Kevin Durant's trade request was the sort of "test" the Brooklyn Nets needed to bond and get better, according to Kyrie Irving.
The Nets will begin their 2022-23 season on Wednesday against the New Orleans Pelicans after a topsy-turvy offseason.
Both Durant and Irving are set to be in the Brooklyn line-up, despite the pair appearing to be on their way out when the 2014 MVP asked for a trade.
A deal with the Nets proved difficult to do, as Durant has four years remaining on his contract, meaning the team asked for a huge price in talks.
It was then reported Durant had returned to the Nets but promised to stay only if head coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks were replaced.
Eventually, a statement from Marks said Durant had "agreed to move forward with our partnership" regardless.
That might not seem ideal preparation for the season, but Irving suggested the saga had actually brought the Nets closer.
"When Kev made that request, I feel like we got better," he told Stadium. "Afterwards, not initially. Now, where we are now, I feel like we can honestly say we got better.
"We know the principles that are needed for success, but without going through some tests in the summer time or during the season, we wouldn't be able to be as close and bonded as we are now."
Irving added: "[Durant] is one of the greatest to ever do it, and he wants his chance to win. Give him his request.
"But other than that, I think he believes not only in me but in himself."
Steve Kerr was "thrilled" with the Golden State Warriors' opening night win over the Los Angeles Lakers as the coach recognised his defending champions are "not where we need to be".
The Warriors received their championship rings and unveiled their seventh banner on Tuesday following last season's NBA Finals defeat of the Boston Celtics.
A night of celebration was then capped with a first victory of the new campaign as the Warriors defeated the Lakers 123-109.
With so much else going on outside the game, coach Kerr was wary of the potential for an upset.
But even with the Warriors still looking to improve over the course of the season, he said, they "took care of business".
"I'm thrilled with the win," said Kerr. "Ring night is never an easy game, and the first game of the season is usually filled with some nerves early on.
"We're not where we need to be, but we took care of business."
Reigning Finals MVP Stephen Curry led the Warriors in scoring 33 points and was already thinking of a title defence.
"After tonight, the journey really begins in terms of everybody's best shot," Curry said. "You've got some really talented teams that are going to be gunning for you. You have to be ready for it all.
"It's going to be a really long journey, but this is why we play. We're competitive. This is why we work as hard as we do. We can't just sit there and look at that ring."
LeBron James revealed the Los Angeles Lakers performed as he expected on opening night despite a disappointing defeat to the Golden State Warriors.
Tuesday's game was always likely to be a tough one for the Lakers, who missed the playoffs last season as the Warriors won the title.
And so it proved, with a dominant third quarter seeing the Warriors ease to a 123-109 victory.
James, entering his 20th season, led the Lakers with 31 points but acknowledged the team will need time at the start of the year working with new coach Darvin Ham.
"For us, I think we are what I expected from tonight," James said.
"Some great moments, some not so good moments, and that just comes from a team that's coming together for the first time. There's a lot of new pieces, a whole new system, coaching staff.
"But I loved the way we competed. Obviously with the turnovers, we're not going to win ball games like that, but once we start getting on the same page and know where guys are going to be, start going through in our system how we want to perform, that will get better with time.
"It was what I expected. We had some good times, and some other times were not as good as we would like."
The Lakers had 21 turnovers to the Warriors' 18, including 12 from their 'big three' of James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, which the four-time MVP said was "not acceptable".
That was not the only area in which the Lakers struggled, however, as they were a miserable 25.0 per cent from three-point range, making just 10 of 40 attempts.
The Lakers ranked 22nd in the NBA in three-point shooting last year (34.7 per cent), and James suggested the Warriors – 35.6 per cent on Tuesday and 36.4 per cent in 2021-22 – were letting their opponents shoot.
"We're getting great looks, but it also could be teams giving us great looks," James said.
"To be completely honest, we're not a team that's constructed of great shooting. That's just the truth of the matter. It's not like we're sitting here with a lot of lasers on our team.
"That doesn't deter us from trying to get great shots, and when we get those opportunities, we take them. But we're not sitting here with a load of 40-plus career three-point shooting guys."
The Lakers have still not won on opening night since 2016.
Marcus Smart credited his own "maturity" for not escalating an altercation with Joel Embiid in which he claimed the Philadelphia 76ers center tried to break his arm.
Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Smart has had a long-standing rivalry with Embiid.
The Boston Celtics guard has been ejected eight times in his NBA career, with one of those coming against the 76ers in 2019 after he shoved Embiid to the ground when his back was turned.
Smart stayed on the court on Tuesday, although he was whistled for a technical foul – the third against the 76ers of his career – following another tussle with Embiid in a 126-117 Celtics win.
The players' arms became tangled as they battled for a rebound, before Smart angrily grabbed the ankle of Embiid, who dropped to the floor.
Embiid, who has only once been ejected from an NBA game and never against the Celtics, avoided punishment.
"I went for a rebound. Basketball play," Smart said. "I went for the steal. Basketball play. The referee blows his whistle, calls a foul.
"I stop playing, my arm's still stuck in there, and [Embiid] tries to break it. And then I'm the only one who gets a tech. Everybody saw it."
He added: "I don't have to keep talking about it. If I did that, I'm probably ejected, suspended three games, four games, fined.
"But the fact that I was the only one that got something out of that is beyond me. Especially as defending DPOY, and that's how he gets treated. It's tough.
"It's maturity. I could have cracked his head open, but I didn't. And that's the maturity we have.
"So, we move on from it. It is what it is, and we control what we can control."
