By: Kenneth Harrison Jr.

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The NBA season is over and Golden State won another championship. I’m sure that surprised nobody. I have to wonder if dynasties are bad for the NBA? In addition, can a team be assembled that can stop them?

I have to admit Kevin Durant didn’t invent the super team. The 1998-99 Houston Rockets had Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley, two perennial All-Stars. It was a lockout shortened season and Scottie Pippen was traded to the Rockets in exchange for Roy Rogers and a 2^nd round pick in the 2000 NBA Draft (Jake Voskuhl was later selected).

There were chemistry problems with the three super stars. Despite averaging a career high in minutes per game with 40.2 and finishing 4th in the NBA in minutes played, Pippen averaged 14.5 points per game, his lowest since his rookie year, and he made a career-low 43.2 percent of his shots. He also averaged 6.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists and was named to the NBA All-Defensive first team for the 8^th time.

Barkley played 42 regular-season games and managed 16.1 points on .478 shooting and 12.3 rebounds per game. Houston finished the season with a 31-19 record. They lost in the first round to the Los Angeles Lakers 3-1. This is a perfect example of super stars teaming up and failing.

The 2003-04 Lakers are another example. LA won three consecutive titles before San Antonio won it all in 2002-03. Los Angeles responded by adding Gary Payton and Karl Malone to the roster. On paper, they seemed to be one of the most talented teams ever assembled but they lost to Detroit in the Finals, 4-1.

The modern template for great players teaming up is the 2010-11 Miami Heat. LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwayne Wade in South Beach. That team made it to four consecutive NBA Finals and won two of them.

We have seen examples that the perceived team with more talent does not always win. Right now, Golden State is head and shoulders above the rest of the league. The Warriors were 73-9 in 2015-16, which was the best record ever. They lost to Cleveland in the Finals. After that season, Durant joined them and the rest is history.

Now I have to wonder if anything can slow the Warriors down? Durant has said that he plans to re-sign with the team.

Mychal Thompson, former NBA player and father of guard Klay Thompson revealed that his son likely will not sign a contract extension with Golden State this summer.

That will drastically affect the team if Thompson leaves. Him paired with Steph Curry is the best backcourt in the league. He’s also one of the best three-point shooters in the game.

We do not have an idea of where Thompson will land. The biggest names in free agency are LeBron and Paul George. They are rumored to head to LA and join forces. Kawhi Leonard is still under contract with San Antonio but he is demanding a trade. Los Angeles is also his desired destination according to the media. Boston is also a rumored landing spot.

We will have a better idea of how everything will play out when free agency officially begins. I can’t foresee another team being able to overtake the Warriors in 2018-19 but we can only hope.