The NBA is currently witnessing the fall of a dynasty, and is waiting for another team to snatch its title, but who will it be?
The Golden State Warriors had a dynasty run that only a few teams have accomplished. In just 8 years, the Warriors, spearheaded by Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson, claimed 4 NBA championships while reaching 5 consecutive Western Conference finals appearances from 2015 to 2019.
They even managed to have a record of 73-9 in 2016, breaking the NBA record for most wins in a regular season. If that wasn’t enough, they would add the NBA superstar and future hall of famer Kevin Durant the next season.
Now it’s not like this team is completely dead, Stephen Curry is still one of the faces of the league, and at the age of 35, it looks like he’s gotten even better averaging 30.4 PTS.
A student at Verrado, Bryson Taylor, believes “The Warriors dynasty is over, and they need to start over by first getting rid of Klay Thompson, but keeping Draymond and Curry”
Although basketball is not a one-man game, former star players for the Warriors Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are boasting the worst season of their careers so far. Even if Curry is still playing at an MVP level, it will be hard for this Warrior’s team to make the playoffs in this stacked Western Conference. Currently, the Warriors sit at 7-8 holding the 10th seed in the conference.
So with this downfall, what NBA team is in a prime position to take the title of a “dynasty”? This choice isn’t very hard, the obvious answer is the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder have been in rebuild mode ever since trading Star PG Russell Westbrook, and now the league is starting to realize their overwhelming presence. Steve Kerr, the Warriors head coach, let it be known saying this about this young OKC Thunder team “These guys are coming. Everyone can feel it.” This is high praise from Steve Kerr who as a coach of the Golden State Warriors has won 4 NBA championships and was the NBA’s coach of the year in the 15-16 season.
The Thunder are currently 10-4 through 14 games of the NBA season tied for the 2nd seed in the Western Conference. You may think this is a lucky run, and that they will soon fall back down to earth, but you would be wrong, this team is just getting started.
This team has built the right way in just 3 seasons of rebuilding while some teams take centuries to rebuild, which is phenomenal. It’s unheard of. This Thunder team is going to be good and the Western Conference is going to have to run through them for years to come.
Led by NBA superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, this team is showing no signs of slowing down as they are on a 5-game win streak. SGA in the early part of this season is making a real case of being an NBA MVP averaging 30.4 PTS 6.2 AST and 6.1 TRB per game on 63% true shooting, these stats are superb but surprisingly they aren’t even the most
surprising.
SGA is averaging a crazy 2.3 steals per game leading the NBA, not only is he one of the best offensive threats in the league, he shows a great presence on the defensive end.
The second option for this team is only in his 2nd season, and he looks like he has been in the league for 10+ seasons. Jalen Williams in his second season is averaging 17.5 PTS 3.6 AST and 4.1 TRB per game shooting a TS% of 61%.
Then the newest addition rookie phenom Chet Holmgren has boosted this team into serious contention, in his first season he is carrying a statatline that the NBA has never seen before from a rookie. As a 7’1 center, he is averaging 18.1 PTS 8.0 TRB, and 2.3 BLK per game on 69 TS%. Chet Holmgren is a generational talent and he will be good for a very long time.
If this Thunder team can keep this core together with their unheard-of amount of draft picks in the future, there isn’t a possible way that this team won’t become a dynasty.
