Finalists start season today
Warriors at home, Cavaliers on the road for openers.
Kevin Durant is back in uniform, LaMarcus Aldridge is back home in Texas and the Golden State Warriors are back intact.
All over the Western Conference, there are teams who look capable of winning it.
In the East, one team appears to stand out — and maybe it’s finally Cleveland’s time to stand above everybody else in the NBA.
The Cavaliers, who fell just short last season, have big goals and a bigger payroll as they try to finally bring a title to their championship-starved cit y.
“Yes, we were able to get to where we wanted to get to, but we didn’t close the deal,” LeBron James said. “So we look forward to the opportunity once again to be able to go out there and continue to try to play at a high level.”
The Cavs might not look like championship material when they open the season tonight at Chicago, with James battling a bad back in the preseason, Kevin Love only recently returning from shoulder surgery and Kyrie Irving still recovering from knee surgery.
But they have the pieces, after shelling out big bucks to assemble one of the most expensive teams in NBA history, to get the job done this time. And James said he felt well enough to play tonight.
“The Cavaliers, man, they are loaded,” TNT’s Charles Barkley said. “I just want to see them healthy.”
In the other two openers, Detroit visits Atlanta and New Orleans is at champion Golden State.
The Warriors last season won 67 games in Steve Kerr’s first season as coach. Kerr will miss the opener while recovering from back surgery but MVP Stephen Curry and every other important piece is back.
“What’s great about us, we’re all so competitive, that I don’t think complacency will be an issue,” All-Star Klay Thompson said.
Many of their pursuers return stronger, with Oklahoma City getting former MVP Durant back from last season’s broken foot. Aldridge left Portland for San Antonio and a spot on a tantalizing front line next to Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard, while Houston (Ty Lawson) and the Los Angeles Clippers (Paul Pierce) added potential missing pieces.
Lakers: Metta World Peace, 35, has earned a spot on Los Angeles’ roster in his NBA comeback attempt. The Lakers cut Jabari Brown, trimming their roster to 15 players ahead of Wednesday’s season opener against Minnesota.
World Peace returned to the Lakers for training camp two seasons after the team waived him with the salary cap amnesty clause. The former Ron Artest won the 2010 NBA title with the Lakers during four seasons with the club.
He spent 29 games with the New York Knicks in 2013-14 before getting waived. World Peace played in China and Italy last season, his NBA career apparently over.
World Peace trained at the Lakers’ training complex last summer and earned praise from the franchise’s front office for his work with Julius Randle.