The new NBA season begins on Tuesday - or the early hours of Wednesday morning, UK time - as defending champions Cleveland Cavaliers host the New York Knicks.
Over the next six months, 30 teams from across the United States and Canada will battle it out to reach the finals next June.
LeBron James' Cavaliers will be hoping to win a second successive title but will face competition from Stephen Curry's record-breaking Golden State Warriors, who will be looking to bounce back from last season's final defeat.
Can Cleveland do it again?
The Cavaliers became the first team to overturn a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven NBA finals as they beat favourites Golden State to win their first championship.
The win ended the city's 52-year wait for a major sporting title.
They were led by their 31-year-old talisman LeBron who in August agreed a reported $100m (£77.2m) three-year contract, making him the NBA's highest paid player.
LeBron, four times the NBA's most valuable player, won two championships for the Miami Heat before returning to the Cavaliers in 2014.
The Cavaliers are tipped to be the team to beat in the Eastern Conference and with LeBron and point guard Kyrie Irving in their ranks, are much fancied for a quick return to the finals.
"It's the same mindset: Let's win a championship," James said.
"We just want to be able to put ourselves in position to do that. We have the ability, we have the personnel, but we have to work now. We can't expect for it to happen just like we didn't expect for it to happen last year. We put the time into it."
Wednesday marks a historic sporting day in Cleveland as the Cavaliers will receive their championship rings before taking on the Knicks (01:00 BST), while next door at Progressive Field, the Cleveland Indians will host game one of the World Series as they try to win baseball's biggest prize for the first time since 1948.
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