Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James will have a chance to avenge last year’s Western Conference finals loss the instant the 2023-24 NBA season begins. The Lakers will reportedly play the reigning champion Denver Nuggets on opening night Oct. 24, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns will also play on opening night, per Charania.

The Lakers-Nuggets contest is a rematch of last season’s Western Conference finals, which didn’t go well for Los Angeles. The Lakers were swept by the Nuggets in the series. Denver then beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals in five games.

The Warriors and Suns did not face each other in the playoffs last season, but both teams feature immense star power. Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Chris Paul and Klay Thompson should once again make the Warriors a dangerous team in the West. Deandre Ayton, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant will look to reclaim the No. 1 seed in the West after finishing as the No. 4 seed last season.

A few hours after the opening day slate was reported, Charania reported the five-game slate for Christmas Day.

The Milwaukee Bucks will open the day at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks. The Warriors will then close out the day against the Nuggets in Denver.

The Nuggets’ opening night appearance should not come as a surprise. The team that won the NBA championship usually plays on opening night the following season.

Nuggets big man Nikola Jokić tore up the Lakers in the Western Conference finals last season, averaging 27.8 points, 14.5 rebounds and 11.8 assists per game. He’ll look to build on that performance, and start a new MVP campaign, when he faces the Los Angeles on opening night.

The premier leaguethe Spanish League and the French Ligue 1, three of the five main competitions in Europe, begin this weekend a season preceded by a transfer market with more impact on departures than on signings, estimated at around 500 operations, for a figure close to 3.6 billion of euros.

For the first time in his professional career, Lionel Messithe greatest star of world soccer, he’ll be out of the big leaguesa decision that was also adopted, mostly by age, by other great figures such as angel di mariathe French Karim Benzema, the Senegalese Sadio Mané, the Spaniards Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba -these two, Rosario’s teammates in Miami-, and the Uruguayan Edinson Cavani, among others. Fideo’s case is different: he is still in Europe and has just established himself in a domestic cup in Benfica.

The bleeding of stars could be extended with the Brazilian neymarwhich would not be taken into account in Paris Saint-Germain and has offers from Arab soccer, which together with the MLS in the United States, has established itself as a place of attraction for celebrities of the number 5 ball. Above all, in the East , since in the United States there is neither quality nor quantity of stars, still in force, with the exception of the Flea.

In this context, there are several world champions who do not have a guaranteed destination. Stars in Qatar (many of them, headlines or a kind of essential for lionel scaloni), who at this time have a sea of ​​doubts. Do they pack the bags? Do they stay in places where they are not so loved? The list, for now, is made up of Leandro Paredeswith little filming in the last two seasons, Gerónimo Rulli, Gonzalo Montiel, Franco Armani, Dibu Martínez, Nicolás Tagliafico and Juan Foyth.

Waiting to solve your future, Leandro Paredeswinner of the third star in a secondary place, trains in Paris Saint-Germain and is not considered by the new coach, the Spanish Luis Enrique. The Parisian team will start a new stage without the stellar presence of Lionel Messi, who left the club after two years, and in the midst of a serious conflict with Kylian Mbappé.

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The greatest figure in French football refuses to renew the contract that expires at the end of this season and shares the group of “undesirables”, as the French press calls the sections, next to Paredes. In the last few hours, the continuity of the Brazilian Neymar and even the Italian Marco Verratti was also questioned in the media.

After an irregular season at Juventus, where he did not have the desired minutes (as in PSG), the midfielder His future is not defined. In recent days, it has emerged that he was wanted by Lazio and by Roma, a team he was in a few years ago. However, as reported by the Italian journalist specialized in the European pass market, Fabrizio Romano, Galatasaray, from Türkiye, is about to hire him.

The team that has Mauro Icardi In his squad he had already tried to incorporate the midfielder from the Argentine National Team in the previous pass market. In addition, in the last hours they would have set their eyes on Fred In case the operation does not prosper, the player who emerged in Boca, who prefers to stay in Europe. The unknown is the interest of Wallswho prefers to play in a more competitive league.

The archers are in the stellar window. In the last few hours, it became known of some interest from the MLS to hire Franco Armanisymbol of a successful stage in River and maliciously pointed out for not having saved a penalty in the definition against Inter, from Porto Alegre, which sealed the elimination of River in the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores. Gerardo Martinothe DT of Inter Miami, referred to his case… and also, that of Enzo Perezwhich surely will not continue in River beyond 2023.

“To make an appreciation of the taste, both of Franco and of Enzo, is superfluous. They are players with a long career, at a very high level, it is not necessary to clarify if I like them or not. It is clear that they are very respectable footballers. The pass book here closed and I don’t know, I am not saying what is being talked about in Argentina, basically I am saying in Buenos Aires… In 30 days we could have put together between four and five different teams with everything that is said and the problem is that, later, it’s my turn clarify things that I do not generate. In this case, the reality is that the news is there and I live here”, explained the former coach of the albiceleste team.

