NBA season starts tonight; Celtics odds-on favorites to repeat

Jayson Tatum was already a proven winner before last season.

In Tatum’s first six seasons, no NBA player won more games with one team than he did. Tatum played in 334 wins with the Boston Celtics over that span, including playoffs. He was a five-time All-Star, a legitimate MVP candidate, a four-time All-NBA pick, even an Olympic gold medalist.

That’s all in the past now. The Celtics are champions, coach Joe Mazzulla leading them to that crown, and when the season starts on Tuesday night in Boston — where last season ended — Tatum doesn’t seem to be considering it the start of a title defense. He’s looking at it as the start of a chase for a 19th title, and the Celtics are the favorite to claim the 2025 championship.

“It was never just about trying to just win one,” said Tatum, who added a second Olympic gold to his collection this summer. “Now you get to be mentioned with — at least be in the same room with — the other Celtics great teams, great players. All the guys that I looked up to growing up at least won one championship. Now it’s just a conversation of: ‘How great are you trying to be? What room or what tier are you trying to be mentioned in when it’s all said and done?’”

That journey starts with ring night in Boston, where the Celtics take on New York in the first game of a doubleheader to formally open the league’s 79th season. The nightcap is Minnesota at the Los Angeles Lakers, a game that will see LeBron James tie Vince Carter by playing in a 22nd NBA season — and potentially the first official game where a father and son are teammates, with Bronny James entering his rookie season.

There will be challengers to a Boston repeat, and a lot of them. New York (adding Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns) and Philadelphia (adding Paul George) loaded up to try to supplant Boston atop the Eastern Conference. And there are rising teams in the East as well, like the Paolo Banchero-led Orlando Magic and Donovan Mitchell-led Cleveland Cavaliers — who made Round 2 of the playoffs last season.



(AP Photo Michael Dwyer)