The NBA season will test LeBron James ‘ability to defy age expectations, but fatigue could derail the LA Lakers’ ambitions

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It’s only been 71 days since the Los Angeles Lakers won the 2020 NBA Championship. The Lakers will take on Crosstown rival Clippers in one of Tuesday’s two opening games.

In the other opening 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 a significant role in the outcome of the season.

The Lakers are favored to repeat their 2020 victory, but as we go deeper into the season, fatigue can set in for a number of returning players.
The Los Angeles Lakers are favorites to win the 2020-21 NBA title, despite having only 71 breaks since winning last season's title.

The team was busy in the offseason, adding likely starters Marc Gasol, 35, and Wesley Matthews, 34, along with Montrezl Harrell, the sixth man of the year in the NBA.

The likely alert of the Lakers, James, Anthony Davis, Gasol, Matthews and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, seems formidable. But an average age of 31.6 at the opening night makes him one of the fifteen oldest rookies in NBA history.

LeBron James will turn 36 just over a week after the start of the season and, although he continues to defy the age expectations that affect the rest of the league, next season could be the real test of his greatness as a player and as a leader.

Giannis and Bucks

One of the biggest stories to come out of the offseason is the five-year extension of the supermax contract, signed by Giannis Antetokounmpo to stay at 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 remained loyal, saying on social media, “This is my home, this is my city. I’m blessed to be a part of the Milwaukee Bucks for the next 5 years. Let’s make these years count. The show continues, let’s take it. “

Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer told The Athletic that he hopes Antetokounmpo will continue to emulate other successful men on a single team.

“I know there’s probably more attention and more media when the boys move and change, but I’m thinking about the guys who stayed,” Budenholzer said.

“For me, a guy like Tim Duncan, a Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, guys like that, who stayed in one place and made their legacy win and win championships and win at a high level, wherever they have been developed, whether it is a big market, a small market. “

A championship would definitely leave a legacy in Milwaukee for Antetokounmpo.

The Bucks dominated the 2019-20 regular season, finishing with the best record in the entire league.

However, when the playoffs took place, the team underperformed, losing its opening team to the eighth-ranked Orlando Magic, before collapsing in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference against eventual runners in the 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 be worthwhile for both sides, he must bring the city his second NBA title – and what better year to do so than the 50th anniversary of his first triumph in 1971.

Will Harden go to Brooklyn?

After the initial defeat, James Harden returns to Houston. But for how long?
Although it is rumored that he would be satisfied with a multi-team transaction, the one that makes the most sense for Harden is for the Brooklyn Nets, where he could form a super team with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

With the three lined up in black and white in New York, the Nets would immediately become legitimate competitors.

Will James Harden stay in Houston for the 2020-21 season?

Even if Harden stays with the Rockets, the future does not look bright for the team and could be mutually beneficial for the end of the eight-year relationship.

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, scoring just 15 wins in 65 games.

Missing stars Steph Curry, for most of the season, and Klay Thompson, for all this, proved to be too much of a loss for the team.

In exchange for a disgusting season, the team won the second overall pick in the NBA draft, where the 7-meter, 1-inch James Wiseman center was selected.
Wiseman had a rocky year for Memphis, playing just three games for the Tigers, but his talent is unquestionable.
The Warriors face another season without Steph Curry and Klay Thompson lining up together again.

The following season was a hope for the team to prove that the 2019-20 season was a blip and that the return of Curry and Thompson, along with the addition of Wiseman, could see the team in contention again.

Unfortunately, this will not happen. Not because the team will certainly not be able to fight, but because Thompson broke his right Achilles tendon in a training session at the end of November and will stay the season for the second year in a row.

“I can’t sit here and say I’m fine,” said Warriors General Manager Bob Myers. “I trust our players. I trust our coaches. I trust our property. We will keep moving. We will never stop. But to be honest, it hurts. It hurts and I know our organization hurts. “.

Unless other players step up significantly, it’s hard to see the Warriors proving that 2019-20 was a blip.

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