The NBA Playoffs are far from over but the destination of a certain number 23 is a hot topic particularly because of the uncertainty regarding his team’s chances of making it back to the Finals and winning it all. Despite winning Game 7 in the first round against the Indiana Pacers to avoid elimination, LeBron James had to score more than 40 points for the third time in the series for the team to win.
That’s not a winning formula that will get them far in the postseason.
James has been finding life without Kyrie Irving more difficult than he imagined after a roller-coaster season that left him with only one All-Star on his roster to rely on.
The problem is, Kevin Love hasn’t lived up to his lofty billing as an All-Star. The former Minnesota Timberwolves star has had an up-and-down season which included injuries, depression and dealing with false accusations from teammates.
In the postseason with Indiana, James had been looking for Love to step up to the plate and knock down his shots, but he struggled mightily against the Pacers’ bigs.
Superstars need superstar teammates to win championships. Bill Russell had future Hall-of-Famers as teammates when he won 11 championships. The same was true for Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant.
So what if this offseason, James decides that enough is enough and he bolts Cleveland for a team that can offer him another future Hall-of-Fame star alongside him in another city, one that has the cap space to sign both of them to max contracts?
What if Kevin Durant, a former league MVP, joins him in Los Angeles to play on Magic Johnson’s Lakers? Not only will the league find itself a new super team to contend with, it will also weaken his former team, the Golden State Warriors and perhaps end their championship reign.
2018 Offseason
According to a report by ESPN’s Chris Haynes, Durant will exercise his option to be a free agent this offseason. He took less money to sign a two-year deal with the Warriors last summer so that they can re-sign Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston but he has no intention of doing the same in the offseason.
“It has yet to be decided what contractual route Durant will take, sources say, but there are no real incentives — for himself or for the team — to take such a drastic reduction in pay this time around.
Durant and business partner Rich Kleiman will go over the scenarios in great detail at the conclusion of the Warriors' postseason run.”
If Durant decides to opt out this summer, in no way is he obligated to stay with the Warriors. Even if the Bay Area squad wins the championship this year, it’s not a guarantee that he’ll stay with his team of the past two seasons.
Remember what he said about winning a title last year? He thought that it would satisfy a certain longing, but it didn’t. In an interview with Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher that was published last November, Durant opened up about what’s more important to him than a championship.
“Once we won, I'm expecting something to take the place of what I thought was empty,” Durant said. “Now I know. It's cool to do, but the journey is better than the destination. So much happened that got me to this point that means way more to me than a championship. That was my revelation when we won. I had to tell myself it was cool to feel that way. Everything I did led me to where I am.”
When talking about loyalty, Durant explained that it’s an overrated term when you only apply it to players and not the organization as a whole.
“Ain't no such thing [as loyalty],” he says. “You see disloyalty in different ways, but that's one of the most underrated parts of the game. We scream loyalty, but we don't expect it from the people writing the checks because they're writing the checks. [People say] ‘You should be fine with it because you're getting paid.' I liked it better when I was naive about the NBA business, how f–ked up it is. That was better for me that way. … You put money and business into something that's pure, it's going to f–k it up.”
When talking about his time in OKC, he now speaks of the memories he had during his 8 seasons with the franchise. Rather than respond with hatred like he did since he signed with the Warriors, he’s mature enough to recognize how wrong he was about his approach.
“That stuff right there (moments spent with the front office folks) is going to last forever,” Durant says. “That stuff is way, way more important than a championship. Me and my family didn't just erase those eight years in OKC. D.C. and OKC is where we grew up—my mom, my brother, me. I am OKC. I'm still OKC. That blue is going to be in my blood forever.”
Here’s what we can take from the snippets that we got from the All-Star forward:
- Championships aren’t what you play for. It’s the journey to the title that matters.
- Loyalty only matters to organizations when it benefits them. You can’t expect loyalty from one and not the other.
- Relationships matter more than championships.
Durant has his championship with the Warriors and he might have another one before this season is over, too. But if he values the journey and relationships more than titles and if he believes loyalty in the NBA is misunderstood, then Durant has more than enough reasons to try something new this summer. When he opts out of his contract with the Warriors, the Lakers should try and swoop in and see if they can get an audience with the forward and his agent.
Perhaps James can convince him.
The four-time league MVP will be opting out of his contract in the offseason to become a free agent once again. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, James will be looking to become the highest paid player in the league if he decides to re-sign with the Cavs. But if he doesn’t, then his main priority is to get the best deal he can from the team he decides to play for that will give his new team enough flexibility to sign another All-Star caliber player. Of course, the number one reason for this is to win more championships.
If James were to listen to an offer from the Lakers, he will likely discuss his plans with another free agent who can be convinced to join him in L.A. That someone was expected to be Paul George. What if James decides to go in another direction and tries to recruit Durant to play with him in a Lakers uniform for the next two seasons or so?
