The N.B.A. season unofficially began with a superstar’s trade demand before the superstar in question (Jimmy Butler) and his team at the time (Minnesota) had even convened for training camp.
Seven months and more than 1,200 games later, Magic Johnson upstaged the retirements of two legends — Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade — in unbecoming fashion by abruptly walking away from Jeanie Buss, LeBron James and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers through a chaotic hour of unscheduled interviews with the news media.
And there were countless dramas and controversies between those bookends, from the Houston Rockets’ poor start and near-instant divorce from Carmelo Anthony ... to the sad disintegration of the New Orleans Pelicans’ season after Anthony Davis’s trade demand … to the Lakers’ injury-driven collapse that ultimately prevented King James from reaching the postseason for the first time in 14 years.
Any chance the Raptors have of persuading Leonard to stay in Canada, after months of noise suggesting that the Los Angeles Clippers are the front-runners to sign him, would seem to depend on a run to the N.B.A. finals. The Raptors are indeed my pick to get there by winning the post-LeBron East, but the high stakes involved, along with Toronto’s tortured playoff history, will weigh heavily on this team despite its potential as a defensive juggernaut.
The pressure is even more tangible in Philadelphia thanks to the 76ers’ all-in trades for Harris and Butler. Those two, along with the sharpshooting J J Redick, are all free agents-to-be. It’s a lot for Sixers Coach Brett Brown to manage, especially when his best player, Joel Embiid, may not be available for the start of Philadelphia’s first-round series with the Nets because of a knee issue that has lingered since the All-Star Game. Whispers about Brown’s job security, as a result, are starting to circulate.
Uncertainty likewise smothers the Celtics, who failed to even win 50 games and openly grappled with chemistry issues after finding the reintegration of Irving and Gordon Hayward, the former All-Star swingman, far more complicated than anyone — Boston officials included — expected. Fears of a two-round injury absence for the rugged guard Marcus Smart don’t help, with the looming specter of Irving’s free agency and a possible trade pursuit of Davis adding to the tension.
The Warriors won’t refuse the help, either, because their veterans and coaches would undoubtedly argue that their regular-season grind is longer than anyone’s after four consecutive trips to the championship round. Ceaseless speculation about Durant’s potential free-agent defection to the Knicks or the Nets — yes, I’m indeed warning you now not to sleep on Brooklyn — has only added to Coach Steve Kerr’s daily challenge to keep his team focused.
Another warning: Don’t forget that the Warriors tend to find that focus quickly once the calendar flips to the postseason. So many of their last 82 games were billed as uncharacteristically joyless, but Golden State is 32-6 in the playoffs since adding Durant.
As long as Stephen Curry’s ankle scare earlier this week scare proves as minor as it appeared, bank on the Warriors to become the first team in 52 seasons — out of the 744 teams to reach the playoffs in that time — to make a fifth straight finals appearance. And then snag title No. 4 to cement themselves as indisputably dynastic.