How the GSW Dynasty Ends: LeBron’s plan and Durant’s quest

The Golden State Warriors dynasty will end soon, and it will be at the hands of Kevin Durant

According to Vegas and 538, the Golden State Warriors are now the biggest pre-season favorites in NBA history…for the third year in a row.

Take a second to digest that sentence, it is absolutely jarring. A team that went 73-9 added Kevin Durant, so perhaps in hindsight we should have seen this coming. After all, the biggest knock on Durant has been that he went to the Warriors because he didn’t want to compete, and so far, he’s rendered competition moot.

He has stacked the deck so high that you can’t double team the man as he’s flanked by the greatest and second greatest shooters of all time while being anchored by DPOY and All-Star Draymond Green.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Warriors just added injured All-NBA superstar DeMarcus Cousins. That gives them five All-Stars in the starting line-up, and if healthy, no team in NBA history can beat that.

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With one more title, they will be a full-fledged dynasty – and not just any dynasty. They will go down as the greatest team in American sports history, and it wont be close. The question becomes what or who can stop this team?

The Houston Rockets were a worthy challenger, and truth be told, they were Chris Paul hamstring or two made 3-pointers from doing just so. But it feels like that was the best shot they had, and I wouldn’t really want to hitch my wagon to Carmelo Anthony.

As it is with the NBA, that questions begins and ends with LeBron James and the rippling effects on other stats that his decision to head to the Lakers this offseason will have for years to come .

LeBron, The Lakers, and the Summer of 2020

With LeBron deciding to partner up with the storied Los Angeles Lakers franchise and the legendary Magic Johnson, enthusiasm as once again been infused into the City of Angels.

While getting LeBron is a huge first step, plenty of work remains to be done in order to field a team that is capable of competing with the Warriors. Kawhi Leonard is at the top of the list that. Although he is now a member of the Toronto Raptors, various credible reports are continuing to say that he is set on joining the Lakers come Summer 2019.

With the current Lakers team, they aren’t expected to contend immediately but don’t tell LeBron that. With his rag tag Cleveland Cavaliers team, he was able to keep up with the Warriors in both Games 1 and 3 and with added punch and a decent second option, things might’ve been different.

That is what the hope is for the Lakers – develop some chemistry, let the young guns shine, surround LeBron with tough minded, athletic, defensive playmakers and let him deliver in a way only he can. A wining scenario for the Lakers would be to make it to either the second round or WCF as a top 4 seed and be competitive.

Equipped with LeBron, Magic, a young core, and cap space, you best believe that the Lakers will be able to nab a superstar in the free agent class of 2019 be it Kawhi, Jimmy Butler, or Kevin Durant. And while that is the long term plan that both Magic and LeBron agreed upon, this current team can make noise.

They have playmakers, defenders, veterans, and a young core that is capable of really growing and challenging the mighty Warriors. LeBron will be turning 34 in the fall, and with eight straight seasons playing into June, the mileage on his body is quickly adding up. He is superhuman, yes, but eventually those powers will fade.

It is imperative that the Lakers capitalize in the next two years to build a contender that will be able to eventually overtake the Warriors – and process starts with developing the core this year and then getting a top flight free agent in the Summer of 2019.

Kevin Durant & The Search for Meaningful Titles

Imagine working your entire career and wanting to be at the peak of the profession. You push and strive every day to be a champion and to earn the validation of both your peers and yourself. You finally get there…and everyone claims it’s a meaningless and that you didn’t earn it.

Well, welcome to Kevin Durant’s life. After joining the 73-9 Warriors, he has gone on to win two titles and 2 Finals MVP’s over LeBron James. If anything, during this time LeBron’s stature has grown and the respect from Durant from fellow players, fans, and the media has been shot down.

At some point, he is going to want to validate his titles – and we’ve seen that already with his social media outbursts and constant need for validation from his peers. Make no mistake about it, Curry might be the most important player for the Warriors, but Durant by far is the best player on that team, and without him, we’ve seen that LeBron can overcome them.

With every title in Golden State ringing more and more hollow, something has got to change. Durant has seen what one title in Cleveland did for LeBron – it vaulted him to at worst the second greatest player of all-time.

Win or lose in 2019, Durant is going to look elsewhere and we can’t blame him. He can join the New York Knicks and team up with Kristaps Porzingis and another free agent, or go home to the Washington Wizards, join LeBron and the Lakers, or even return to OKC to lead the to a title.

The next move that Durant makes is going to be a narrative play, and it has to be. He needs to be the unquestioned leader on a title team, he has to lift the franchise like LeBron has done in Cleveland, and he has to rescue a dumpster fire to truly earn his place in the all-time pantheon. He has gone on record saying he doesn’t want to be a leader, but in order to validate his talent, he must do so.

My money is on the New York Knicks as his next destination along with Kyrie Irving. The budding friendship that they’ve shown has not gone unnoticed. And with two, potentially three titles and Final MVP’s in tow, the search for a new challenge will be underway. What franchise is more in need of a hero than the Knicks?

What player is more in need of being the King of Gotham City than Kevin Durant? It’s a match made in heaven – and the Warriors dynasty hinges on this very possibility.