FOR THE past several years, franchises have found ways to assemble superstars to make their title chases realistic. Truly an abundance of talent in one team gets things done, and several teams have dominated the NBA in their times.
Except for the formal trophy presentation, most basketball experts and analysts conceded the championship to one team in particular early this season, not only of the ridiculous talent they have but also of their bench strategists. Think of three superstars, six All-Stars, and a Hall of Fame (HOF) coaching staff.
Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan together in one team already make an All-Star cast. Add Steve Nash and Mike D’Antoni calling the shots from the sidelines, and you have the biggest names in one team, which had never happened to any franchise ever in league history.
But sometimes, the basketball gods have other plans that they have made, the Brooklyn Nets this year’s biggest failure by losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in a tight Game 7, and what could be considered an Eastern Conference Finals in itself. Maybe next year?
Of course, there were also superteams in recent memory that are projected to win it all but, in the end, went pfft. Here are some of them.
1998-1999 Houston Rockets – They had three Hall of Famers in Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and Scottie Pippen. Yes, they were legit superstars and HOFers, but age had caught up with them that they didn’t make it past the first round of the playoffs.
2003-2004 LA Lakers – This could perhaps be the most disappointing superteam in the NBA history. Bannered by Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton, the Lakers looked locked for their fourth straight championship. Though Kobe and Shaq were in their prime, Malone and Payton have significantly slowed down. They fell to the Detroit Pistons in five games.
2012-2013 LA Lakers – After their 2009 and 2010 titles, the Lakers acquired Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to join Kobe, Pau Gasol, and Metta World Peace. But Nash and Gasol have seen better days, Howard was not as dominating as he was with Orlando, and Kobe was left to do most of the scoring load. In the end, they were swept by San Antonio in the first round of the playoffs.
2017-2018 OKC Thunder – It had one of the best scoring trios in NBA history with Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Carmelo Anthony, but it did not produce the desired results. They lost to Utah in the first round of the playoffs in six games.
Superstars forming superteams are great, but they don’t always win them all./PN
