After back-to-back NBA titles and four MVP awards, LeBron James is finally someone we can all agree on. Once the league's premier topic of debate, LeBron is now, simply, the best player in basketball—a constant, free to go ahead and carve out a legacy for himself.

But James' peace comes on the eve of what is shaping to be the most unpredictable season in years. If he is the NBA's calm center, everything beyond of him is the opposite: Restless, anxious, risky and fraught with boom-or-bust potential. This landscape really shouldn't come as any surprise. In the NBA of 2013-14, the salary cap is king. Draft picks are platinum and gold rolled up into one silly ball, at once a way of securing cheap labor and forestalling long-term payroll considerations. Player movement is dizzying, surprising. No one is off-limits, no loyalty is held sacred. Contracts are shorter and more flexible because it suits the purposes of players and teams alike.

The league is in the grips of an existential crisis. The question isn't whether or not there's a question about your favorite team. The question is which question you're supposed to be asking.