2020: The Lost NBA Season?

The NBA season was postponed indefinitely on March 11. In many ways, the NBA’s postponement was a wake-up call to America. It was the exact moment many of us realized the gravitas of the situation. This global pandemic is a momentous time in our lives, perhaps the defining era of our generation. Lives will be irrevocably altered from the coronavirus — those who lived during the Great Depression became notoriously frugal — we just don’t know how quite yet.

But for just a few minutes, I want to focus on the coronavirus’ impact on the NBA season. As events are beginning to be cancelled deeper into the summer, we must start to face the reality: the NBA season is likely over. It’s the right decision from nearly every perspective, yet it just feels so wrong. As much as we want basketball and other sports to return, how can we commit any amount of healthcare professionals to testing athletes, coaches and team personnel when thousands of people are dying?

Frankly, this coronavirus’ timing could not have been worse as far as basketball goes. This particular NBA season was the most intriguing in years. The five-year Warriors dynasty was at least on pause. Individuals across the league were having historic seasons, unprecedentedly staving off Father Time, and the kids were, as they say in baseball, were playing. I wanted to take a moment and appreciate the individuals and moments that are on the verge of becoming casualties of the global pandemic.

LeBron’s Last Great Season?

During this extended time without live sports, I’ve spent some time re-watching old games. I watched the end of Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, Games 6 and 7 of the 2013 Finals, and Games 5 and 7 of the 2016 Finals. I even watched a high school basketball game from 2002 between St. Vincent St. Mary and Oak Hill. All of those games have one thing in common: LeBron James, at his best.

During the St. Vincent St. Mary’s game, you can see the world grasp the budding enigma of LeBron in real time. By listening to Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale as they are introduced to LeBron themselves, you realize very quickly that the immense hype surrounding LeBron, specifically being the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 16, was not only deserved, but perhaps undersold his talent.

Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals can only be described as LeBron’s first legacy game. He scored 29 of Cleveland’s final 30 points, including the last 25 to push Cleveland past the Pistons. He finished with 48 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists. In likely his single-greatest performance during his first stint with Cleveland, this game symbolized how he led arguably the worst supporting cast in NBA history to the Finals at just 22 years old.

People like to give Ray Allen all the credit for saving the Heat in Game 6 of the 2013 Finals and he deserves plenty of admiration for hitting one of the greatest shots in NBA history. But LeBron’s dominance throughout the entirety of the fourth quarter allowed Allen the opportunity to tie the game. Bill Simmons wrote back in 2014:

But the fourth quarter? I remember a bunch of things. I remember Duncan fading as LeBron ascended to an ungodly level. Stretch Bo Jackson to 6-foot-8, give him T-Mac’s streaky jump shot, Jordan’s competitiveness, Pippen’s defensive prowess and Bird’s brain, and that was LeBron dominating both ends for nine solid minutes. He fought off a slightly better San Antonio team, by himself … and then, just as unexpectedly, he remembered he was human and ran out of gas. 

The Legacy of Game 6 — Bill Simmons

In Game 7, LeBron casually put up 37 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists and drilled the dagger to lead the Heat to a 95-88 victory and the championship. The entirety of LeBron’s 2013 season is the best of his career. Games 6 and 7 of the Finals were just the icing on the cake.

You know the story about the 2016 Finals: facing a 3-1 deficit, LeBron dropped 41/16/7/3/3 in Game 5, 41/11/4/3 in Game 6 and 27/11/11/3/2 in Game 7 (including a certain chase-down block) to lead Cleveland to its first championship in 52 years and fulfill his promise to his hometown.

The only notable games from LeBron’s career that I haven’t rewatched (yet) are Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals (45 points on 75 TS%, 15 rebounds and 5 assists facing elimination) and Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals (51 points on 69 TS%, 8 rebounds and 8 assists).

I’m sure some of you enjoyed that mini-essay on LeBron’s greatest moments and I’m sure some of you stopped reading long ago. I did have a purpose. Everything about the 2019-20 regular season was building up to another signature game like the ones I described. The last weekend before the season was postponed, many of us lost our minds when LeBron put up 37/8/8 in a win over the Bucks and 28/8/9 in a win over the Clippers.

