Back on the hard court for a full 82 game NBA season. I guess it’s a good thing, because the NHL is dealing with their own lockout this fall. NFL football is in full swing, but Halloween marks the annual tip off of the NBA, and this season has plenty of story lines. Let’s just recap a few to start the season:

1. Ray Allen leaves the Boston Celtics for greener pastures in Miami. The first game of the season matched the defending champion Miami Heat with those Celtics. The game was pretty good, but the most memorable event in the game was the snub Kevin Garnett gave to Ray Allen when Ray was entering the game. In the end, Ray Allen played like, well Ray Allen, and knocked down some big 3 pointers to help seal the victory for the Heat.

2. Anthony Davis had a great debut for the New Orleans Hornets. He scored 21 points, had 7 rebounds, added 1 block and 1 steal. Oh yeah, he also hit all nine of his free throws! Not bad for a first game in the league. Unfortunately for him and the Hornets, he got a concussion in game 2 and is currently out.

3. The Los Angeles Lakers. After putting together a star studded lineup to challenge the best in the NBA, the Lakers started the season 0-3 and things got chippy right away between Kobe and the media. Steve Nash suffered a small break in his leg, and he’s out for at least a week. Thankfully for Jack Nicholson and the rest of the Laker faithful, they picked up their first victory of the season last night against Detroit.

4. Fear the Beard. The Oklahoma City Thunder fell just shy of beating the Miami Heat for the NBA crown last season, and started this season by trading their explosive 6th man, James Harden. Harden jumped into the starting lineup in Houston and has started the season on fire. In his first game with the Houston Rockets, Harden poured in 37 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals. He followed up that monster performance by adding 45 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists in his second game. Harden finally “came down to earth” in game three by only scoring 24 points, with 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Three games into the season and he’s averaging a gaudy 35.3 points per game.

That’s quite a bit to digest for the first few days of the season. Make sure to check back in and get regular updates here at the FansEdge blog. New gear is in for the start of the season too, so you can click here to see what’s new for your team.

Let me start by saying that I’m thrilled football is back. No doubt it has the largest following of all North American sports. However, with all of the activity this summer, I am also looking forward to the return of the NBA. The NBA draft saw the New Orleans Hornets grab two big names in the top 10 picks, with Anthony Davis and Austin Rivers becoming the cornerstones of the franchise. The Boston Celtics look to remain relevant by compensating for the loss of Ray Allen to the rival Miami Heat, with the addition of Jason Terry, Jared Sullinger, and Fab Melo. We were treated to some NBA players in the summer Olympics, which helped tide me over until the start of the season.

In addition, the defending champion Miami Heat look to be improved, and they are going to need it in order to fend off serious challenges from the Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, and Brooklyn Nets (yes, the Nets). The Lakers scooped up Steve Nash to run the point, and traded for big man Dwight Howard to continue the long trend of superstar centers for the Lakers. The Nets not only moved to Brooklyn, but they also added Joe Johnson, and re-signed Deron Williams, Brook Lopez and Gerald Wallace. They are now touting their “Core 4″ to match up against any other team in the league. Finally, Linsanity has packed his things and signed with the Houston Rockets, who hope to ride Jeremy Lin’s popularity and ability to the playoffs and into contention for a NBA title.

One more month until preseason begins. New gear for 2012-2013 will be available soon, so check back and get your new NBA jerseys, tees, hats and hoodies in advance of what promises to be an exciting NBA season.

The stalemate between David Stern and the New Orleans Hornets has finally ceased as the Los Angeles Clippers have acquired guard Chris Paul from the league-owned New Orleans Hornets.

It has been a crazy offseason so far, but no other story has enticed the masses more than the Chris Paul drama. The hubbub started last year as the Hornets were on the verge of contraction, until the NBA purchased the Hornets from previous owners George Shinn and Gary Chouest. Leagues have owned franchises before this wasn’t anything special and business was going to be as usual. But the NBA lockout this past year has vastly changed the landscape of the NBA and the way it does business.

Paul was originally set to go to LA’s other team, the Lakers in a massive three team deal, but since the league owned the team, Commissioner David Stern vetoed the original trade. Not too long after, the Clippers threw their hat into the Chris Paul sweepstakes and offered a package New Orleans General Manager Dell Demps found enticing. But unfortunately for them, Stern once again vetoed the trade. Sports reporters were in a uproar as writers were calling Stern a bully and felt the commissioner was laying down to the will of the owners, something Stern has never done as commissioner.

But the trade has successfully went through with Paul and two future second-round picks going to the Clippers for center Chris Kaman, forward Al-Farouq Aminu, guard Eric Gordon and a future first-round pick. This trade and the lockout has definitely changed the way business will be done in the NBA from now on. A trade of this caliber would not have made such waves in the past, but since the Hornets are technically owned by all 30 owners, they have cause for alarm. Paul is now going from a bottom league market to perhaps the biggest market in the league, Los Angeles. Lower level teams are afraid superstars, like the caliber of Paul, will ask for trades out of their small markets to larger markets. It is a legitimate concern for the owners as they don’t want the biggest markets to be built with top-level players, something that has happened in Miami.

But the league tended to overreact over all this Paul drama. Paul is set to become a free agent after this season and was not going to stay with the Hornets. It was in the Hornets best interest to trade them and get some good compensation for him. But let’s not be all solemn about the trade, with the addition of Paul the Clippers look to make some noise in the Western Conference. With Paul, Blake Griffin and Chauncey Billups teaming up, look for the Clippers to make some waves this year.

Just a few months ago, the NFL ended their lockout. The end of the lockout signaled the start of a protracted training camp and a shortened free agency period. The free agency period was a fast and furious signing frenzy with stars switching teams and players scrambling to find new homes. Now, the NBA is going through the same thing. While the new deal is not yet ratified, players are allowed to talk to teams now, with Friday December 9th as the first day free agents can sign new contracts.

The defending champion Dallas Mavericks could potentially lose a lot of talent from last year’s roster. Caron Butler is fielding offers from other teams, JJ Barea may be a victim of his NBA Finals success, and big man Tyson Chandler could also be on the move. The Denver Nuggets Nene Hilario is attracting a lot of attention, along with teammate Arron Afflalo. New Orleans Hornets power forward David West rounds out the top tier of free agents.

While there are some nice players eligible for free agency, the entire NBA landscape is really up to two stars that are in the final year of their deals. Chris Paul, the dynamic New Orleans Hornets point guard has long wanted to play with Carmelo Anthony in New York. The finances of a trade to the Knicks will be tricky, because they already have two max contract players with Amar’e Stoudemire already playing next to Melo. Unfortunately for the Knicks, they lack the assets (young talented players) to probably pull off a trade for Chris Paul, so they may end up losing out on another prized free agent (google The Decision of 2010). The other major star in the final deal of his contract and attracting attention from the entire league is Dwight Howard. Dwight Howard is a physical specimen at center for the Orlando Magic. He’s so valuable to his franchise that the Orlando Magic CEO just resigned amid controversy over him begging Dwight not to leave town. Howard is expected to attract trade offers from the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Chicago Bulls, and the New Jersey Nets, just to name a few teams.

We aren’t sure who’s going where, but we do know that come December 9th, the signings will come from every direction. You can stay up to date on the action or track down gear for your favorite player right here at FansEdge. Visit our NBA Store for all the latest news, info and NBA gear.