Armani’s representative did not rule out the possibility of the goalkeeper reaching Inter Miami. “I can’t tell you he’s not going. There are rumors, I’m not going to lie to you. He is very happy in River; In these cases, he does not answer the phone, he is focused on what he has now, ”Martín Araoz assured a few days ago. Bayern Munich set its sights on Gerónimo Rulli, who currently plays for Ajax in the Netherlands. This is mainly due to the fact that Manuel Neuer He will have to undergo surgery again and would only return to training in 2024. And he is 37 years old.

Dibu Martinez He has everything ready to continue at Aston Villa, a second-order team in the Premier League, but an unforeseen situation arose. “After the tests carried out on our player Thibaut Courtois he has been diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The player will undergo surgery in the coming days”, reads the official statement from Real Madrid. Given this scenario and due to the impact of the Belgian’s serious injury, Dibu is on a long list of hypotheses. In any case, there was always speculation about the reasons for his stay in the small entity of Birmingham.

The world of defenders also has an ellipsis. Precisely, Montiel is in Aston Villa’s sights, as the possibility of returning to River fades and without a guaranteed place in Seville. In France, Nicolás Tagliafico leads from Olympique de Lyon the small legion of Argentines. The list is completed with two other defenders: Facundo Medinafigure of Lens, and Leonardo Balerdi, established as a starter at Olympique de Marseille. Tagliafico, however, is usually on the radar of powerful teams.

And the list of world champions closes with the future of foyth. Barcelona recently made a new move to try to reinforce the right wing with an experienced player and asked Villarreal a few times about the versatile defender, to the liking of Xavi Hernandez. As on previous occasions, Villarreal does not usually part with figures towards the greats of Spain and refers to the termination clause of about 54.6 million euros.

This weekend the season begins in three of the five most important leagues in Europe: the English Premier League, Spain’s LaLiga and France’s Ligue 1. The Bundesliga of Germany and Serie A of Italy, meanwhile, start the next one. Consequently, in each one of them, the bookmakers have already started to play and have their main candidates to keep the title.

First of all, Manchester City, champion of the last three editions, starts as the top favorite to win the Premier, although the DT himself, Josep Guardiola, assured that it will be very difficult to retain all the titles won in the last season (he also won the FA Cup and the Champions League): “We climbed the highest mountain but now we start from the bottom again, with the other teams, all with the same goal. It will be difficult to climb to the top, ”said the Spanish strategist at the press conference prior to his debut against Burnley.

On the other hand, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who has just won the Community Shield against the citizen team, dream of screaming champion again after 10 years with a team full of stars. A little further back in the consideration appears another member of the ‘Big 6’, who did not have the best performance in the last year: Liverpool. For the Reds, the star signing of Alexis Mac Allister will give Jurgen Klopp several alternatives to recover the level that led them to win the 2019-20 Premier League and the 2018-19 Champions League.

In Spain, Real Madrid is the main candidate to win the title. El Merengue, which last season only won the Copa del Rey, seeks to extend its legacy as the top winner in the history of the contest, with 35 coronations. He faces this course with important changes in the squad: he suffered the departure of a brilliant figure like Karim Benzema, but he hired one of the greatest young talents in the world, the Englishman Jude Bellingham, who arrived from Borussia Dortmund of Germany for more than 100 million euros. However, the arrival of the 20-year-old midfielder will not be the only major purchase for the White House, as he must go looking for a goalkeeper after Thibaut Courtois suffered a torn ACL in his left knee.

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Immediately behind appears Barcelona, ​​the last champion. After a 2022-23 season with two titles under their belt (the domestic competition and the Spanish Super Cup), the team led by Xavi Hernández plans to establish that they no longer need the best player in the club’s history, Lionel Messi, who today shines at Inter Miami in the United States, to lift trophies. From now on, without two other historical figures such as Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets, who left free to reunite with the ‘Flea’ in North America, The Catalan team faces a new era in search of once again positioning itself on the pedestal of the best teams in the world.

In France there are no doubts. No one disputes the status of top seed for Paris Saint Germain (PSG). The team from the Parisian capital is going through an internal crisis after the departure of Messi, the departure of Kylian Mbappé from the rest of the squad due to the refusal to renew his contract and the decision of Neymar Jr. to leave the institution. However, the economic power of its owner, the Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and, furthermore, the nine consecrations in the last 11 editions, make it inevitable that it remains the main and only? title contender.

Something similar happens in Germany. Bayern Munich seems to have no rival. Both economically and sportingly. They have not lost a Bundesliga since the 2011-12 season. He has 11 consecutive titles. And he intends to continue on the same path of triumph. For that he hired two of the best players from his main competitors: Raphael Guerreiro from Borussia Dortmund and Konrad Laimer from RB Leipzig, as well as the best defender from the last Serie A: Min-jae Kim.

The South Korean central defender left a difficult gap to fill in the last Italian champion: Napoli. Said exit was so important that it even distanced the Neapolitan cast from first place among the favorites to shout champion. That position is now occupied by Inter that, with Lautaro Martínez as the new captain, he will try to surpass his eternal rival, Milan, in number of titles obtained, to remain as the second highest winner in history, far behind Juventus.

