Nets (15-67) – With so many rookies mixed with competent veterans, how Brooklyn divides minutes within its rotation throughout the season will be interesting.

Playoff predictions

Western Conference finals: Oklahoma City over Denver in seven games

Eastern Conference finals: Cleveland over Atlanta in six games

NBA Finals: Oklahoma City over Cleveland in five games

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) and head coach Chris Finch, right, talk during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Abbie Parr / Associated Press)

Maybe the most frustrating part of the the Vikings’ 28-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium was the fact that the game was there for the taking.

It wasn’t a dominant effort from the defending Super Bowl champions, by any means. The eagles didn’t deliver the dagger until very late, when quarterback Jalen Hurts completed a deep pass to put the game away for good.

The result might have been different had Vikings quarterback Carson Wentz taken better care of the ball. They also were 1 for 6 in the red zone in total, settling for field goals instead of touchdowns far too often, which largely contributed to the loss.

As much as the offense was fighting it throughout the game, however, the defense wasn’t much better in key moments.

Here are some takeaways from Sunday’s loss, which dropped the Vikings to 3-3 and into last place in the NFC North:

The mistakes of Carson Wentz

It might be unfair to hold Wentz to a high standard because he’s probably best suited as a backup rather than a starter at this point in his career. That said, Wentz simply wasn’t good enough for the Vikings, even if he battled down the stretch against the Eagles. He missed a wide open touchdown on the opening drive, then followed it up by throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown on the next drive. There were also too many times that Wentz went backwards in the red zone whether it be him getting called for intentional grounding or taking a sack. He acknowledged his shortcoming after the game and vowed to be better. That is a must for the Vikings if they want to have a chance.

The dominance of Jalen Hurts

Though he has become synonymous with the highly controversial Tush Push largely because of his legs, Hurts proved throughout the game that he can still very much beat an opposing team with his arm. He finished with a perfect 158.3 quarterback rating, completing 19 of 23 passes for 326 yards and 3 touchdowns. The performance from Hurts came at a time that his play has become a polarizing topic of conversation. Some people don’t consider him to be an elite quarterback in the NFL. His recent play against the Vikings would suggest otherwise.

The rise of Jordan Addison

It’s no secret that star receiver Justin Jefferson attracts double coverage most of the time he’s on the field. He has even occasionally seen triple coverage in his career. That might change if fellow receiver Jordan Addison continues to dominate. He’s been nothing short of spectacular for the Vikings since returning from his suspension a few weeks ago. It’s hard for opposing teams to cover Addison because he often gets to line up against single coverage. He took advantage of that against the Eagles, hauling in 9 catches for 128 yards in the game. If Addison continues to produce, Jefferson might start to draw some single coverage himself.

The struggles of Isaiah Rodgers

The film is not going to be very fun for cornerback Isaiah Rodgers to watch. As impressive as he’s been for the Vikings since signing as a free agent, he had an extremely rough game against the Eagles. Not only was he beat by receiver Devonta Smith for a 79-yard touchdown, Rodgers was also beat by receiver A.J. Brown for a 45-yard gain that effectively ended the game. This is the first time Rodgers has faced adversity since joining the Vikings. It will be interesting to see how he responds.

The excellence of Will Reichard

There aren’t enough words to describe how good kicker Will Reichard has been for the Vikings as of late. The trend continued against the Eagles as he went 5 of 5 on field goals. That included a 59-yarder that Reichard made with relative ease. He’s been a model of consistency for the Vikings game in and game out. It’s gotten to the point that every time Reichard trots on the field it’s assumed he’s going to put the ball through the uprights. His only miss over the past month and a half came in London and it might have been because the ball hit a wire in midair.

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Today is Monday, Oct. 20, the 293rd day of 2024. There are 72 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 20, 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee opened hearings into alleged Communist influence in the U.S. motion picture industry.

Also on this date:

In 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.

