Some teams were going to talk about it; the situation was too ripe. A blockbuster has come.
In the summer of 2018, Masai Ujiri continued to think about the difference between a good team and a great team.
President Toronto Raptors built good teams; he even won the NBA Executive of the Year award in his third season as general manager of the Denver Nuggets. He built a bunch of teams with 50 wins. He built teams that won division titles. He built teams that went to the conference finals.
But Ujiri wondered: Has he ever really built a great team in Toronto – one that can legitimately win everything?
While he spent days thinking about what might have been the riskiest move of his career, he finally came to an understanding of the answer and then executed the transaction for Kawhi Leonard.
Right now, the NBA has a bloated middle class. There is a large group of teams, maybe even a dozen, that are on the verge of quarrels. They have a star or two. They have a way to get to the second round of the playoffs or maybe even to the conference final, if things go perfectly. They are good; they are not great.
This is where James Harden comes in and why his future could shape how this NBA season unfolds.