We won’t know what the 2020 playoffs in LeBron’s story would have been. We don’t know what the next chapter will be anymore. LeBron is 35 years old. He can’t do this forever. I’m certainly not foolish to count him out; Tom Brady only had three Super Bowls at age 35. But, if there’s anything this pandemic has taught us, it’s that nothing is guaranteed in life. This might have been the last great postseason LeBron had in him, and now it’s gone.

Kawhi’s Unique Quest for Back-to-Back Titles

It’s hard to believe Kawhi was a Raptor last season. I’ve honestly forgotten at times. To summarize Kawhi’s past 18 months: he was traded to Toronto, hit one of the weirdest/greatest shots in NBA history, won the championship, told the Clippers to sign/trade a superstar, signed with the Clippers and had a great season.

Kawhi had an opportunity this season to become the first player to win back-to-back titles with different teams. (Technically, Frank Saul, Steve Kerr, Patrick McCaw, and Chris Boucher have done so, but only Kerr even sorta compares to what Kawhi was doing.) It’s more than two teams in two years for Kawhi. It’s the fact that he chose not to re-sign with the defending champions and instead created his own super-team with the unpopular team in his hometown.

The Clippers didn’t have the regular season dominance of the Bucks or Lakers, at least by wins and losses, but they were undoubtedly apart of the NBA’s top tier. Kawhi had his 2017 playoffs cut short because of Zaza Pachulia, missed basically the entire 2018 season, and finally proved his greatness last year. This year, instead of Pachulia’s leg taking Kawhi’s legs out, it’s a global pandemic.

The Inaugural “Battle of Los Angeles“

The Lakers and Clippers have played together in Los Angeles since 1984. It has never even resembled a rivalry, nor a big brother-little brother relationship. The Lakers have played in 31 Finals and 12 since the Clippers moved to Los Angeles. The Clippers have been to zero conference finals. The best Clippers teams coincided with the Lakers putrid run during Kobe Bryant’s final seasons.

The Lakers are the Yankees of LA. They have the championships, the superstars, the celebrity fans, the global fanbase. Many of the games greatest players have donned the purple and gold: Kobe, Magic, Kareem, Shaq. The list goes on. Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Flea, Denzel Washington, Ice Cube and many more celebrities can be found at many Lakers games in premier seats. The interlocking “LA” logo is internally recognized.

The Clippers aren’t even the Mets. They have none of those things. They’ve never been to the conference finals. They’ve never retired a jersey number. The best era in franchise history was the recent “Lob City” era, which peaked with a blown 3-1 lead in the second round. Until Steve Ballmer completely rebranded the team, the Clippers spent the entirety of their Los Angeles tenure as the laughing stock and black sheep of the league under Donald Sterling. Even after Ballmer’s rebrand, their logo looks like it was created on Microsoft Paint. Cancelling the season of the Clippers greatest team ever because of a global pandemic is the most apropos way for it to end.

But this season was different. The Lakers and Clippers weren’t just good, they were two of the three best teams in the league. For all intents and purposes, the Western Conference ran through Los Angeles.

The Lakers have LeBron James and Anthony Davis; the Clippers have Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. As former #1 overall recruits and #1 overall draft picks, LeBron and Davis epitomze the Lakers. They’ve been household names since their high school days.

Kawhi and George meanwhile, were barely ranked as recruits and played college ball in the Mountain West Conference. They were drafted in the mid-first round — Kawhi did not even make the lottery — and spent a few seasons developing as role players on playoff teams.

Furthermore, LeBron has history with Kawhi and George. George made a name for himself going head-to-head against LeBron during his Heat tenure. This season essentially was the rubber match between LeBron and Kawhi after splitting the 2013 and 2014 Finals. They were chasing history, vying to become the first player to win Finals MVPs with three different teams.

It was supposed to be the kids born in LA versus the kids born to be in LA. Instead, we can only argue about whether or not the Lakers most recent regular season wins matters more than the Clippers two wins from earlier in the season.

