NBA: 6 biggest surprises and disappointments in 2019-20 thus far
DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge – The struggling duo
This NBA season has a lot of partners in crime. Almost every contender in the league has a pair of superstars to lead them. The same was thought but seemingly isn’t able to be said as of now, about All-Star’s DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge.
DeRozan and Aldridge are among the leagues best, but since DeRozan’s departure from the Toronto Raptors things haven’t been going as well as they could and should for the San Antonio Spurs. DeRozan’s numbers have taken a significant decline and LaMarcus Aldridge has been slowing down as well.
Aldridge is 34 years old with his best days behind him. He still has game, but the responsibility of being a leader on the Spurs may not be something he can handle anymore. Aldridge has had good years in San Antonio, but ever since Kawhi Leonard left things just haven’t been the same. Hope for the Spurs for someone outside of DeRozan and Aldridge came from young prospect Dejounte Murray.
Murray is coming off a year’s absence due to an ACL tear. Spurs fans were excited to see if the hype around the point guard was legitimate, but so far we’ve seen little to nothing from Murray. That leaves it up to the duo to carry the load of the Spurs to the postseason. San Antonio just barely grabbed a postseason seed winning just under 50 games last season. This season may be worse as the Spurs are 5-9 right now with nothing to look forward to.
The stars are underperforming and the promise of a bounceback year for some players hasn’t delivered much. It might just be the end of that magical 22 consecutive postseason appearances streak. Unless things turn around, Spurs fans better be ready for an early end of basketball this season.
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This NBA season has already shown an abundance of unexpected rises and drops from teams and players alike. With so much more basketball to be played who knows if the frontrunners can keep up their performances or if those struggling have what it takes to climb out of their ruts and get back to true competition.