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Brandon Jones

What is going on with the NBA?


LeBron signed with the Lakers on a 4 yr/$154M deal

DeMarcus Cousins signed with the Warriors on a 1 yr/$5M deal

I think it's fair for all of us to say that this was a suprising first couple days of NBA free agency. Many people believed that LeBron would end up in LA with the Lakers like it happened, but they expected a much stronger supporting cast than what he has to this day.

If we're being honest, if LeBron's starting five remains as Isaiah Thomas/Lonzo Ball/Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson (his arch rival), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (a player with many offcourt issues), and JaVale McGee (a player who always ends up on "Shaqtin a Fool") then it could be a very long season for LeBron this year. Paul George has already committed to re-signing with the Thunder and a trade for Kawhi Leonard is being talked about but seems to be unrealistic at the time being.

Yes, the Lakers can give the Spurs pretty much everything they have for Kawhi other than LeBron, but for a guy that is considered the 2nd best two-way player in the league that still might not be enough. From the Spurs point of view, why would they want to give up Kawhi for Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, and a couple of first round picks that will probably end up being towards the end of the draft? The Spurs aren't going to give up their franchise player to a rival franchise for Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, a couple of unproven rising stars, and two late first-round picks. It would make a lot more sense for them to make a trade with the Celtics who are in the East and could land a big time players such as a Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, Terry Rozier, or even Jaylen Brown. That is a much more intriguing trade than anything that the Lakers can offer them.

Having no other star on the team will be detrimental for LeBron as he now lies in the Western Conference and will have to go through either the Rockets or Warriors just to get to the conference finals. If Lebron couldn't win a game against the Warriors in the finals with All-Star Kevin Love by his side and with the Warriors having JaVale McGee and Zaza Pachullia as their primary centers instead of newly signed center DeMarcus Cousins (who some people argue is the best center in the league), then how is he going to beat them now?

Focusing in now on DeMarcus Cousins, it is evident that winning a championship is all that matters to him as he accepted a $5 million deal when some thought he was worth a maximum contract. This leaves the Warriors with 5 All-Stars on the team with a top-5 player at each position. It would take some type of miracle for the Warriors to not win their 3rd straight title and 4th title in 5 years.

The Cousins signing is just another element of this whole standard of "super teams" and there's not really much Adam Silver can do about it because teams are finding ways around the salary cap by signing good players for super low contracts. Many people are starting to believe that this is not good for the league as most of the good players in the league are on 4 or 5 teams and the same two teams have been in the Finals the last four years and one of those two looks like they will almost certainly make a fifth straight appearance.

If the NBA is looking for more parody, they are a long ways away from having that happen. Some type of solution is going to have to be made to curb this from happening.

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