October is here, and the NBA season is right around the corner. This summer has been full of surprises as many teams have traded and signed star players. The league will definitely look very different from last year. For those not following the NBA this summer, here are some of the highlights from the offseason.

The two powerhouse teams of the east, Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics, made some of this offseason’s most memorable trades and changes. Only three days following the start of NBA free agency, superstar small forward and unrestricted free agent Gordon Hayward entered into an agreement with the Celtics for a four year, $130 million contract. In order to make room for Hayward’s massive contract from the Utah Jazz, the Celtics were forced to completely overhaul their roster, dealing key role players like Avery Bradley and Kelly Olynyk away.

A few hundred miles east, the Cavs were bolstering up their own roster to prepare for a potential finals rematch with the Golden State Warriors for the fourth year in a row. The Cavs signed point guard Derrick Rose from the New York Knicks, to a one year $4 million contract and guard Dwayne Wade from the Chicago Bulls to a veterans minimum contract of about $2 million for one year.

In August, superstar point guard and Kyrie Irving shocked the league by asking for a trade from the Cavs. His request set sports analysts into a frenzy of speculation as to why he would want to leave the Cavs and self-proclaimed best-player-in-the-world LeBron James. In the end, Irving was traded to the Cavs’ conference rivals, the Celtics, for another rising superstar point guard, Isaiah Thomas, a potential top five draft pick and two role players.

Other teams in the east made changes as well, but not for the better. The Chicago Bulls traded all-star guard Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves and later lost veteran star Dwayne Wade to the Cavs. The Indiana Pacers traded their best player Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the New York Knicks entered into the offseason madness at the very end of the summer by trading Carmelo Anthony to the Thunder.

Junior Luke Kaleeba is not convinced that any of these eastern conference changes will impact the standings from last year.

“The east has lost a bunch of talented guys, but the conference won’t be any less competitive,” Kaleeba said. “I would still put Cleveland at number one and Boston at two because of LeBron. He will carry his team to the number one seed in the east.”

Along with the Eastern Conference teams, many Western Conference teams were active this summer as well. The Houston Rockets caused a stir early in the summer when rumors surfaced of their interest in Carmelo Anthony, but were ultimately disappointed on that front. They did, however, manage to trade for superstar point guard Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers, but they had to give up a lot, but most notably, defensive specialist Patrick Beverley in the process. The Thunder, as mentioned before, made the most shocking changes in the west by acquiring two all-stars in Paul George and Carmelo Anthony.

The Minnesota Timberwolves improved a lot this summer. They traded very little for star guard Jimmy Butler and signed 2015 sixth man of the year Jamal Crawford to a veterans minimum contract.

The Golden State Warriors, last year’s NBA champions, did not make any major changes this summer, but their current core of players still might be too much for the new Western Conference powerhouses who improved greatly over the summer.

“I think the Western Conference will be very interesting this year,” junior Sean Lynch said.“The Spurs, Timberwolves, Thunder, Rockets and Warriors will all be really fun to watch. But the Warriors will end up winning the west.”

The NBA season begins on October 17 with the Boston Celtics playing in Cleveland against the Cavaliers at 8 p.m. and the Houston Rockets playing at the Golden State Warriors at 10:30 p.m.