Why would he do this? Because he’s tired.
All the King’s Men
James had to carry the Cavaliers on his back to win the Pacers series. In order to win the four games necessary to advance to the Eastern Semifinals, the four-time MVP had to score 46, 32, 44 and 45 points. That’s an unusually heavy burden to carry offensively, especially in the postseason.
More than any statistical category in basketball, scoring is the one that matters most, as it determines what appears on the score board. No matter how good a team is defensively, they still need to put the ball in the hole.
And for much of the first round, his teammates had been missing in action. If not for Game 7 when Tristan Thompson, George Hill and Kevin Love showed up during stretches, James would have suffered his first defeat in the opening round of the postseason.
For context: Michael Jordan did this ONCE. pic.twitter.com/HWg7z1WVjk
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 29, 2018
For the first time in his career, LeBron won a playoff series without any teammate scoring 20 points in any of the games. #SCFacts pic.twitter.com/6GjcSqb9J6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 29, 2018
Sportscenter’s stat not only shows how good James has been in the 7-game series against Indiana, it also highlights how little help he received against them.
Love’s untimely disappearing act in the playoffs is quite bothersome. He averaged only 11.4 points, 33.3 percent field goals and 37 percent from three. Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated, posted a comparison of Love’s averages in the Pacers series (which I modified to include Game 7) compared to last year’s playoffs and this year’s regular season games.
- Love in 2017 postseason: 16.8 PPG, 10.6 RPG, 43.6 FG%, 45 3P%, +8.2
- Love in 2017-18 season: 17.6 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 45.8 FG%, 41.5 3P%
- Love in 2018 postseason: 11.4 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 33.3 FG%, 37 3P%
Whether his struggles in the postseason can be attributed to a hand injury he sustained earlier or it’s something else, James cannot afford another poor showing from the versatile big man moving forward. Love has some nights where he looks like the same player he was in Minnesota and at other times, plays like he’s a role player.
In the coming seasons, if James wants to win more championships, he needs a more reliable All-Star teammate.
In fact, he’ll need the rest of his teammates to be highly reliable as well. The Indiana series has shown that his teammates may not have the capacity to support him when the going gets tough. James doesn’t need big names on the roster from the rest of the starters and the bench. He just needs players who have the guts to make the tough shots and to knock them down when the pressure is on.
But let’s not stop there either.
Tyronn Lue’s coaching this season has been questionable at best and deplorable at worst. James needs a fresh start with a completely overhauled coaching staff. He needs a new coach, someone else who knows what it’s like to be a champion and is one of the best young coaches in the league as well. Yes, I’m talking about the Lakers’ Luke Walton.
Durant and the Golden State Warriors
Durant went to join the Warriors in the hopes of winning a championship. At the time, some Warriors fans were worried that the 6-foot-9 (he’s closer to 7 feet now, actually) forward was going to take some of the thunder (no pun intended) from two-time MVP guard Stephen Curry.
That actually happened on the way to the 2017 NBA Finals, as Durant won MVP honors in the championship round by outplaying James and his teammate Curry at the same time.
Many have noted, however, how much better Golden State is with Curry, but without Durant, rather than with Durant but without Curry.
Following last year’s Finals between the Cavs and the Warriors, Steve Kerr explained Curry’s value to the team when he appeared at the Lowe Post podcast by ESPN’s Zach Lowe. There’s big difference between Durant and Curry.
“People took it the wrong way when we had our conversation after the Finals,” Kerr said. “I was talking specifically about two-way players, and Kevin is right there with LeBron and Kawhi [Leonard]. But does that mean he's better than Steph? All that stuff is subjective. Who's better: James Harden or Kawhi? I don't know. But if you're talking about who has the biggest impact on the way people guard us — on the identity of our team — then it's Steph. He's the engine. Everything starts with Steph.”
Warriors’ GM Bob Myers understands this perfectly well since he’s the architect of this team.
“What we built was initiated by Steph,” Myers said. “The offense starts with him.”
Lowe summarized what kind of team Golden State is without Curry and what the Warriors are without Durant.
“We've already seen what the Warriors look like with a solid starting small forward in Durant's place. They won the championship, and then 73 more games. When Durant missed 20 games last season with a knee injury, the Warriors slipped right back into their pre-KD identity — and ripped off a 14-game win streak.
Here's the weird truth: even in this halcyon era, the Warriors never quite figured out offense with Curry on the bench. They've scored at around a league-average rate, or worse, with Curry resting in each of the past four seasons, per NBA.com. They have never really locked on a non-Curry identity. They move around without purpose, in cluttered space. Green shoots and distributes more, and can get a little wild. Thompson shoots more, and a little less accurately.”
