The 2020-21 NBA season is officially underway and the Brooklyn Nets are poised to be among the most fearsome teams in the league.

Tuesday night marked the beginning of this new Brooklyn era as the Nets dispatched the Golden State Warriors to notch their first victory of the year by a score of 125-99.

A healthy Kyrie Irving-Kevin Durant combo is on track to elevate Brooklyn’s scoring abilities and championship aspirations to new heights this season, and they’ll be supported by a new-look group of talented players around them.

The coaching staff, led by first-time head coach Steve Nash, will be another major point of interest for Nets fans to watch this season, and general manager Sean Marks might still have some roster moves up his sleeve.

As the 2020-21 season gets into gear, we’ll now take a look at some of the top storylines to follow for the Brooklyn Nets entering the new season.

What can fans expect from Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant?

With multiple years of championship experience and their elite performance on the court over the years, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant are two of the biggest stars in the NBA today. With three championship rings between the newly dubbed 7-11, the Nets’ new dynamic duo could be one of the most lethal two-man scoring threats the league has ever seen if they can remain in good health.

Irving showed flashes of brilliance in his debut season in Brooklyn a year ago before undergoing shoulder surgery, and Durant made his first appearance since the 2018-19 season on opening night December 22 after suffering an Achilles injury. With plenty of time for rest and recovery since their most recent game action for both superstars, the Nets are poised to storm out of the gates as other teams recover from the shortest offseason in NBA history.

The Nets roster is filled with other talented complementary players such as DeAndre Jordan and a contingent of players that have been nurtured and developed in the organization like returning sharpshooter Joe Harris, rising star Caris LeVert, trusty veteran guard Spencer Dinwiddie and budding interior force Jarrett Allen, all of whom should help the KD/Kyrie combo reach its full potential before long.

How will Steve Nash perform as a head coach?

There are a number of unknown factors heading into this season for the Nets, but perhaps none bigger than first-time head coach Steve Nash. The Hall of Fame point guard has long been one of the most respected figures in basketball after a playing career that saw him earn two MVP Awards, seven All-NBA selections and five seasons leading the league in assists.

Nash has spoken at length since being named head coach about his expectations for this Nets squad, and will begin his NBA coaching career surrounded by a highly accomplished staff featuring two-time Coach of the Year Mike D’Antoni, former Nets interim head coach Jacque Vaughn, top assistant and defensive maven Ime Udoka, as well as 14-year veteran and six-time All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire joining the team as a player development assistant.

Vaughn could be an invaluable figure in helping Nash and his new appointees adjust to the Brooklyn way of doing things after spending the last four years in the organization along with his past experience in the NBA as both a head coach and player for 12 seasons. With so much talent and experience working together to orchestrate this high-powered Nets team, Nash should be well positioned to lead Brooklyn to success this year no matter what challenges come his way.

How can Amar’e Stoudemire help Jarrett Allen's development?

While superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant may draw most of the headlines in Brooklyn this season, emerging big man Jarrett Allen has the opportunity to be a hugely important force for the team in 2020-21. Allen may primarily come off the bench with veteran DeAndre Jordan in the fold, but the Nets have extolled Allen’s work ethic and development since he was drafted in 2017.

At age 22, Allen is still around the same age as some of the players taken in this year’s draft, but he’s already able to draw from three years of NBA experience as the Nets look to accomplish big things this season. From the get-go, Allen has been a stalwart interior defensive player at 6-foot-11, but he has room to improve on the offensive side of things. That’s where Amar’e Stoudemire comes in.

With 846 career games in the NBA under his belt, Stoudemire averaged nearly 19 points and eight rebounds per game for his entire career and could be the perfect man to help Allen develop his offensive skills to become a dynamic threat on both ends of the floor. If Amar’e and the Nets can help Allen reach new heights this year alongside so many other scoring threats, Brooklyn could be one of the toughest teams to defend in the entire league.

How will the Nets’ new acquisitions shape the team?

Rounding out the Nets roster behind the starting five are a number of players with top-level skills and plentiful NBA experience, along with some new faces joining the mix. Landry Shamet, acquired on draft night, offers a career three-point shooting percentage north of 40 at the guard position, while Bruce Brown is on track to provide crunch-time minutes as a lockdown defender. Also joining the Nets this season is veteran Jeff Green, a former teammate of Durant’s.

With more depth in the backcourt than the frontcourt at present, Green can provide minutes as a small-ball center or power forward, with players like Taurean Prince and Rodions Kurucs also serving as potential options. With the return of both Tyler Johnson and Chris Chiozza also officially confirmed, the Nets will have plenty of pieces to utilize as Nash balances minutes across his roster throughout the season.

Are there any major roster moves still on the horizon?

In the wake of a frenzied NBA offseason that featured a number of moves for big-name players, one of the most compelling rumors that emerged was former MVP James Harden looking for a way out of Houston. Insider reports suggested Harden was interested in joining his former teammate KD in Brooklyn, but those sentiments have cooled off since they first made the rounds.

Still, Sean Marks has done a masterful job in bringing the Nets back to prominence by diligently assembling a roster that has made the playoffs in each of the last two seasons and has eyes on title contention as early as this year. Would he pull the trigger to acquire a generational talent like Harden to add to an already lethal mix with KD and Kyrie? The Nets GM has said that the team is "definitely in the win-now****" mode, but more importantly, "We like the roster we have now."

"We just have to be ready and flexible for whatever happens, and hopefully the decisions we make put the best roster available on the court," Marks continued. "I couldn’t tell you how we would make trades and so forth, and whether that involves going after a bigger piece or whether that involves playing around the edges."

Even with some questions surrounding the Nets and the rest of the league this season, there is so much to look forward to in Brooklyn this year. Expectations are as high as they have ever been, and the team will be looking to fulfill those lofty goals after their impressive season debut against the Warriors.