Things to watch in offseason

CLEVELAND — The NBA offseason has arrived, which means nothing will happen for the next four months other than a draft, three summer leagues, free agency, the creation of a new schedule, coaching hires, trades, roster reworkings and possibly movement toward letting high school graduates jump directly into the league again. It all adds up to very little downtime. There is no shortage of questions about what will happen this summer — leading off, of course, with yet another decision to be made by LeBron James about his future.

Here are some non-James topics:

Kawhi Leonard

The mystery of the 2017-18 NBA season is the mystery of the offseason as well. Leonard played in only nine games for the Spurs this season while dealing with a leg injury, the specifics of which are a closely guarded secret. He could get a supermax deal, he could get traded, he might still be hurt. But the Spurs — and the league — need answers, because he can change a lot of directions in a hurry.

Coaches

The vacancies in Detroit and Toronto should be filled soon.

The draft

Arizona center Deandre Ayton will likely go No. 1 to Phoenix. Does Vlade Divac use the No. 2 overall pick and bring Luka Doncic, the young Slovenian, to Sacramento? What does Atlanta do at No. 3?

Gambling

The Supreme Court ruling already has bets on games being placed in Delaware, and more states will be following suit soon. Expect the NBA to continue pushing for 1 percent of the action, which the league says is needed in part to cover what will be its new costs as far as protecting the integrity of the game and the players. It’s also unclear if injury reports will have to be more specialized. Wouldn’t bettors have liked knowing LeBron James had a badly injured — he says broken — hand in Games 2, 3 and 4 of the NBA Finals?

Officiating

The NBA knows fans, players and coaches aren’t thrilled with the level of officiating. This will absolutely be a big topic — maybe the primary topic — when the board of governors meet in Las Vegas, Nev., next month. Also, there will be a challengeflag-type item tinkered with during summer league games.

Lakers

Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka should have about $62 million in cap space to go shopping with when free agency opens July 1 .

Chris Paul and Paul George

Again, like so many other topics, the futures of Chris Paul and Paul George will probably have some impact on whatever James decides to do — or vice versa. Paul wants a max contract. George seemed to be hinting that he could stay in Oklahoma City, but is a Los Angeles native.

Pelicans

Yes, the Pelicans. West semifinalists this season, New Orleans needs to decide what it wants to do with DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo.

Heat

Dwyane Wade has been talking about retirement. Miami is in a tough situation on the cash front — Hassan Whiteside, Tyler Johnson, Goran Dragic and James Johnson will make nearly $78 million themselves next season — and the Heat wants to find a way to keep Wayne Ellington.

Knicks

Two questions for the Knicks: Will they allow David Fizdale the time he needs to build the team he wants? And what will they do with Kristaps Porzingis? Give Fizdale time, and he’ll win in New York. But rushing Porzingis back off ACL surgery could be a most unnecessary risk for a team that isn’t going to contend next season anyway.