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(CNN) – The opening day of the 2020-21 NBA season is unlike any other.
It’s been just 71 days since the Los Angeles Lakers won the 2020 NBA championship. The Lakers will face the city rival Clippers in one of two opening night games on Tuesday.
In the other opening day game, the Golden State Warriors will face the Brooklyn Nets.
Unlike the Lakers, the Warriors haven’t played a game since March 10, 287 days ago.
These differences between teams could play an important role in the outcome of the season.
The Lakers are favorites to repeat their 2020 win, but as the season progresses, fatigue can show up in several returning players.
The team has been busy during the offseason, adding likely starters Marc Gasol, 35, and Wesley Matthews, 34, along with current NBA Sixth Man of the Year, Montrezl Harrell.
The Lakers’ likely starting lineup of James, Anthony Davis, Gasol, Matthews and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope looks formidable. But an average age of 31.6 years on opening night makes him one of the five oldest starters in NBA history.
LeBron James will turn 36 just over a week after the season begins, and while he continues to defy age expectations that plague the rest of the league, this upcoming season could be the true test of his greatness as a player and as a leader. . .
Giannis and the Bucks
One of the biggest stories to come out of the offseason is the five-year supermax contract extension signed by Giannis Antetokounmpo to stay with the Milwaukee Bucks.
It is worth $ 228.2 million and is the largest in NBA history.
Some thought Antetokounmpo might leave the Bucks, but he stayed true, saying on social media: “This is my home, this is my city. I’m lucky to be able to be a part of the Milwaukee Bucks for the next 5 years. Let’s do it. May these years count. The show goes on, let’s do it. “
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer told The Athletic that he hopes Antetokounmpo will emulate other successful men from a single team.
“I know there is probably more attention and more media when guys move and change, but I reflect on the guys who have stayed,” Budenholzer said.
“For me, a guy like Tim Duncan, a Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, guys like that, who have stayed in one place and made their legacy to win and win championships and win at a high level, wherever that may be. they were drawn up, be it a large market, a small market. “
A championship would certainly leave a legacy in Milwaukee for Antetokounmpo.
The Bucks dominated the 2019-20 regular season, finishing with the best record in the entire league.
When the playoffs rolled around, however, the team underperformed, losing its first game to the eighth seed Orlando Magic, before crashing in the Eastern conference semifinals to eventual runners-up Miami Heat.
Despite the wet end of the season, Antetokounmpo won the NBA MVP for the second year in a row.
For Antetokounmpo’s contract to pay off, for both parties, he has to bring to the city his second NBA title, and what better year to do it than the 50th anniversary of his first win in 1971.
Harden going to Brooklyn?
After his initial resistance, James Harden is back in Houston. But for how long?
While he’s rumored to be happy with a multi-team trade, the one that possibly makes the most sense for Harden is the Brooklyn Nets, where he could form a super team with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
With those three lined up in black and white in New York, the Nets would immediately become legitimate contenders. Even if Harden stays with the Rockets, the future doesn’t look bright for the team and it could be mutually beneficial for the eight-year-old. relationship to come to an end.
A hard reset for Houston may be the only way out of this situation.
Is the Golden State dynasty over?
Between 2015-2019, the Golden State Warriors reached the NBA Finals each season, winning three titles. In 2020, the Warriors finished with the worst record in the entire NBA, notching just 15 wins in 65 games.
Missing stars Steph Curry, for most of the season, and Klay Thompson, through it all, turned out to be too great a loss for the team.
In exchange for a lousy season, the team earned the second overall pick in the NBA draft, where 7-foot-1 center James Wiseman was selected.
Wiseman had a difficult year for Memphis, playing just three games for the Tigers, but his talent is undoubted.
The next season raised hope for the team to show that the 2019-20 season was a bump, and that the return of Curry and Thompson, along with the addition of Wiseman, could get the team back in the fight.
Unfortunately, that will not happen. Not because the team definitely won’t be able to compete, but because Thompson tore his right Achilles tendon in late-November training and will be out of the season for the second year in a row.
“I can’t just sit here and say I feel good,” Warriors general manager Bob Myers said. “I have confidence in our players. I have confidence in our coaches. I have confidence in our property. We are going to keep moving. We are never going to stop. But to be honest, it hurts. It hurts and I know it hurts our organization.”
Unless other players step up in a meaningful way, it’s hard to see the Warriors prove the 2019-20 season was a mistake.
This story was first published on CNN.com, “New NBA Season to Test LeBron James Ability to Defy Age Expectations.”
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