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Today in History: October 19, ‘Black Monday’ on Wall Street

In 1944, Gen. Douglas MacArthur waded ashore in his return to the Philippines against Japanese forces in World War II, fulfilling a promise he made (“I shall return”) after being ordered to evacuate the country in 1942 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1967, a jury in Meridian, Mississippi, convicted seven men of violating the civil rights of killed civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner; the seven received prison terms ranging from three to 10 years.

In 1973, in what would become known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” President Richard M. Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson to fire special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox; Richardson refused and resigned. Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus also refused to fire Cox and resigned. Acting Attorney General Robert Bork fired Cox.

In 1973, the Sydney Opera House was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II.

In 1976, 78 people were killed when the Norwegian tanker SS Frosta rammed the commuter ferry George Prince on the Mississippi River near New Orleans.

In 1977, three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, were killed along with three others in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Mississippi.

In 1990, three members of the rap group 2 Live Crew were acquitted by a jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, of violating obscenity laws with an adults-only concert in nearby Hollywood the previous June.

In 2011, Moammar Gadhafi, 69, Libya’s dictator for 42 years, was killed as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.

In 2022, British Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned after just 49 days in office when her plan for billions in tax cuts rocked financial markets and battered the value of the pound; Truss also resigned as head of the Conservative Party.

Today’s Birthdays:

Japan’s Empress Michiko is 91.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer Wanda Jackson is 88.
Baseball Hall of Famer Juan Marichal is 88.
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky is 85.
Retired MLB All-Star Keith Hernandez is 72.
Composer Thomas Newman is 70.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is 70.
Film director Danny Boyle is 69.
Actor Viggo Mortensen is 67.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris is 61.
Actor William Zabka is 60.
Journalist Sunny Hostin (TV: “The View”) is 57.
Actor Kenneth Choi is 54.
Rapper Snoop Dogg is 54.
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is 53.
Actor John Krasinski is 46.
Rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again is 26.

The kapémni form, an abstract Lakota symbol broadly recognizable to Indigenous tribes of the Great Plains, consists of two mirrored triangles balanced in the center at their tips in an hourglass shape. The lower one represents the physical world, the upper one the sky and spiritual realm. The form was traditionally rendered in porcupine quillwork, beadwork and parfleche painting on garments and objects made by Native women.

“The kapémni really is a worldview based in Lakota philosophy that underscores our connectedness across all humanity, all plant life, all life period,” said Dyani White Hawk, a Minneapolis-based artist who is Sicangu Lakota, of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

She has integrated the kapémni motif in different media and at increasing scale and innovation over the last 15 years. “Utilizing it in my own work serves as a personal reminder over and over again to live by our values.”

White Hawk, 48, has recently received a surge of recognition in the art world for her multidisciplinary work that puts abstraction long used by the Lakota people in active conversation with elements of mid-20th century American painting including abstract expressionism, color field, hard-edge and minimalism.

Awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in 2023 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2024, White Hawk has high-profile commissions in progress at Kennedy International Airport and Portland International Airport in Oregon, and her work has been collected by dozens of major museums, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Denver Art Museum and the Brooklyn Museum.

Strips of beadwork at Dyani White Hawk’s studio in Minneapolis, Sept. 22, 2025. White Hawk incorporates strips of bead, and other beadwork, into many of her pieces (Ben Brewer/The New York Times)

Walker exhibit

Now, a midcareer survey has opened in her hometown, Minneapolis, at the Walker Art Center called “Dyani White Hawk: Love Language,” on view through Feb. 15, with more than 90 paintings, works on paper, video installations, objects incorporating quillwork and beadwork, and several new sculptures and mosaics. It was organized in collaboration with the Remai Modern in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where the show will travel next year. The two institutions bridge the Plains homelands of the Oceti Sakowin cultural group comprising the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota nations whose territory long predates that national boundary.

“A driving force within what I do is about making sure that Native voices are included and heard and celebrated in our mainstream public art spaces to the equal level of all our counterparts in the field,” said White Hawk in a video interview.

