Contenders emerge in new-look NBA

By Jalon Dixon, Columnist

Opening night of the 2019-2020 NBA regular season is only two months away and the league has never been so wide open. With big name signings and trades taking place during this offseason, the NBA will be seeing some household names in some not so familiar uniforms.

Forward Kawhi Leonard and guard Paul George on the Los Angeles Clippers, guard Russell Westbrook on the Houston Rockets, and center Anthony Davis on the Los Angeles Lakers. And those are just the bigger names. In a summer where nearly 40 percent of the league’s players were anticipated to hit free agency, the NBA saw a shift like no other. What once was a league dominated by “Big Threes” and super teams now has an evenly distributed set of dynamic duos across the league that makes nearly every team a title contender. One could say that balance is back in the NBA.

The best part about the upcoming season is that there are so many storylines that an NBA fan can cling to. 

For the past four to five years all we have done is wondered what it was going to take to beat the Golden State Warriors. Outside of the 2016-2017 season, where the blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals, practically every NBA fan thought they were an unbeatable super team, and even that year we thought it was a done deal. Now that the Warriors have lost forward Kevin Durant to the Brooklyn Nets and guard Klay Thompson will miss most of the season due to injury, we finally have a season where the Warriors are not the odds-on favorite.

Led by forward Lebron James and Davis, the Lakers have a chance of winning their first championship since 2010. The Clippers could capture their first championship in the franchise’s history. Alongside other teams like the Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, plenty of NBA teams have a chance to climb atop the league and take the crown.

In the 73-year history of the NBA, this season has the chance to be more exciting than it has ever been. This a season filled with player movement, dynamic duos, a strong rookie class, and exciting young cores. With so much parody in the league, this season could be the start of a new era of the NBA.

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