Without a doubt, the Brooklyn Nets have been the most talked-about NBA team this season. They were already expected to be strong contenders with the acquisitions of superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant the season prior, but they've continued to make huge waves in bolstering their squad even further.
James Harden was the first and most noteworthy addition this time 'round, with the then-disgruntled guard getting traded to Brooklyn mid-season via a three-team transaction. Former All-Stars Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge followed suit after being bought out by their respective former teams at around the trade deadline.
The result? A combined 41 All-Star appearances, 31 All-NBA team selections, 4 MVP awards, and an offensively dominant superteam that has just propelled the franchise to the top of the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2003.
The Nets inevitably gained more than their fair share of flack with their moves: their trades left nothing for them defensively, the “All-Stars” they acquired were washed, and their two main stars attract considerable drama, among other criticisms.
With the positives and negatives come the comparisons to NBA superteams of the past which may have shared the same qualities as the present Nets squad. For this piece, we take a look at the last five NBA superteams formed prior to the 2020-21 Brooklyn Nets. We take a retroactive look at how they acquired their superstars, what they accomplished, and how they ultimately ended.
2007 – 2012 Boston Celtics
Many would argue that the Boston Celtics constructed the very first superteam back in the 2007-08 season, after aging stars Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen teamed up with Paul Pierce to form “The Original Big Three”.
The trio, along with a young Rajon Rondo, actually proved to be successful in their very first season. They won a league-best 66 games, with Garnett, Allen, and Pierce averaging around 19, 17, and 20 points per game respectively. The trio maintained similar scoring statistics in the Playoffs, wherein they beat both the Atlanta Hawks and LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers in 7 games.
The Celts would then dispatch the Detroit Pistons in 6 slow, gritty games to make their first NBA Finals appearance since the Larry Bird era. Even the late, great Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers could not stop their rampage, as the Big Three won their NBA Championship in a 6-game series.
The Celts have failed to replicate the 2008 success since, including the Brooklyn Nets who would later on attempt to recapture the magic with Pierce and Garnett. Boston lost in the ECS the next season against Dwight Howard's Orlando Magic, after which Kobe got his revenge by defeating the Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals. This would be the Big Three's last hurrah, as they failed to reach similar heights since. Boston's Big Three only went as far as the Conference Finals before Ray Allen set off for the Miami Heat. Pierce and Garnett got traded a season later in one of the most infamous transactions in NBA history, but more on that in a bit.
2010-2014 Miami Heat
The Decision is one of the most iconic and infamous moments in sports history and deserves a piece entirely dedicated to itself. In essence, this was LeBron James' free agency decision back in 2010 to go to the Miami Heat to form a Big Three with fellow 2003 draftees Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. This caused nothing short of public outrage, particularly in the city of Cleveland. James, for the entirety of this stretch, was the villain of the league. His “not one, not two, not three, …” statement didn't help matters, either.
South Beach's new Big Three initially became the laughingstock of the entire basketball world, as they fell victim to the heroic Championship run of Dirk Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks. Of course, they would bounce back nicely with two Championships on the trot, as they beat the high-flying Oklahoma City Thunder and the veteran-laden San Antonio Spurs respectively. These victories coincided with LeBron James' two consecutive MVP awards and arguably his most physically dominant stretch; this was arguably the greatest period in Miami Heat history as well.
LeBron predicted 7 trophies in jest, but the Miami Heat Big Three only lasted for four years. After losing the 2014 Finals in a grudge match against Kawhi Leonard's San Antonio Spurs, James restored his Cleveland hero status by returning to the Cavaliers to fulfill his Championship promise. Wade would go on to play for the Chicago Bulls, after which he was briefly reunited with James in Cleveland. He would eventually return to South Beach to finish his glittering career as arguably the greatest Miami Heat in franchise history. Bosh, meanwhile, went on to end his career with much fanfare after an unfortunate blood-clot condition forced him to retire.
