That flew by, didn’t it?

It seems like yesterday that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder were hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy after an NBA Finals Game 7 that featured Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton suffering a devastating Achilles injury. But that was four months ago, and a lot has happened since then.

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Here are The Athletic’s highlights from the NBA offseason and preseason, including predictions, previews, deep dives and so much more. Consider it a cheat sheet to prepare for the NBA’s return.

What happened this summer?

A lot! But here are a few highlights:

How to watch this season

For the first time in more than two decades, the NBA has new broadcast partners. Two subscription services, Prime Video and Peacock, are in, replacing TNT. NBC is also an option, in addition to ESPN/ABC.

All that change might be confusing (and unfortunately cost you a little more money). You can find more details about that here, but here’s how the national TV rotation looks:

Sunday* — ABC/ESPN and NBC/Peacock

Monday — Peacock

Tuesday — NBC/Peacock

Wednesday — ESPN

Thursday* — Prime Video

Friday — Prime Video and ESPN*

Saturday* — ABC/ESPN and Prime Video

* starts midseason

The Christmas Day slate, a standard highlight of the annual NBA schedule, is as follows: (All games are on ESPN/ABC, and all times are Eastern)

Cavaliers at Knicks, noon

Spurs at Oklahoma City, 2:30 p.m.

Rockets at Lakers, 5 p.m.

Mavericks at Warriors, 8 p.m.

Timberwolves at Nuggets, 10:30 p.m.

And of course, the season opens Oct. 21 on NBC and Peacock. The Rockets visit the defending champion Thunder at 7:30 p.m., followed by the Warriors visiting the Lakers at 10 p.m.

You can watch in-market and nationally televised NBA games on Fubo (Stream Free Now). Out-of-market viewers can stream regional games with NBA League Pass.

Key storylines

Earlier this month, Fred Katz took stock of the upcoming season and singled out some storylines that caught his eye across the league, for one reason or another. Some of the notable ones:

Boston’s bunch

On paper, the Celtics aren’t what they used to be. After Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles during the playoffs, Boston focused on cleaning up its books and shedding salary by trading Kristaps Porziņģis to the Hawks and Jrue Holiday to the Trail Blazers. Al Horford also left for Golden State.