Conscious coupling seems to be a leaguewide theme.
Why have one superstar when you can have two? Four teams go all in by pairing players they hope will lead to a championship
The way the NBA’s summer went, the 2019-20 season looked like it would play out almost biblically.
Two by two, they’ll march toward the end goal. In Los Angeles, there will be the one-browed big man and the King in one Staples Center locker room and a pair of rangy two-way wings in the other. In Houston, it’ll be the patient scorer with an offensive arsenal as full as his beard with the pedal-to-the-floor triple-double machine. Eventually in Brooklyn, the enigmatic guard and the tweet-at-hishaters forward will set upon their quest.
And with it, a new era in the NBA will be ushered in with pairs of stars leading their teams with the time of “super teams” and “Big 3s” shoved into the NBA’s storage locker.
Gone is Boston with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. See ya, Miami with LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. Peace, Warriors of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant.
The NBA spent the summer downsizing, with super teams giving way to super duos.
It’s been the story of the offseason, players going out on their own to orchestrate these couplings, demanding trades to make them realities. But is it really here for good, a new way executives will view team-building? Doubtful. Nearly every NBA scout and executive who spoke about the topic had the same reaction: These teams all have two stars because they couldn’t have three … or four … or five.
“I think to make the argument the league is shifting toward two [stars] and putting two [stars] as a priority in front of three, I've yet to see a team turn down having a great third player,” Warriors general manager Bob Myers said. “It's not something that would make a lot of sense.”
If the two-star model isn’t going to revolutionize front-office thinking, it will define the upcoming season.
Anthony Davis forced a trade out of New Orleans to pair up with LeBron James and the Lakers. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving spurned the Knicks to play for the Nets in Brooklyn. Kawhi Leonard wanted to be a Clipper but only if Paul George was on board. With George out of Oklahoma City, James Harden and the Rockets decided to flip his old dance partner, Chris Paul, for a new one, Russell Westbrook.
And that all happened in less than a month.
A variety of factors pushed the league into this frenzy, executives said. The market was full of talent and desirable destinations had money to spend and assets ready to deal. The Golden State dynasty had just been toppled by Toronto, with injuries and Durant’s expected departure opening the title field in a way it hadn’t been since 2015 (when the Miami Heat big three disbanded).
Each situation is unique and each will be judged by whether it leads to a championship.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis
A deal six months in the making, the Lakers gave up a haul — almost all of their best young players and almost all of their best draft picks — to push the deal across the finish line. It was a necessity.
By getting the deal done, the Lakers gave James the most talented teammate he’s ever had, a player better than Wade, Bosh or Irving. He’s a perfect pick-and-roll partner for James, and his all-around offensive game is underrated.
He can guard too, which is going to matter for the Lakers.
The plan is for Davis to eventually eclipse James as the focal point of the offense. First, he’ll have to re-sign with the team as a free agent next summer, though things would have to go pretty wrong for him to walk.
Davis wanted to be a Laker and now he is. Why turn your back on that?
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George
One of the questions that general managers have been asking this offseason is a fun one: Would the Clippers have rather just signed Leonard?
On the night they pulled off the biggest acquisitions in franchise history, the Clippers vaulted into instant