NBA: 10 burning questions for the 2019-20 season

1. So who wins it all?

While the LA Clippers are the prohibitive favorites to win the NBA title in 2020, this will be the first time in several years that the league enters a season without a very clear hierarchy.

There are compelling reasons to be made for a half-dozen different teams winning the championship and each one of those team has noticeable flaws that could prevent it from getting there.

The Clippers have reigning Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and NBA MVP finalist Paul George. They also have questions about who will defend against bigs.

The Los Angeles Lakers have Anthony Davis and LeBron James to go with big questions about the point guard and center positions, as well as their depth.

The Milwaukee Bucks won 60 games a season ago before imploding in the Eastern Conference Finals. They have Giannis Antetokounmpo, which gives them a puncher’s chance any given night, but can a team win a title with inconsistent play at the point?

The Houston Rockets have James Harden, Russell Westbrook and lots of questions after that. This is the small-ball era, but putting so much of the offensive burden solely on the backcourt could be problematic.

The Philadelphia 76ers have a point guard who hasn’t shown he can shoot in Ben Simmons and a center that is as fragile as he is talented in Joel Embiid, with neither player consistently putting their best foot forward in the postseason.

The Utah Jazz paid a king’s ransom to trade for Mike Conley as the missing point guard piece, but does he have enough tread left on the tires to make a difference?

And let’s not forget the Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets and Toronto Raptors still lurking out there, ready to defy the odds.

After several years of Warriors fatigue, this season will open without a clear-cut favorite and with a whole host of teams thinking they might have the right stuff to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy come next June.

It promises to be a wild ride.