Axios

Unicorns have roamed NBA pastures for years, transforming the sport of basketball with their unique blend of size, skill and athleticism.

The intrigue: These generational big men have started to come of age, graduating from "he's going to be an MVP candidate one day" to, well, MVP candidates.

It's been eight years since a team other than the Warriors or Spurs won the Western Conference. That's bound to change this season — and two of the teams that will be battling for supremacy play in the same city.

The big picture: While title contenders are only just now returning to Los Angeles, it's been the center of the NBA universe for a while now.

In an attempt to predict the 2019-20 NBA season's best players, Axios, TrueHoop and machine learning experts Harrison Chase and Anthony Liu have partnered to present the "2020 BPM projections."

How it works: Chase and Liu built smart models to predict a player's Box Plus-Minus (BPM) — similar to Real Plus-Minus — for the upcoming season.

• In short, BPM is a measure of a player's performance relative to league average on a per 100 possessions scale. +5 is roughly All-NBA level, 0 is league average, -2 is replacement level, -5 is really bad.
• For reference, the top 5 players according to BPM last season were James Harden (11.7), Giannis Antetokounmpo (10.8), Nikola Jokic (9.5), Anthony Davis (8.5) and LeBron James (8.1).

Worth noting: "Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell are projected to have career years. Andre Drummond and Draymond Green are expected to have bounce-back years (albeit not career years)," according to Chase and Liu.

• "Overall though, our model is definitely on the conservative side of things; it will be rare for it to predict any large jumps for players that already have high BPM."

Go deeper: To read more about the methodology, click here.

New Orleans Pelicans first-round pick Zion Williamson is expected to miss six to eight weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee, per a team statement.

Why it matters: Williamson's health and his knees have already proven to be an issue, despite the 6-foot-7, 285-pound forward not having played a regular-season NBA game. The 19-year-old Williamson — one of the highly anticipated rookies to enter the NBA since LeBron James — suffered a right knee sprain earlier this year while playing college basketball at Duke.

The NBA is bracing for a wave of pro-Hong Kong protests during the opening week of its season thanks to the league's showdown with China over free speech, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The big picture: The NBA forbids signs with political messages at games, and most of its arenas have policies in place to eject fans for continued disruptive behavior — but a person familiar with the matter told the WSJ that the league "respects peaceful demonstrations and does not believe they will be a disruptive issue."

Angela Ruggiero, a four-time Olympian and former member of the International Olympic Committee executive board, believes that esports will eventually become part of the Olympic Games.

The state of play: Don't expect gold medals in Fortnite or Overwatch, due to both IOC rules about profit and fears that what's popular in 2020 might no longer be popular in 2024. Instead, she says a nonprofit governing federation might develop its own game for Olympic competition.

The 2019 World Series begins tomorrow night in Houston, with the Astros looking to build on their dynasty while the Nationals attempt to win their first title in franchise history.

The intrigue: After a regular season dominated by juiced baseballs and home runs, this series features historically great starting pitching.

In an effort to expand the pool of potential team buyers, the NFL, NBA and MLB are considering drastic changes to how business is done.

Why it matters: Team valuations have skyrocketed in recent years, creating a dearth of individuals wealthy enough to buy the next teams put up for sale.