On June 13, at the Ball Arena in Denver, the Nuggets won the NBA title. They closed an almost perfect year, where they had been the best team in the Western Conference and had lost only four games in the entire postseason (16-4 record). Nikola Jokic was crowned MVP of the finals and hailed as the best player on the planet and the Nuggets planned to build a dictatorship in the NBA with a young but solid project, led by the Serbian, Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr and company. Just four months later, the NBA landscape has completely changed. Because the league’s elites have moved seeking to improve with a single objective: dethroning Nikola Jokic.
In East and West, teams at the top of the table have decided to reinforce themselves in the short term, seeking to optimize the competitive windows of their stars, already past 30 in some cases. As the case of some Suns that were not enough to get Kevin Durant in February, and they went after Bradley Beal in June. The Phoenix team has become a potpourri of players earning maximum salaries, Devin Booker, Beal and Durant, and nine others at a minimum. To do this they had to let go DeAndre Ayton (heading to Portland), and Chris Paul, who ended up in Golden State after a short stop in Washington DC. The Warriors traded Jordan Poole for the 38-year-old point guard in a movement of offices, but that revives the competitiveness of the men of Steve Kerr.
For the first time since Kerr entrena a Golden State, Steph Curry and his teammates lost a playoff series in the West and it was at the hands of who else, LeBron James. The Lakers were the big surprise before being swept by Denver, and still with an air of revenge and the ax in their mouth, they have tweaked their squad with the necessary pieces to be much better. Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince, Jaxson Hayes, Christian Wood o Cam Reddish They give a depth to Los Angeles that they didn’t have last year. Similar to what was achieved by the Clippers, who have kept all their players, including Russell Westbrookand they still want to get to James Hardenthe only chapter of the market that has not yet closed.
Memphis maintains the project and adds to Marcus SmartLuka Doncic’s Mavericks have brought in Grant Williams, also from Boston, and the Thunder have recovered Chet Holmgren, who joins the great young NBA project. And both the Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves and New Orleans Pelicans are getting healthy, in what will be a fierce fight in the Western conference. Although in most betting houses it is considered that the two big favorites to win the NBA come from the East, and coincidentally they both wear green. Because both the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks have been protagonists of the market.
Damian Lillard was the biggest transfer of the summer and it was Milwaukee who took the lead. Join the base with Giannis Antetokounmpo It automatically puts the Bucks in the hunt for the title, even if they had to give up Jrue Holiday to achieve it. The problem was who took his old point guard: the biggest rival. The Celtics, who had already managed to sign Kristaps Porzingis in June, also traded for Holiday, getting the best quintet in the NBA along with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown y Derrick White. Both are the two great candidates to steal the throne from the Nuggets, although they will not be the only ones.
Because while the Sixers wait to solve the Harden crisis and Miami regrets not having been able to get Damian Lillard, the rest of the East has moved. Cleveland, fourth last year, has gotten Max Strus y Georges Niang to cover your weak points; the Knicks have changed to a Obi Toppin that asked for too much prominence Donte DiVincenzoanother perfect man for Tom Thibodeau. Brooklyn recupera a Ben Simmonsthe Hawks keep the project in the first full year of Quin Snyder and Toronto has seen Nick Nurse leave and Fred VanVleet…and they are the only team in the conference undefeated in the preseason. Even Indiana, with the signing of Toppin, and the Magic of Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero are interesting.
The entire top half of the NBA has moved. The changes to the collective bargaining agreement have put some pressure on teams that are in fiscal trouble, especially those whose salaries account for more than $182 million, known as the second apron. It is possible that even during the season, stars be moved by decisions made in the offices and not on the coach’s board, names like Karl-Anthony Towns, Pascal Siakam or Zach LaVinein addition to Harden. But the NBA still has a very clear premise, there is only one way to pay for the millions spent on salaries: win the NBA. For that, Someone will have to dethrone Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets first.
Sports journalist covering the NBA from Toronto. Leaving from Barcelona, he has lived in Boston, Sydney and Bogotá before staying in Canada to bring the best basketball league on the planet. All NBA, a little basketball, because he grew up with Tracy McGrady and Pau Gasol, but also with Sarunas Jasikevicius and Arvydas Macijauskas. He studied journalism in Barcelona, where he worked for various media and radio stations, and currently also collaborates with Gigantes del Basket and NBA Spain. He was in the NBA Finals where Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Sergio Scariolo got their first ring. If you don’t see him here, he’s probably on Twitter. …
2023-10-22 06:49:17
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