The Los Angeles Lakers will be without LeBron James when they kick off the 2025-26 NBA season against Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21, ESPN reports. James is reportedly sidelined for three to four weeks due to sciatica on his right side. This will mark the first time James missed a season opener in his 23-year career.

Inside the NBA” will make its ESPN debut on Oct. 22 at 6pm ET across ESPN and ESPN2 (simulcast), the first of 20 planned nights during the regular season for the show as a pregame, halftime and postgame program.

We want to hear from you. USA TODAY Sports dropped its ranking for the top NBA players of the 2025-26 season. Now you can re-rank the list yourself.

Trade season lasts most of the calendar year in the NBA, but there are certainly times when activity is more common than it is in others.

Based on the scoring of projections at the APBRmetrics forum, my recalibrated forecast had the second-lowest root mean squared error, a method that heavily penalizes bad misses. It also had the strongest correlation to actual wins and losses.

The NBA is not likely to have a break next season when the postponed Olympics are held, league commissioner Adam Silver said, casting doubt on the availability of NBA players at the Tokyo Games.

Vucevic, 35, will still get a team buckets and rebounds at center, averaging 18.5 points and 10.1 rebounds while shooting 40.2% from 3-point range in 73 games last season. He’s an expiring $21.5 million contract, and for a playoff team trying to add some depth for the playoffs, Vucevic is a quality pick-up.

NBA Rank 2025 continues! See which top players just missed the top 10, and who made the biggest leaps this season.