Giannis’ Ascension from Superstar to All-Time Great

The reigning Most Valuable Player increased his averages to 30/14/6 this year in just 31 minutes per game. His per-36 numbers are absurd: 34.5 points, 16.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. With the postponement cutting the regular season short, Giannis will assuredly win the award when the selection committee casts their votes in the coming weeks. He was already well on his way before the season was condensed, barring a 40 point-per-game March/April from LeBron.

To put Giannis’ recent dominance into perspective, here are all the players who have won back-to-back MVP awards: Stephen Curry, LeBron James (2x), Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2x), Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell. Of those eleven players, ten are inarguably amongst the top twenty players of all-time. The lone exception is Nash. Now here’s the list of players who accomplished this feat by Giannis’ current age of 25:

• LeBron James 2008-09, 2009-10
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 1970-71, 1971-72

Playoff success is the missing section on Giannis’ Basketball Reference page. It’s the only reason sports talk shows haven’t tried to flash a hot take like “Giannis is already a top-20 player ever”.

He’s only 25, so there is plenty of time left, but losing this season is a brutal blow for Giannis. The Bucks had a clear path to the Eastern Conference Finals; only one series against Toronto or Boston (or maybe Philadelphia) stood between them and the NBA Finals. He earned the opportunity to perform on the biggest stage in basketball this June.

Renewed Eastern Conference Rivalries

The Bucks, led by the league’s MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo, improved in nearly every aspect. On pace for over 65 wins, the Bucks should march straight to the Finals, but how would they handle pressure of being the favorites?

The Raptors seemingly didn’t lose a beat without Kawhi Leonard. Their chemistry, confidence and coaching would give them a shot in any series. Could Toronto defend their Eastern Conference title?

The Celtics resolved their locker room woes and were rewarded with the emergence of Jayson Tatum as a budding superstar. After literally going right at LeBron as a rookie in the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals, how far could Tatum lead Boston this year?

The 76ers elite talent, but clunky fit become must-watch in the playoffs. They are the rare example of a high ceiling, low floor team in the modern NBA. Would they flame out in the first round or bulldoze their way to the Finals?

The Heat and Pacers are weird collections of talent, but also poised to take advantage if a top contender overlooked them.

If the NBA decides to jump straight into the postseason, the 76ers and Celtics, a popular preseason conference finals pick, would rekindle their rivalry in the first round. The winner would face the defending champion Raptors. The Bucks likely walk into the conference finals, but an admirable foe would undoubtedly be awaiting them. The “Battle of LA” would likely have been the best series of the playoffs and inevitably decided the Western Conference, but the Eastern Conference’s depth of talented teams would’ve been incredible to watch.

The Battle for the West’s Eight-Seed

The Grizzlies went into the “break” in control of the final playoff berth in the Western Conference. However, a handful of teams were hot on their heels. The Trail Blazers, Pelicans and Kings trailed the Grizzlies by just three and a half games, while the stubborn Spurs lagged by four games.

Could Ja Morant’s Grizzlies hold on to the final playoff berth? Could Damian Lillard bring the injury-riddled Blazers back from the dead? Could Zion Williamson elevate the Pelicans to the eight-seed? Could the Spurs extend their NBA-record of 22 consecutive playoff appearances? Could the Kings — haha just kidding.

If the season hadn’t been postponed, this race would have been the NBA’s top story right now. The Grizzlies and Pelicans were scheduled to play each other in consecutive games on March 21 and 24. We were stripped of Ja versus Zion twice in four days. In fact, we should be sitting in our couches right now waching Ja and Dame talk shit to each other for two and a half hours. (The Memphis-Portland game was schedule for April 5, when I wrote this sentence. But it sounds cool as hell so I’m leaving it in.)

Ultimately, the grand prize would be the right to be swept by the Lakers. But it would have been incredible to watch LeBron versus a rookie Zion or Morant, or go toe-to-toe with Dame again. I can live peacefully in a world without the Spurs or Kings in the playoffs, though. (Sorry, Shea.)

