Once the NBA All Star break has passed, the second part of the season unofficially begins. The teams have already made adjustments in the transfer and free agent market, those who considered it necessary changed their coach and March arrives with its consequences. There are around 30 games left for the franchises and the regular season will come to an end. And with it, the answer to some of the most difficult questions to answer in the NBA. Here are five that can mark the present and future in the short and medium term of the best league in the world.
Is the Golden State dynasty over this year?
Last year, the Warriors management had a big question about whether they would renew Draymond Green and for how much money or seasons. This year the question is the same, but the protagonist is Klay Thompson, one who has been very irregular this year and who has even been seen coming off the bench in the last game before the All Star. The Warriors remain tenth in the West , with few options to avoid the play-in despite reaching the break with an 8-2 in the last ten games.
And what happens between now and the end of the season could shape the future of Golden State as we know it. A major failure could put an end to the most dominant dynasty since the Spurs of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. And with Steph Curry healthy, every year that is not fought for the ring is a lost season, consequences of having a generational talent on the roster. Will we see Golden State’s big-3 again in 2025?
Can the Celtics demonstrate dominance in the playoffs?
That Boston was going to have the best record of the regular season was evident since the summer. To last year’s squad, which had the second best balance in the league, they added Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, and only lost Marcus Smart as an important piece. They have been a power for years during the 82 games, close to 80% wins this year, but the questions are accentuated when the playoffs arrive. It is the only possible criticism with these Celtics.
Three conference finals and one finals in the Jayson Tatum era (two and one with JT as the star, since 2020), but no ring. Zero titles for the most successful franchise in the NBA. A team with the talent of these Celtics, and with the dominance that Boston is having this season, has to prove it in the playoffs, and it has to be this year. And if the NBA writers are daring, they could meet their bête noire, the Miami Heat, in the first round.
Will the Lakers convince LeBron to stay in Los Angeles?
He is one of the great free agents of the next market, and his name has not been heard as much as others. Mainly, because LeBron controls his future like few players have done in history. Unlike most players, LeBron doesn’t listen to offers, LeBron decides and franchises adapt around him. Because very few teams can afford to say no to him who has been one of the two best players in history.
In those are the Lakers, who know that if they fail to compete for the ring, Bron could pack his bags in search of a new opportunity to compete. And with the addition of the possible, but not certain, arrival of Bronny James to the NBA: LeBron wants to play with his son and the Lakers do not seem like a viable possibility of bringing the two James together. Will he look for the fifth ring in a fourth team? Will he return to the Miami Heat or Cleveland Cavaliers? Only LeBron has the answer, only the Lakers can avoid it.
How long will Steve Ballmer continue to pay without results?
The Clippers are the second most expensive team in the NBA. In luxury tax alone, the Los Angeles franchise pays around $142 million, more than eleven teams in salaries. Since the arrival of Kawhi Leonard, the summer of 2019, Steve Ballmer has had no problem blowing the house out of the window in terms of salary, assets (sending five rounds and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Paul George) and resources, with the completion of a new pavilion for this summer. But the Clippers have not yet played in the finals.
Kawhi’s health has almost always been the biggest rival, who also had to fight a pandemic or Paul George’s injury last year (in addition to Kawhi). The balance in four years is a conference finals, the same ones that have sometimes fallen in play-in. And while Ballmer is insultingly richer than the NBA’s second-richest owner, the new collective bargaining agreement will squeeze big spenders. Especially those who do it without winning.
Can Doncic imitate Giannis and Jokic?
In 2021, Giannis became the third NBA Finals MVP born in Europe, after Tony Parker and Dirk Nowitzki, and the fourth international with Hakeem Olajuwon. Two years later, last June, Nikola Jokic joined the list. Both had previously won the MVP twice in seasons in which they fell far from competing for the ring in the playoffs. Luka Doncic is, by age and performance, the next on the list to enter that conversation.
In 2024 he can win his first MVP, which will not be the last of his career, or directly take the leap for the big plate and win the MVP of the finals, guiding the Mavericks to their second ring in history. In the same situation is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who also has Oklahoma second in the West. Or will it be Joel Embiid, already the MVP winner in 2023, who will return from injury to get the ring? Someone starts writing their story this season.
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2024-02-23 10:21:52
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