England

Spain

France

• Paris Saint Germain: 1.25.

• Olympique de Marseille: 10.00.

• Monaco, Lens and Lille: 8:00 p.m.

• Lyons: 25:00.

• Stade Rennes: 35.00.

Germany

Italy

• Between: 3.00

• Naples: 4.00.

• Juventus: 4.50.

• Milan: 6.00.

• Rome: 12.00.

This weekend the long-awaited Premier League begins in its 2023-24 season. The league that brings together the 20 best teams in England begins a new course and is once again shaping up to consolidate itself as the most watched local competition on the Old Continent, mainly due to the usual offensive spirit of its teams, since most, to a greater or lesser extent, proportion, constantly looking for the rival goal with conviction and brilliant figures.

The opening of the championship will be this Friday, August 11 at 4:00 p.m. (Argentine time) and will be in charge of champion of the last three editions, Manchester City, and the best team of the last Championship (English second division), Burnley. The match, which has the arbitration of Craig Pawson, takes place at the Etihad Stadium and can be seen live on television through ESPNas well as streaming through the Star+ platform. At home, Julián Álvarez has a chance to start, while Máximo Perrone would be a substitute.

The ‘Spider’ and the former Vélez midfielder are two of the 14 Argentine representatives in this edition (13 footballers and a DT). Mauricio Pochettino He is the only Creole strategist and will be in charge of Chelsea Enzo Fernandez. To those mentioned are added: Emiliano ‘Dibu’ Martinez and Emiliano Buendia (Astonville), Lisandro Martinez and Alexander Garnacho (Manchester United) Cristian ‘Cuti’ Romero, Giovani Lo Celso and Alejo Veliz (Tottenham), Alexis MacAllister (Liverpool), Marcos Senesi (Bournemouth) and Facundo Buonanotte (Brighton).

From the beginning, among the teams that will have double competition are Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle in the Champions League; Liverpool and Brighton in the Europa League, and Aston Villa in the Conference League. Over the weeks, all of them and the rest of the Premier teams will also play the Carabao Cup (teams from League Two, League One, Championship and Premier play it) and, in a few months, the FA Cup ( most teams in England compete in it, from professional clubs to amateurs).

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The Premier stands out for being powerfully competitive. In that sense it differs a lot from the rest of the so-called major leagues in Europe. (LaLiga of Spain, Ligue 1 of France, Serie A of Italy and Bundesliga of Germany). Perhaps for this reason it is considered by many to be the best in the world. In the aforementioned tournaments, moreover, usually the champion does not move from one or two clubs.

To argue this, it is enough to mention who lifted the trophies of the last editions in each of these championships: in Spain, Real Madrid and Barcelona shared the last 19 titles, with the exception of the consecration of Atlético de Madrid in the 2013-14 and 2020-21 seasons; in France, Paris Saint Germain (PSG) celebrated in nine of the last 11 leagues; in Germany, Bayern Munich has held the cup for 11 consecutive editions; and in Italy, just in the last three years, the championships of Milan, Inter and Napoli, respectively, broke Juventus’ hegemony of nine consecutive consecrations.

In England, meanwhile, Manchester City, with Josep ‘Pep’ Guardiola at the helm, seems to have arrived to break all kinds of speculation regarding the fight for the title. He won the last three Premier, something that no team had achieved since 2008-09, when Manchester United, led by Sir Alex Ferguson, was champion for the third time in a row. Besides, since the creation of the Premier League in 1992-93, there have been seven different champions: Manchester United (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013), Manchester City (2012, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 202 3), Chelsea ( 2005, 2006, 2010, 2015 and 2017), Arsenal (1998, 2002 and 2004), Liverpool (2020), Blackburn Rovers (1995) and Leicester City (2016).

For this 2023-24, City starts as the top favourite, although Guardiola himself assured that it will be very difficult to retain all the titles won in the last season: “We climbed the highest mountain but now we start from the bottom again, with the other teams, all with the same goal. It will be difficult to climb to the top”, stated the Spanish strategist at the press conference prior to the debut. On the other hand, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who has just won the Community Shield against the citizen team, dream of screaming champion again after 10 years with a team full of stars.

A little further back in the consideration appear two members of the ‘Big 6’, who did not have the best performance in the last year: Liverpool and Chelsea. In the case of the Reds, the star signing of Alexis Mac Allister will give Jurgen Klopp various alternatives to recover the level that led them to win the 2019-20 Premier League and the 2018-19 Champions League. As for the Blues, Enzo Fernández, with Frank Lampard’s mythical number 8, will seek to guide a team that, despite an investment of more than 600 million, was closer to relegation than to qualifying for international cups in the last season.

As for the fight for relegation, although there are always surprises, everything seems to indicate that Fulham, Crystal Palace and West Ham, Besides of bournemouth of Marcos Senesi, will not have a simple calendar. They are added Sheffield United, Luton Town and Burnley, all three promoted from the Championship. Teams that in recent years were feared as wolverhampton and Evertonthey must also navigate the near future very carefully.