These days in sports, we are no longer in the age of the franchise players. Now is the day of the superteams. With teams like the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics, many are questioning the legitimacy of any other competition in the NBA.
Last years season went almost exactly as expected, with the beast from the east, the Cleveland Cavaliers, facing the best from the west, The Golden State Warriors. These sides were loaded with talent and built like none other. The Warriors had the back first back-to-back unanimous league MVP in Stephen Curry, and one of the best shooters in the league to complement him in Klay Thompson. This is not without mentioning the winner of the defensive player of the year, Draymond Green. Last but not least they added one of the best scorers and 2014 MVP Kevin Durant. He was of course the beautifully placed ribbon on the top of a record shattering, 73-9 team.
Those were the simple times. The Warriors and Cavaliers constantly easing their way to the finals, but now that the league has seen this Kevin Durant superteam style really works the league is scrambling for talent.
This summer the transfer news was unlike any other seen before. The first move was Chris Paul leaving his Los Angeles Clippers to go to the Houston Rockets. This was only to complement the 2017 MVP candidate James Harden and a 55-27 team. Meanwhile, the Thunder, having gotten over their loss of Kevin Durant, picked up Paul George, a four time NBA All Star, to work alongside the 2017 MVP Russell Westbrook.
Meanwhile as the the west was picking up talent the east looked like it was a one horse race once again. That was of course until the team with the best record in east, due to a late drop in Cavaliers performance, the Boston Celtics picked up NBA All-Star Gordon Hayward. Then as the the trade rumours seemed to die down, The Cleveland Cavaliers and The Boston Celtics made a blockbuster trade. The Cavalier traded Kyrie Irving in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and The Brooklyn Net’s 2018 first pick.
These transfers may feel as if they are creating more competition, but in reality they are only creating a greater divide in the league. These stars wanted something more than what they were getting in their current situations and as a result many of them jumped ship and landed with a great deal on the other side. This mentality has resulted in a large number of teams with almost no superstar names. Our own Atlanta Hawks lost sharpshooter Korver last season to the Cavaliers, and now our once-superstar Paul Millsap has left for the growing team in Denver with Nikola Jokic.
The lackluster teams are now left playing catch up in a phase many have to call rebuilding. That is, wait until they stumble upon new talent from the draft or develop the players themselves with their own program.
The main result of this new ring chasing mentality in superstars is a much more boring season until the playoffs come around. Then there come the series sweeps as we saw last year until the inevitable finals between two superpowers from each side. Regardless of these teams we know one guarantee, and that this finals will be an all star game.