Seton Hall
The age of the NBA dynamic duo has arrived
Date: July 13, 2019By Jose Balderrama
For a while now, the NBA has been in the Super Team Era, which began when Danny Ainge brought the Big Three to Boston in Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce who were able to win a title in 2008. Then we had Miami with LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, who went to four straight finals and won two of them. It came to an end with the Golden State Warriors, who essentially had a big five with Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala, who won three titles in four seasons.
This offseason has brought about so many surprises with countless stars switching teams. The beauty of all of this team switching is that it has finally brought parity to the league. LeBron and Anthony Davis paired up in LA, Kahwi Leonard and Paul George have also paired up in LA but with the Clippers, Russell Westbrook and James Harden have teamed up in Houston, while other teams have also gathered great talent to become contenders for next season. With all these moves we are now entering the dynamic duo era in the NBA, and I really hope it is here to stay considering the parity the league will experience.
The past few years have been very entertaining especially in the playoffs, but as a diehard NBA fan, I always had the sense that I knew what was going to happen during each series. We all knew the Warriors were the clear favorites, even this year, until injuries derailed them. The league had definitely seen some better times than the domination of super teams. With the arrival of these duos, the league will now enter uncharted territory which has the potential to be the most entertaining era in the history of the NBA.
The problem with the teams we have now is that the contracts these stars have are short-term, which might mean these teams might not last a long time. However, if these two years happen to be amazing all the players that are a part of these duos might realize how good of a position the league is in, and they might decide to keep this going for as long as possible.
Players have gained so much power in today’s NBA that it’s almost like as if they were the general managers of their own team. Along with their agents, players now have the power to choose where they want to go, and when they want to go there.
My prediction for this year is that the Lakers will win the NBA title, being that LeBron is still the best player in the league. Despite this, I think seven of the teams in the West have a chance to win the title. Along with four or five teams from the East, I don’t think we’ve ever gone into a season with as many contenders as we will be having this season.
If all goes to plan, the future of the NBA might be very bright, possibly brighter than we have ever seen the league shine.
Jose Balderrama can be reached at jose.balderrama@student.shu.edu.