2012-2013 Los Angeles Lakers
2012 saw the Los Angeles Lakers attempt to build a superteam around Kobe Bryant. Up to that point, the Lakers saw consecutive WCS losses after their back-to-back Championships in '09 and '10. In the pursuit to replicate the iconic Kobe and Shaq partnership which brought a three-peat to LA, the franchise acquired Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic in a four-team trade.
At that point, Howard was known as the most dominant big man in the league, with comparisons to Shaquille O'Neal himself. The Lakers also made several acquisitions to the tune of Steve Nash and Antawn Jameson, both grizzled veterans averaging respectable numbers at the time.
All in all, it was mainstays Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and Metta World Peace along with new acquisitions Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, and Antawn Jameson in this iteration of a Superteam.
This is an instance wherein a “Superteam” was not that at all. They ended up finishing a lowly 7th in the West, getting swept by eventual finalists San Antonio Spurs in the first round.
Injuries and locker room issues were blamed for their failure. However, the team wasn't particularly well-built for Mike D'Antoni's run-and-gun style offense, either. Howard, World Peace, and Jamison left the Lakers in free agency after the season, with Jameson returning in 2015 for a final stint. Gasol, meanwhile, left in free agency after one last season in LA.
2013-2014 Brooklyn Nets
This rather unfortunate attempt at a superteam makes the current Brooklyn Nets team seem even more miraculous.
Even casual fans should be familiar with the infamous Celtics-Nets trade, wherein the Nets received aging stars Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry for 5 players and (more importantly) three first-round picks. After the trade went down, the Nets roster consisted of the former Celtics players, as well as Joe Johnson, Brook Lopez, Deron Williams, and Andrei Kirilenko. Seemingly formidable on paper, the aforementioned players collectively have 37 All-Star selections between them.
The group only went as far as the ECS, wherein they ran into the Miami Big Three, to whom they lost in 5 games. They would fall apart shortly thereafter: Pierce would walk in free agency, while Kirilenko and Williams would get traded to different teams. The rest (save for Brook Lopez) got traded or walked in free agency after the next season.
Many look at the Celtics-Nets trade as one of, if not the most lopsided deal in league history. After all, two of those first-round picks turned to franchise cornerstones Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, while the last one (which turned out to be Collin Sexton) was used by Boston to acquire Kyrie Irving.
The Nets organization, obviously, has bounced back from this horrible transaction very nicely. Good front-office decisions such as acquiring key pieces like Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert, and D'Angelo Russell paved the way for the current Nets superteam to be possible.
2016-2019 Golden State Warriors
Many like to claim that the Golden State Warriors were already a Superteam even before the 2016-17 season. However, those teams consisted of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, three All-Stars who were all drafted by the Warriors themselves (all of them could be considered draft steals, mind you). The only piece of business they did at the time which resembled those of the past entries was the signing of Andre Iguodala, who was already past his prime.
2016, however, saw the arrival of one Kevin Durant to the Bay Area, a move which brought about massive amounts of controversy and outright hatred from everyone not involved with GSW (not unlike LeBron James' Decision). Many saw it as a weak and cowardly move, while others considered it a coup and an ensured dynasty for the Warriors. The former is questionable, the latter is not; the Warriors prolonged their dominance in the league with arguably the most unstoppable scorer in league history playing for them. They went to three straight NBA Finals, winning the first two in dominant fashion, with KD getting Finals MVP both times. Ironically, their status as a superteam was solidified with the signing of DeMarcus Cousins in the 2018-19 season, which was the one that they lost.
That iconic Warriors roster saw its end after the 2019 NBA Finals, in which the Durant-less GSW was felled by Kawhi Leonard's Toronto Raptors. Andre Iguodala got traded thereafter, while KD went to the Brooklyn Nets via a sign-and-trade to form the Nets superteam with Kyrie Irving.
After everything, the original trio of Steph, Klay, and Draymond still remain with the Warriors, albeit with Klay being inactive for almost two years now due to injury.
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