Luka’s Sophomore Explosion

The barely-legal Sloveian had been nothing short of sensational in his second NBA season. Those who said his years of professional experience before the NBA would limit his ceiling have been proven so wrong, so fast. Doncic’s averages of 28.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 8.7 assists rank sixth, nineteenth and fourth in the league. Taking a step back (pun always intended), his 28.7 points per game is the second-most for a sophomore in league history, trailing only Shaq’s 29.3 points per game in 1993-94. His 8.7 assists per game rank sixth all-time. Per 100 possessions, Doncic’s 41.7 points and 12.7 assists rank first and fourth ever among sophomores. Hell, even his 13.5 rebounds per 100 possessions ranks in the top-30 of all-time.

Doncic’s brilliane extends beyond his individual numbers. According to NBA.com, the Mavericks offense ranked first in the league in net rating by nearly 2.5 points at 115.8. Basketball-Reference has the Mavs offensive net rating at 116.7. Both metrics not only led the league this season, but would be the greatest ever. 21-year-old’s aren’t supposed to lead the best offense in the NBA, let alone NBA history. 

Doncic’s Mavs were almost certainly going to be one-and-done in the NBA playoffs. Their league-best offense would likely suffer in the postseason as the pace slows, defense becomes more intense, and veterans take control. Then again, Doncic isn’t like most 21-year olds. Every single statistic signals that Doncic is already a superstar. He has a legitimate chance to become an all-time great scorer and player. Who knows what he would have been capable of in the postseason? For what it’s worth: Michael Jordan’s legendary 63-point playoff game came in his sophomore season.

Chris Paul’s Renaissance

Chris Paul
140 “Clutch Points” this season! pic.twitter.com/GhcybWUXhZ

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) March 8, 2020

After the Thunder traded Paul George for Danilo Gallinari, 20-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and future draft picks last offseason, it was clear the Thunder were entering a rebuild. When they traded Russell Westbrook, the face of the franchise, days later for what many considered the worst contract in the NBA, it seemed like they were tanking.

The Point God had other ideas. The Thunder had an over/under win total of around 32 games before the season. In just 64 games, they won 40.

Calling Paul a magician in the clutch this season doesn’t do him justice — he was having one of the most clutch seasons ever. Among players who have played at least 20 games in clutch time, the top six players in Net Rating are on the Thunder, a testament to Paul’s on-court leadership. He leads the NBA in total scoring with 145 points. For those who care about #winz: the Thunder have a 29-13 record in these games, the third-best winning percentage in the league.

Similar to the Mavs, the Thunder were a toss-up at best to advance in the playoffs. The Thunder have a dangerous trio of guards in Paul, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Dennis Schröder, but a complete lack of competent wings after Gallinari. Regardless, Paul’s surprising re-emergence as a dominant crunch-time guard was one of the underrated stories of 2020 and he deserved the chance to compete in the playoffs.

The Unintended Historical Implications

I’ll leave you with a bunch of open-ended topics to think about.

• Does the Rockets five-week experiment with micro-ball merit a season-long test next year? Or will Daryl Morey and Mike D’Antoni be fired this offseason? Could James Harden potentially be traded if the Rockets completely blow it up?

• Will the 76ers give Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons another chance together, or does one (likely Simmons) get dealt this summer? Can Brett Brown somehow charm his way into another year as head coach?

• Since there would be no playoffs, all records and streaks are preserved. The Warriors five-consecutive Finals streak lives on, as does the Spurs record of 22-consecutive playoff appearances.

• How does the lottery work? Will all teams be awarded ping pong balls, or only the teams outside of the current playoff picture? Is the draft even going to take place in late June?

• As soon as the season officially ends, the Bucks can offer the super-max extension and Giannis officially enters pre-agency. If he turns it down, he will enter 2021 free agency. Could the Bucks try to cut their losses and get something in return or do they follow OKC’s 2016 playbook and focus on the championship?

• Kawhi and Paul George only have one more season guaranteed with the Clippers. It’s possible that everything the Clippers gave up to acquire George from Oklahoma City was for one postseason of George and Kawhi.

• Anthony Davis is technically a free agent as soon as the season is cancelled. With no viable suitors in 2020, he likely re-signs on a 1+1 deal to line up his free agency with LeBron’s in 2021. Thus, the Lakers could be facing the LeBron-era ending with one postseason trip in three years.

• My personal favorite: If the season does resume, are Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving healthy enough to return? If so, are the Nets suddenly title contenders?