The New NBA Regime Is In
Published in The Greeneville Sun - 7/9/2016
Note: This article was published July 9, 2016.
Forget the Knicks trying to bring hype back to the Big Apple. Forget the Grizzlies paying Mike Conley and Chandler Parsons instead of paying off the national debt. Forget all the average-at-best players getting contracts that made you wish you had given more serious thought to being a bench warmer in the pros.
In fact, be happy that we had a few days to actually give these things some attention, because none of it matters now.
The NBA as you knew it is dead.
On America's birthday, Kevin Durant broke American basketball.
Welcome in the new regime: not all unlike the 1,000-Year Reich -- and this one may last a similar duration. At least it feels that way.
This is reminiscent of other moments that shook the power structure of the NBA: Parish to the Celtics, Shaq to the Lakers, LeBron to the Heat.
But is this the largest power shift yet?
Parish joined Bird before we knew what kind of player newly drafted Kevin McHale would pan out to be. Shaq left Penny to join Kobe in what was only hoped to become a title contender. LeBron joined an all new Heat team that had yet to show it could work together.
But Durant ... Durant joins a current established champion.
The Warriors won an NBA championship two years ago, won a record-breaking 73 games last year, and needed a near-perfect LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to lose the Finals in seven games last month.
If the Splash Bros. weren't great enough already, wrap your head around this: They just lost Harrison Barnes and replaced him with Kevin Durant.
Nay-sayers will point out that we don't know how these superstars will work together yet, but to be pessimistic already about the great upgrade the Warriors just made is to be purely ignorant.
Sure, it is possible that it won't all be glory for the new-look Warriors. Perhaps Durant will flop on a new team like Dwight Howard with the Lakers or Kevin Love with the Cavaliers or any of the veterans brought to the Brooklyn Nets. But this is not Howard or Love or the Nets we're talking about. Let me again remind you, this is former MVP, scoring champ, playoff and Finals experienced, 27-year-old, 6-foot, 9-inch KEVIN DURANT.
Maybe doubters will look to the "Who's Team Is It Anyway?" problem that rocked the potentially dynastic Penny Hardaway and Shaq in Orlando. But those Magic never had a Steve Kerr at the helm. Make no mistake, Steph or Durant: This is Kerr's team. This is Oakland's team. This is the fans' team.
What does this look like for the rest of the league? Well I've heard rumors that the other 29 teams are already trying to put together a new league to transfer to.
If they didn't already, every other NBA fan has a whole new reason to hate the Warriors. Sports fans hate stacked teams. We always have. Just ask the New York Yankees, New England Patriots, Boston Celtics, LA Lakers, or any super team in the NBA of late (including but not limited to: the '94 Rockets, '98 Bulls, '02 Lakers, the Celtics' Big Three in '08, and the Heat's in '13).
Of course, for Kevin Durant, this makes total sense. You did this throughout your schooling years right? You and your buddies always tried to get on the same sports team no matter how unfair it was.
Already termed the "Death Lineup," Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, sounds a lot like a gold-medal Team USA to me.
Durant has proven to be a once-in-a-lifetime type of player. The fact that he has no championship hardware to his name has to wear on him. Time with OKC was at times fruitful and at times frustrating, but one thing was clear: close for Durant was not close enough.
After an up-and-down season, it looked like the Thunder were finally coming together and ready to take that next step, up 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals on the defending champion and regular season king Golden State Warriors.
But three games later Durant was at home on his couch watching those Warriors compete for another championship.
Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Enter: Kevin Durant the Warrior.
Let that sink in.
Check your watches, NBA fans. It looks like time is the only thing that is going to slow down this train.
Josiah "Sy" Gallimore is an avid sports fan who lives in Greeneville. He is a junior business major at Southern Adventist University near Chattanooga.