And we're off. The NBA season is underway, and per usual, the league did not waste any time grabbing our attention. 

LeBron James and the new-look 76ers ruined ring night for the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder beat the Spurs handily on their floor and left Victor Wembanyama dealing with a crisis of confidence. Anthony Edwards dropped 45 points in an easy Timberwolves victory over the Heat as Giannis Antetokounmpo was left carrying a heavy load on his new team.  

We're only a few days into a months-long marathon and it already feels like we're spoiled for content -- like anything could happen. But what will happen? What do we believe will unfold over what figures to be a wild season? 

What follows is our list of sure things (not to be confused with our bold predictions). It's a compilation of what you can count on to transpire in the NBA this season. 

Tyrese Maxey will lead the 76ers in scoring

The Sixers have gotten a little touchy at times when asked how all these big-name, high usage players will fit together. Joel Embiid predicted that no one needs to sacrifice, while Jaylen Brown insisted, "It doesn't have to be anybody's team." That's fine as far as locker room chemistry goes, but for the purposes of who will be the primary scoring option, especially when the team needs buckets, that's a little less useful.

Of the starting five, we can safely eliminate VJ Edgecombe from being the main man on the offensive end. He had an excellent rookie season, but the vets ahead of him will eat first. Embiid said he wants to prioritize the other end of the floor, where he believes that getting back to being an All-Defensive caliber player "changes everything for us." He isn't wrong. James was happy to step back and let Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves take the lead scoring roles in Los Angeles last year, and there's every indication that his do-anything-that's-needed skillset will work nicely to fill in various game-to-game gaps. 

That leaves Brown and Tyrese Maxey. Brown is coming off his best regular season, where he posted career highs in points, rebounds and assists per game. But that was for a Celtics team missing Jayson Tatum for much of the season that desperately needed Brown to take the lead. The Sixers are in a much different situation.

Like Brown, Maxey also had a stellar last season and was named to his first All-NBA team. He's the incumbent here and the best bet to lead the Sixers in scoring. Maxey averaged a career-high 28.3 points on just over 21 shots per game. Even if those numbers come down slightly -- and they probably will with all the offensive options at the Sixers' disposal -- he's still one of the quickest players in the NBA with the ball in his hands and a good enough 3-point shooter (career 37.7% from deep) that he can have a major impact on or off the ball. Not to mention that opposing defenses will have trouble keying on him with so many talented teammates alongside him. That's certainly been the case through two games as he led the Sixers with 28 points against the Knicks in the opener and 32 in Thursday's comeback win over the Cavaliers. 

Maybe it doesn't have to be anybody's team, but it should be Maxey's offense that leads the way at that end of the floor. 

Luka Dončić will take days off

In a recent letter to Lakers fans, Luka Dončić made a bold prediction of his own: "No excuses, no nights off." 

It's hard to say if his declaration was meant to be literal or figurative, but, in either case, you're forgiven if you're skeptical. For starters, it's hard to imagine that Dončić -- who has made moaning to and about the refs a central part of his personality -- will suddenly zip it and just play ball. There's just too much prior evidence to believe he will change his behavior. (Search "Luka" and "complain" and watch your computer overheat.) Excuses, manifested as whining about something that did not unfold to his liking, are kind of his thing. 

The "no nights off" component is equally hard to buy. If he means playing more, he appeared in 64 games last year and 50 the year before. Part of Dončić missing time the last two years was owed to some unfortunate injuries -- he was humming right along last season until his hamstring flared up right before the playoffs -- as well as that unexpected trade that uprooted him from Dallas and landed him in Los Angeles. Prior to that, he played 65 or more games in five of his first six seasons. So it's not impossible to imagine him playing more frequently -- though it is fair to question what kind of effort is given if his total minutes ramp up over the course of the season. 

For all his promises and posturing, Dončić has been known to take nights off at the defensive end. 

But hey, maybe he really means it this time. After the Mavericks offloaded him and questioned his work ethic, he came back with a slimmed-down revenge body. The difference this time is that he has to prove to himself that he can change. No excuses. 

Chet Holmgren will get bullied (until he stands up for himself)

Unfortunately for Chet Holmgren, there's more than one way to get pushed around. People had a good time dunking on him before the season when a graphic made the rounds on social media that he had put on weight. 

If the writers' room for The Onion were asked to come up with something on Holmgren, it's unlikely they could do much better. Adding bodily injury to insult, Holmgren got suplexed by De'Aaron Fox in the opener, despite the fact that the Spurs guard would need a step stool to see eye to eye with him.

