LeBron James and Steph Curry now divisional rivals
Tuesday 16 October 2018 06:07, UK
The NBA's most complete team in a generation will have their authority tested by the most complete individual of any generation as the new season looms.
The Golden State Warriors, the closest incarnation that basketball has produced in memory to the Harlem Globetrotters, will come up against a familiar foe as they pursue a third consecutive championship. This time, though, LeBron James stands taller than ever.
Resplendent in the famous yellow and purple of the LA Lakers, the NBA's most marketable player has linked up with the most marketable team to present a fresh challenge to the Warriors' purity and brilliance.
That narrative will be the hottest of the 2018-19 season, along with how the Cleveland Cavaliers cope without LeBron, whether James Harden's Houston Rockets can fulfil their promise, and how the Philadelphia 76ers' potential pans out.
But all eyes will be on the west coast, where the Warriors' zip and panache will be tested by a Lakers side so determined to emerge from the shadows that they have enrolled LeBron as the ringmaster to their circus.
His addition will be a challenge to the Lakers themselves, as well as their California rivals.
LeBron has already admitted that his new team are not on the Warriors' "level" - adding the world's best player and the overwhelming presence that he brings will be no easy task for a team that haven't been in the play-offs since 2013.
The Lakers' locker room is in stark contrast to the Warriors'.
LeBron will be joined by fellow newbie Lance Stephenson - for years they were heated adversaries and will now provide an intriguing subplot as team-mates. Last season's play-off meetings between the Cavs and the Indiana Pacers, where Stephenson did everything possible to irritate LeBron, was internet gold. We have already seen a funny moment during this pre-season where Stephenson accidentally-on-purpose shunned LeBron's attempt at a high five. Watch this space.
Add Lonzo Ball and the limelight that constantly shines on him into the equation. LeBron has taken the young prodigy under his wing, and revealed words of advice that he offered last season before either player knew they would become team-mates. Lonzo grew up idolising LeBron but is now a brand of his own. For now, there is room for both in Los Angeles but it is another reminder of the star-studded nature of this season's Lakers, a pack of individuals thrown together to form a team.
The Warriors, by comparison, are a well-oiled machine who have functioned spectacularly over the past three seasons and, as a result, have organically created brilliant individuals like Steph Curry.
Klay Thompson, with whom Curry has formed the Splash Brothers dual-moniker, has grown into one of the most vital cogs in the Golden State machine but, suddenly, the lines are becoming blurred with the Lakers.
Thompson has won three championships with the Warriors in the past four years (they have a total of six) but, in the final year of his contract, has been linked with a switch to the Lakers where LeBron is being tasked with delivering their first title since 2010.
"I don't necessarily want to be the focal point at all times, because I've been to the mountain top and I know what it feels like to win and win with some of your best friends," Thompson told The Athletic last week.
"That's why it'd be hard for me to leave, just because I put so much, you know, blood, sweat, and tears into this building, with this franchise.
"I've had my ups and downs, but I couldn't imagine myself being anywhere else.
"But, you know, it's easy to say that now. With time, things change, so it's hard for me to envision what goes on in nine months."
The subplots are there.
For LeBron, he will now have to fight even harder to lengthen his eight-year run of making the finals. With the Cavs and Miami Heat in the east he had an easier path but now his Lakers will need to pip the Warriors to the western title before they can even compete for the ultimate prize.
LeBron's pursuit of matching Michael Jordan's six rings will be a bumpy ride.
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The action gets underway on Wednesday morning with a double header from 1am featuring Philadelphia 76ers @ Boston Celtics and defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors hosting Oklahoma City Thunder
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