She aims to remind people “of the artistic history that existed on this land base before colonization and the ways that that has been intertwined with other communities after colonization.”

Art history incomplete

Of mixed Lakota and European ancestry, White Hawk grew up in Madison, Wis., where she was raised predominantly by her mother, who was born on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Sandy White Hawk was adopted at 18 months by white missionaries, who moved with her to Wisconsin. As an adult, she reunited with her Lakota family and brought her children back to South Dakota for ceremonies throughout their youths.

“My mom was in that era of often forced, manipulated, very systematic removal of children,” said White Hawk, whose mother founded the First Nations Repatriation Institute and has been an activist in reconnecting separated families.

White Hawk studied art and United States and Tribal history from Indigenous perspectives at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, where she received a degree in elementary education in 2003. She learned native art history and had her first painting classes at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, graduating in 2008 with a bachelor of fine arts.

After these tribal colleges, she described experiencing “culture shock” when she began graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There she was introduced to Western art history that omitted discussion of everything she had studied before. Independently, she researched names that came up in class, such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, and was instinctively drawn to their abstract language, she said. She was not surprised to then learn they had been influenced by Indigenous art forms.

White Hawk was simultaneously “falling in love with abstract expressionism and troubled by the narrative that abstract painting in the U.S. began in the ‘40s and ‘50s in New York at the Cedar Tavern,” said Siri Engberg, the Walker’s senior curator and director of visual arts who co-organized the survey with Tarah Hogue of the Remai Modern. From the artist’s student works to today, Engberg added, “Dyani is thinking about ways that she could counter that narrative and, more importantly, foreground the legacy of Lakota abstraction.”

The artist Dyani White Hawk works at her studio in Minneapolis, Sept. 22, 2025. Motifs of repeated patterns are frequently part of White Hawk’s work. (Ben Brewer/The New York Times)

An artistic language

In her early work, White Hawk juxtaposed dual artistic lineages. She alternated stripes painted gesturally to summon artists like Rothko, Sean Scully or Frank Stella with stripes painted in neat rows of short, parallel marks to mimic the practices of Lakota quillwork and beadwork (sometimes incorporating actual quills and beads on the surface).

In her larger “Quiet Strength” series, begun in 2016, White Hawk laid down expressionistic brushwork in gold, silver or copper. On top, she painted thousands of vertical marks in horizontal bands, coalescing into the kapémni shape or other geometric Lakota symbols, with the flicker of the underlying metallic pigments creating an aura of radiance and value.

“Dyani always says that beauty is medicinal,” said Hogue, adjunct curator of Indigenous art at Remai Modern. “Through color, through the materials, she really opens up these rich and sometimes difficult conversations about what people know about the art history and even the history of the land that they’re on.”

“Infinite We,” White Hawk’s newest sculpture making its debut at the Walker, realizes the kapémni form completely in the round. Rising 10 feet tall and five feet in diameter, the surface of the two conjoined cones is a mosaic of colorful triangles in enamel on copper that optically form shifting pinwheels and embody the idea of the kapémni as a vortex.

The motif will reappear in the guise of Oregon’s Mount Hood, represented in a monumental mosaic to be unveiled next year at the Portland International Airport. Stretching 55 feet long and 9 feet high, White Hawk’s design presents the majestic mountain silhouette adorned with a tribal beaded cape, like a snow cap, and mirrored in the sky. A striking horizon line separates sunrise and starscape.

“The whole composition is a kapémni,” said White Hawk, excited by the increasing opportunities she’s had to translate her work into permanent public installations. “I’m really grateful to be able to play this big and create this thing that honors that landscape but also stays within the realm of my artistic language and the way I see the world.”

‘Dyani White Hawk: Love Language’

What: More than 90 paintings, works on paper, video installations and objects incorporating quillwork and beadwork.

Where: Walker Art Center Galleries 1, 2, 3; 725 Vineland Pl., Minneapolis.

Tickets: Free-$18, available at walkerart.org

Accessibility: Elevators, lifts, wheelchairs and other services are available.

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