As winter approaches, the hype around basketball season is back. Tipping off on October 26th, the first game of the NBA featured the reigning champs, the Cleveland Cavaliers, facing the new and improved New York Knicks. After NBA Commissioner Adam Silver handed the players their coveted Championship rings, the Cavs were off and running. LeBron James recorded a triple-double, showing no signs of slowing down after a monstrous performance in the championship series against the Warriors. Cleveland defeated New York 117-88, kicking off the 2016-2017 season.

How to Follow: Watching NBA is increasingly difficult, as numerous games happen every night. Games can be found on the channels TNT and ABC, but this only encompasses the highest caliber games of the week. NBA League Passes can be purchased (for a steep price of $200), so it’s fair to say that there’s no equivalent of the coveted NFL RedZone.

How to Play: Fantasy Basketball is on the rise, competing with Fantasy Football in the large fantasy world of sports. The NBA is favorable for fantasy due to the sheer number of players, ones who may defy projections. Luckily, there is no deadline in which a league must be assembled, as the NBA runs all the way into June. ESPN, in my opinion, is the most reliable host, as their scoring system for players is very consistent and takes into account FG% and FT% in a fair way. ESPN did away with the individual fantasy apps for football, basketball, hockey, and baseball, creating one Fantasy app in which all sports are organized in a clean, sleek design.

News: A few things are clear after only 4 games: The Warriors aren’t going to have another miraculous season, as they’ve already recorded a loss. Their 21-0 beginning last year was clearly dominated by Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, and Draymond Green, yet this year it seems the addition of Kevin Durant has caused some competition. The Sixers, as expected, are continuing the same trend from the 2015-2016 season, starting 0-4. Players this year are already putting up crazy numbers, as shown by the 5 leading scorers’ averages alone: Russell Westbrook (37.8), DeMar DeRozan (36.3), Damian Lillard (32.6), James Harden (31.8), and Anthony Davis (31.6). Westbrook, the clear frontrunner of the group, averages a triple-double, a notable feat even after just 4 games.