And then Fox kicked the poor guy while he was down. Metaphorically.  

It feels like there's been a never-ending procession of people eager to get their shots in on Holmgren since he largely no-showed against Victor Wembanyama in the Western Conference Finals. It's fair to say that Holmgren did not play well in that series. But at this point, the hate might have gone too far. Holmgren made All-NBA and All-Defense last season and finished runner-up to Wembanyama for Defensive Player of the Year. And in the opener, which the Thunder won on San Antonio's floor, Holmgren looked more aggressive against the Spurs than he did all of last season, finishing with 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks. Meanwhile, Wemby went 1-for-13 from the floor -- and yet the internet was focused on Fox pancaking the poor guy. 

Holmgren needs to fight back and show the Spurs (and snarky writers) that he's not such an easy mark. In the interim, someone should make that man a sandwich. 

LaMelo Ball won't stop being LaMelo Ball

Ball wasted no time submitting his first entry of the season for Shaqtin' A Fool. 

Come for the tap-dancing travel violation; stay for the lack of self-awareness and belly laughter with the crowd thereafter. At least he's not boring. 

Starting Ja Morant won't work long-term

After his first game in Portland, Ja Morant told reporters, "You only get one chance at a first impression." It was a good one. Morant played great in the opener and the Trail Blazers blew out the Suns at home. Good start for him and them, but it's hard to believe this will work over the course of the season. 

As Charles Barkley noted, playing two small guards together in Morant and Damian Lillard figures to be problematic on the defensive end. Actually, what Barkley said was they won't "be able to guard anybody" because "they're two little leprechauns."

He has a way with words. According to a report from The Athletic in early October, new Blazers coach Micah Nori initially did not believe it made much sense to start Morant alongside Lillard. Then he reversed course and did it anyway to start the season. Beyond the defensive liability, the pairing seems clunky at the other end as well. Morant was a high-usage player in Memphis who needed the ball to utilize his athleticism and be effective. He's a career 31.1% 3-point shooter. That doesn't bode well for his prospects of playing off-ball and spacing the floor. But if he needs the ball, and he does, how might that impact someone like Deni Avdija, who flourished last season when the Blazers ran the offense through him and subsequently made him the face of the franchise? On the merits, someone like Jrue Holiday -- who can help a team in many ways at both ends of the floor without getting in anyone's way -- is a much better fit in the starting lineup with Lillard and Avdija.

But then again, what does merit have to do with it? Morant is a big name with two years and $87 million left on his contract. Once the Blazers traded for him, it was probably going to be tough to justify putting that kind of money on the bench to notoriously frugal new owner Tom Dundon. And presto, when the Blazers' season tipped off on Wednesday against the Suns, there was square-peg Morant jammed into Portland's round-hole starting lineup despite the uncomfortable fit. 

In Nori's defense, there are no good options here. Even though the smarter basketball move is to bring Morant off the bench and let him cook with the second unit as a super sub and aspiring Sixth Man of the Year candidate, it's hard to imagine Morant's ego would accept the assignment. And then instead of on-court chemistry issues, you're potentially dealing with locker room chemistry issues. This is, after all, a guy with a very popular signature shoe who just had his likeness added to an iconic Portland sign as part of a promotional campaign by the very company that peddles his product. 

Can't have a guy in neon lights coming off the bench, it seems. It's a crowded backcourt and a sticky situation in Portland, but this is a mess of their own making. 

Yaxel Lendeborg will be your new favorite player (or your least)

Lendeborg took it upon himself to guard Luka Dončić in the opener. Apart from Dončić draining a half-court halftime buzzer-beater on him, he did pretty well -- though they got under each other's skin in the process. After getting mouthy with Doncic on the court, Lendeborg had more to say about the Lakers star following the game. 

Highly entertaining. When it comes to speaking his mind, Lendeborg has a little dusting of Draymond Green -- who, to no one's surprise, fully endorsed the yapping and encouraged him to go at Dončić again the next time the two teams meet. 

This might be the first time anyone has ever written this, but listen to Draymond, kid.

No one will beat Walker Kessler's new nickname

Walker Kessler had a monster first game for the Lakers, going for 26 points, nine rebounds and two blocks on 12 for 12 shooting from the field against the Warriors. That prompted Shaq to bestow him with the best new nickname in the game during the postgame show. 

Anthony Davis already had his best moment as a Wizard

There's no topping this. Trade him now so he can go out on a high note.