The Brooklyn Nets are going places. They are on the verge of officially landing a super pairing with the impending arrival of both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
Irving to the Nets has been in the cards for some time. But the reports that Durant will sign with Brooklyn Sunday evening shakes up the entire foundation of the NBA.
Here are the biggest takeaways from this momentous news.
Nets are immediate title contenders
Even with Durant set to miss all of next season, Brooklyn can be considered legitimate title contenders out of the gate. The idea of teaming Kyrie Irving up with DeAndre Jordan is all sorts of sexy.
But there’s a lot more to this. Brooklyn’s core group of Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert, Joe Harris and Jarrett Allen was already playoff-worthy. Adding Irving and Jordan to the mix immediately and with KD set to join in 2020-21, the Nets’ title window is wide open.
Warriors will be just fine
Golden State made an all out effort to re-sign Durant, including offering him the super max. Heck, Stephen Curry made his way to New York City to visit with Durant one day before making his decision.
Sure the Warriors are going to be a shell of their former selves next season. That was always going to be the case with the injuries to both Durant and Klay Thompson. But now that Klay has decided to sign a max deal with Golden State, the title window in San Francisco is not completely shut. The core group of Thompson, Curry and Draymond Green will still be championship caliber moving forward.
The Knicks lose…again
It seemed to be a foregone conclusion over the past several months that Durant would head to the Knicks. As of just last week, they were odds-on favorites to land the two-time NBA Finals MVP. That obviously never came to fruition.
More so than losing Durant to an in-city rival, the Knicks are now on the verge of being shut out completely. They are not in on Kawhi Leonard. Kyrie Irving didn’t even give New York a visit. It’s just a continuation of what has been a disastrous James Dolan-led tenure in the Big Apple.
NBA is no longer west coast-heavy
This is an important takeaway. Even with the Toronto Raptors winning the title last season, the NBA has been dominated by the Western Conference. Super teams have been forming to catch the five-time defending conference champion Warriors.
Despite the Lakers adding Anthony Davis to team up with LeBron James, we can’t draw the conclusion that the Western Conference is where it’s at. In addition to the Nets, the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors will have something to say about the NBA title next season.