Though the Warriors have been winning in the 2018 playoffs without Curry (5-1 so far versus the San Antonio Spurs and the New Orleans Pelicans), most believe Steph is their most valuable player. The Warriors will be title contenders with or without Durant. He just adds to their existing weapons on the floor especially since Andre Iguodala isn’t as good as he used to be in the past.
As good as Durant is, the Warriors are still Curry’s team.
Beating LeBron James
Back in the 2011 and 2012 offseasons when James and Durant played for the Heat and Thunder, respectively, they met for grueling training sessions called “Hell Week.” Durant visited James near the latter’s hometown of Akron, Ohio for a series of two-a-day workouts.
After the first offseason, the two met each other in the 2012 NBA Finals. Though the Heat beat the Thunder for James’ first championship, Durant continued to meet for “Hell Week 2” in which he was criticized for fraternizing with “the enemy.”
Brian Windhorst of ESPN talked about what bonded the two and how the goal was for them based on James’ tweet following the training.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fJSDm68CB8
“‘We pushed each other every day,’ James said about last year's workouts. “At the time, I envisioned us getting to (the Finals) against each other.,
After their workout Tuesday, the two each took to Twitter to comment.
‘Just finished a great workout with @KDTrey5. On court work, ran the hill and finished running the football field. #StriveforGreatness,’ read a message on James' Twitter account.
Durant's account said: ‘I got better today! That's all that matters!! Move em.’
Durant and James bonded during the NBA lockout last summer, playing in charity exhibition games. Durant then asked James to work out together and the two created an intense training camp-style schedule with James' trainer, Mike Mancias.
They developed a friendly rivalry during the workouts and later organized a flag football game at the University of Akron, with the two recruiting teams to play against each other.
This summer, just a couple weeks after the Heat beat the Thunder in the Finals, James and Durant played on Team USA together for the first time and won a gold medal in London.”
Since the 2012 Finals loss, Durant had wanted to return to the championship stage and show everyone that he’s just as good, or even better than his small forward counterpart. After winning the title last season, outplaying James for the most part, and grabbing the Finals MVP by the horns, there’s nothing left for Durant to prove to James or those who want to compare the two. He bested the best player in the world and took the crown from the defending champ.
What more does he need to do?
Uninterrupted Video Together
The friendship between the future Hall-of-Fame players extends beyond the hardwood.
Last January, James and Durant hung out once more, but this time to let the public know that they are more than just athletes. They filmed an “Uninterrupted” special episode where the two All Stars had an Uber ride with ESPN’s Cari Champion as their driver. They spoke candidly about a variety of topics including the 2018 All-Star Weekend and socially relevant issues.
The video was filmed the night before the Warriors and Cavaliers faced off for the last time in the regular season, but was aired just before All-Star Weekend. It highlighted the closeness of the two superstars who, though playing for rival teams, were not afraid of fraternizing off the court, a kind of friendship that was rarely seen between opposing players during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
This was the same video that Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham used to deface James and Durant on live television for their political views that she deemed were uneducated. Many denounced the controversial comments from Ingraham and applauded the two superstars for their candor and active role in social issues.
2018 All-Star Game
The format for the selection of players to represent the two teams facing off for the 2018 All-Star Game was revised to address the competitiveness issue between the teams that’s been lacking in recent years. It was also an acknowledgment that the West teams have been so dominant lately and that the East has a lot of catching up to do.
Under the new format, the teams are a mixture of players from both conferences, paving the way for new and exciting team-ups that have never been possible previously.
The top two All-Star vote-getters from the East and West represented the team captains who would pick from a pool of players selected by the fans, media, current players and coaches. James and Curry were the top two vote-getters with the former getting the first pick of the All-Star draft because he had the most votes among all the players.
Guess who James picked first? Durant.
Kevin Durant confirmed he was LeBron's #1 pick today: "What, we gonna keep this a mystery?"
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 26, 2018
James recognizes that Durant is the best player in the game (next to him, of course) and did not want to pass up on the opportunity to play with the multi-talented forward. It was the first time, other than on Team USA, that the two players played together as they had always been separated by their respective conference teams in the All-Star Game.
It was a preview of what it would be like to see James and Durant on the same team. James finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists while Durant had 19 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists as they led Team LeBron to an exciting 148-145 win over Team Stephen. Among the four Warriors that participated in the game, Durant was the only one who wasn’t on Curry’s team.
What was especially interesting was the defense employed by James and Durant to prevent Curry from hoisting a three-pointer in the final seconds that would have tied the game. Looking back on it now, that moment may be a preview of what a Lakers team would be like featuring two of the best players in the game battling a Warriors team in the playoffs!
“That was great defense by myself,” said Durant, who was grinning with pride for the defense he put up on his Warriors teammate. “I'm patting myself on the back.”