The Boston Celtics left a tumultuous offseason behind them on opening night to deliver a first win for interim head coach Joe Mazzulla, as Jayson Tatum said: "We're all in this together."
Mazzulla was making his coaching bow against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday having replaced Ime Udoka for this NBA season.
Udoka, who led the Celtics to the NBA Finals in his first year as coach in 2021-22, was suspended by the team for the entire campaign for "violations of team policies" following an "improper" consensual relationship with a female staff member.
Assistant Mazzulla has temporarily stepped up to the top job, but there was no sign of the saga impacting the Celtics' play in their 126-117 victory over the highly fancied 76ers.
Tatum had 35 points and 12 rebounds in 39 minutes, as team-mate Jaylen Brown – reportedly part of trade talks for Kevin Durant earlier this year – also scored 35 points in 39 minutes.
Tatum and Brown became the first pair of team-mates to each score at least 35 points in a season opener since Los Angeles Lakers duo Wilt Chamberlain (35) and Jerry West (39) in 1969-70 – likewise against the 76ers.
Keeping both performing at a high level will be key to Mazzulla's hopes this year.
"He wouldn't have took any of the credit for tonight," Tatum said of Mazzulla. "But the thing that I like about Joe and admire about him is that he's very honest that he doesn't know everything.
"He wants us to help him out as much as he's helping us out. It's like we're in a relationship, and we're all on the same page and trying to accomplish the same thing. We're all in this together."
Mazzulla added: "I'm grateful for the relationship we have. These guys have been through a lot together, and they're great players, so it's just a matter of working together.
"So, I appreciate their trust and buy-in, but they come up with a lot of good stuff as well, and we kind of just figure it out."
The Golden State Warriors have begun their title defense in fine fashion, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 123-109 at home on the opening night of the NBA season.
With the Warriors receiving their championship rings in a ceremony before the game, they were determined to make it a night to remember, with reigning Finals MVP Stephen Curry leading the way.
Curry finished with 33 points on 10-of-22 shooting, hitting four-of-13 from long range and all nine of his free throws to lead both teams in scoring. He also chipped in seven assists, six rebounds and four steals.
Jordan Poole had 10 of his 12 points in the first half to lead the Warriors to a 59-52 halftime lead, before Klay Thompson took over to begin the third quarter, scoring his side's first seven points on three consecutive shots to ignite a 32-19 frame, blowing the game open in the process.
The Warriors' lead peaked at 91-64 late in the third quarter, before the visiting Lakers scored 38 in the fourth to trim the final score to a respectable figure.
In his 20th season, LeBron James looked as strong as ever, finishing with 31 points (12-of-25 shooting) with 14 rebounds and eight assists, while Anthony Davis had 27 points (10-of-22 shooting) with six rebounds, four steals and two blocks, although Davis posted the worst plus/minus of the game at minus 21.
Tatum, Brown combine for 70 in Celtics win
In what was officially the first game of the season, the Boston Celtics and interim head coach Joe Mazzulla collected an impressive 126-117 home win against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Celtics had to compete with a spectacular James Harden performance, who led the 76ers with 35 points on nine-of-14 shooting, including five-of-nine from long range and 12-of-12 from the free throw line, while adding eight rebounds and seven assists.
Harden had a plus/minus of plus one in his 37 minutes, meaning the 76ers were outscored by 10 in the 11 minutes he was on the bench.
For Boston, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were almost unstoppable all night, scoring 35 points each at a combined 61 per cent from the field (27-of-44), while Tatum also grabbed 12 rebounds and Brown had two steals.
New signing Malcolm Brogdon showed no signs of needing an adjustment period, making an immediate impact off the Celtics' bench with 16 points (seven-of-11 shooting) and four assists in 24 minutes.
Michael Jordan is still the best NBA player of all time despite LeBron James' achievements, says former small forward Kendall Gill.
Since being drafted first overall by the Miami Heat in 2003, James has won four NBA championships and four Finals MVP awards, while being selected in 18 All-Star teams.
James is also just 1,325 points behind all-time NBA scoring leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a record he could break this season - which gets under way with the Boston Celtics facing the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.
Gill says even if James breaks Abdul-Jabbar's scoring record, it does not make him the best player of all time above Jordan, telling Stats Perform: "You've got to be in the 'six five' club to be even mentioned in the conversation of the greatest of all time, and that's at least six championships and at least five MVPs.
"Only three players have ever done that; Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan. That's why LeBron can't be in that conversation right now.
"I think Michael Jordan is the greatest NBA player of all time. Numbers don't lie.
"This is the one that really tells me what people think deep down inside. I say, 'if you have one game to win for your life, who are you gonna pick, Michael Jordan and LeBron James?'
"The answer is always Michael Jordan."
James' Los Angeles Lakers face a tricky season opener on Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors, who are looking to retain the title they won in June by overcoming the Celtics in the NBA Finals.
Gill does not believe the Lakers have what it takes to win the franchise's 18th NBA championship, adding: "I love LeBron James but I don't think that the LA Lakers have the chemistry to win.
"You've got Russell Westbrook there, you've got Anthony Davis, you have LeBron James, you have Pat Bev [Beverley] there.
"Sometimes too much talent on a team is bad. It's not good, because everybody is trying to be the guy that they used to be on their previous team.
"I tell people this all the time. It's very hard to play with Lebron James. The reason why is because you have to completely change your game.
"LeBron is really the de facto point guard. Even though he's six foot nine, 270 pounds. He's going to handle the basketball most of the time.
"Everybody has to change the game because LeBron has the basketball most of the time. That's why Westbrook struggled last year because he wasn’t really allowed to play his position full-time."
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