The Lakers and the Nets are fighting over old players
Last season, we had one of the most surprising finals ever. In a league where the Lakers, the Clippers, and the Nets were favorites to win the title, the Bucks and the Suns managed to get into the finals. However, next season the story might be different.
The Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers are expected again to be the best teams in the league. While the team from Brooklyn didn’t change a lot, the team from LA made some big changes. Rob Pelinka didn’t sleep during this summer – he was too busy making moves for the right players around LeBron, Davis, and Westbrook.
Therefore, we might have a Lakers vs. Nets final next year, in June. NBA published an interesting fact last night. These two teams have seven out of the top eight active players in career points. The Lakers have LeBron James (35,367 points), Carmelo Anthony (27,370 points), Russell Westbrook (21,857 points), and Dwight Howard (19,113 points), while the Nets have Kevin Durant (23,883 points), James Harden (22,045 points), and LaMarcus Aldridge (19,951 points).
Does this mean that the Lakers and the Nets have the best players in the league? In my opinion, no. This means that they have the oldest players in the league. Look a little bit at the Lakers’ roster: LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook, Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, Trevor Ariza, Marc Gasol, DeAndre Jordan. These are all players over 30 years old. In fact, someone on Reddit observed that if the Lakers signed Andrew Bynum, who retired seven years ago, he would only be the 7th oldest player on their roster.
It will be interesting to see how will the Lakers and Nets play this season. We all know that the NBA season is pretty long, 82 games, so it will be a hard task for the team doctors. But if they somehow get into the finals, the games will be incredible: LeBron vs. Durant, Westbrook vs. Kyrie, Davis vs. Harden.
*photo: sportingnews.com
