In most professional sports, star players are often enticed to play all or most of their career with the same team. It’s considered a legacy chip, and to use hockey as an example that’s why you’ve only seen longtime stars like Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamoks, Brad Marchand, Patrick Kane, and Alex Ovechkin only playing for one team. Youngsters coming into the league seem more and more enticed to sign long contracts to lock them up, a la Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, and Jack Eichel.
Then there’s basketball, where every single season it seems like some of the game’s biggest stars are ready to shake up the landscape of the league.
This is likely because basketball is a game dominated by stars, and in order to keep up with the latest superteams, star players are influenced towards teaming up with other star players to put a competitive team on the court.
In the last offseason alone, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul, Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, Anthony Davis, and Kawhi Leonard all joined new teams. That’s a group so full of talent it could almost be the two starting lineups at the all-star game.
Next season is starting to look a lot like the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, as every single week a new rumour about the Greek Freak emerges. The latest – according to some likely unprofessional lip readers – the Golden State Warriors.
This, of course, is all completely unconfirmed. In fact, if it is true, it’s not allowed under the league’s tampering rules. Regardless, it certainly got the rumour birds chirping and the photoshoppers editing.
(H/T NBA Central)