“Two tall giants out there not letting me shoot,” Curry said laughing as he talked about the final play. “Tried to make a play, and it just didn't work out.”
Who knows maybe James and Durant discussed the possibility of joining forces during All-Star Weekend and we have no what’s coming this summer.
Like Bird and Magic on One Team
Magic and Larry Bird were the bitterest of rivals during their battles in the 80’s. They dominated the decade with at least one of them appearing in the Finals every year. Off the court, as presented in the HBO documentary, “Magic Johnson and Larry Bird: A Courtship of Rivals,” the two developed a friendship after filming a Converse commercial in 1986.
At first, Johnson resented the idea of going to Bird’s home in Indiana where the commercial was going to be shot. Instead, the two ended up being good friends after Johnson was invited for lunch by his Celtics rival and Bird’s mom gave him a warm reception. Since then, the respect and camaraderie between the two only grew but the two never played together until the 1992 Olympics as they became part of the Dream Team.
Though hardly the rivals that Bird and Magic had been, James and Durant developed a rivalry by virtue of being the best small forwards in the league. Despite James getting the head start when he entered the league in 2003 (Durant was drafted in 2007), the two started being linked as rivals right around the 2009-10 season when Durant became an MVP candidate and a legitimate rival to the Akron native.
Though Bird and Johnson lived in an era that kept the best players and rivals from playing on one team, James and Durant have an opportunity in this generation that their predecessors didn’t have by playing on the same team. They would break new ground with their partnership despite certain fans, media outlets and former players likely becoming critical of the move.
It’s a new era and the power to control their destinations have only been available to the players when James exercised his right to determine which team he wanted to play for in the summer of 2010. “The Decision” may have been a terrible marketing move, but James’ decision to play with good friends Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh empowered other players to take shorter deals and decide where they want to play in a few years.
Playing for the Lakers
LeBron James and Kevin Durant on the Lakers. Who would have thought that something like this would be possible? It’s a dream come true for Lakers fans and executives who have longed to make the franchise relevant once again.
A starting lineup and bench with the two onboard could look like this:
Starters
Point Guard – Lonzo Ball
Shooting Guard – Brandon Ingram
Small Forward – Kevin Durant
Power Forward – LeBron James
Center – Julius Randle (?)
Reserves
Josh Hart
Kyle Kuzma
Luol Deng
If the Lakers can somehow trade or spread out the cap-space eating contract of Luol Deng, then they just might be able to squeeze in Julius Randle to this lineup as the starting center. If Johnson, the team’s president of basketball operations, isn’t satisfied with this lineup, he can package any two or three of his young players (including Randle) for another All-Star like DeMarcus Cousins.
If you think this is impossible, think again. It wasn’t too long ago that James, Wade and Bosh played together in Miami, three players who were in the prime of their careers. The current Warriors, too, employ four All-Stars in their lineup.
But a team with James, Durant and Cousins would truly be a remarkable one, and definitely a super team for the ages. It’s not out of the realm of possibility. If Pat Riley and Myers could perform their magic on the Heat and Warriors, respectively, then I’m sure Johnson could give it a shot. It’s a win now proposition and I doubt Lakers President Jeannie Buss would disagree.
Should They Do It?
Durant needs to try and win a championship outside of Golden State. The 9-time All-Star needs to forge his own path where a championship isn’t a given and where he can create a different identity. It will be good for his legacy and his image among his peers that he won’t be taking the easiest route to a championship which he did two seasons ago by joining a title-ready ballclub.
Though playing with James may seem like he is latching onto another future Hall of Famer’s success, in truth, it’s never a guarantee that they can win a championship together until they actually do it. The Warriors had proven they were champions already prior to Durant’s arrival. Now he can show that he and James are willing to co-exist and co-star on a brand new team.
For James, this will be more like Michael Jordan playing for the Washington Wizards when he came back from retirement, three years after saying he was done with the game. It’s a way to satisfy “What If?” questions lingering in his head. Playing for the Lakers is a dream come true for many players who grew up watching Showtime and the Shaq-Kobe Dynasty of the early 2000’s. James can become the linchpin of a new era of Showtime if he so chooses.
It’s a fantasy scenario where he gets to choose where he wants to close out his career and possibly lead a new group of players to an NBA title. James has nothing else to prove no matter what critics may say. The most he can do is add to his legacy regardless of where he plays.
James and Durant together playing for the Lakers in the 2018-19 season isn’t too far-fetched of an idea. And it’s not a ridiculous one either. More than anything, it would be a challenge worth pursuing for both players who have become good friends off the court.
This partnership will end the Warriors’ stranglehold in the Pacific Division, the Western Conference and the NBA as a whole. Those who thought that Golden State was going to be a dynasty for years to come better rethink their predictions if the Lakers get their hands on James and Durant at the same time.
Let’s see what happens this summer.
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