The 9 Biggest 2020 NBA Offseason Storylines

February 21, 2019; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) and guard Stephen Curry (30) celebrate during the third quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Sure. Why not? Despite the fact he will enter his age 36 season when the 2020-21 campaign tips off, LeBron James continues to defy logic and play at an absurdly high level like no superstar in league history has at a similar age. It’s not a new thought, but one that needs to be reiterated and celebrated—no player in basketball history has experienced a longer prime or played at such a dominant level for such an extended period of time than James. He’s a certified freak of nature and we don’t anticipate his performance falling off a cliff in 2021.

Los Angeles will almost assuredly lock up Anthony Davis via the supermax and he’ll be LeBron’s running mate—for the record, the best one he's ever had—for at least another two seasons. Fill in a few key pieces here and there and the Western Conference is going to run through the Lakers until LeBron’s body starts to break down.

The West was wide open this past season and you can easily make the argument that will be the case again next season. But when you bet against LeBron he has an incredible track record of making you look foolish. I most certainly did riding the Clippers’ bandwagon all season long so I bow down to LeBron and his incredible greatness. Until we see him start to resemble a mere mortal, the Lakers with the two-headed monster of LeBron and AD are the team to beat.   

Many thought the Clippers were the team to beat in the West. But continuity issues, a fractured locker room, and general apathy (seemingly) were some of the biggest reasons why LA’s other squad did not come close to meeting expectations.

Somebody had to face the guillotine and coach Doc Rivers, after yet another early exit in the playoffs as Clippers coach, was the one. We probably should’ve seen his departure coming, but it was still surprising that the Clippers—with such a short championship window—would opt for such a major overhaul when they only have one more guaranteed year of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. 

We still don’t know who will be Kawhi’s and PG’s next coach. But whoever gets the job will need to do a better job of uniting locker room that had chemistry issues and piecing together a second unit that appeared to be a strength heading into the playoffs only to come up small when it mattered most.

Listen, LA should still be right on the heels of the Lakers next season, but some of Leonard’s magic touch wore off when he had three cracks to eliminate the Nuggets and couldn’t drag his squad into the Western Conference Finals. 2021 will be a bit of a redemption campaign for the Clippers, but after a roller coaster season behind the scenes and a monumental flameout in the playoffs, nobody’s going to trust them when the going gets tough.  

Steph’s back. Klay’s back. And who knows what they do with the second pick in November’s NBA Draft—do they keep it or trade it for another star? But if you forgot that the Warriors are poised to return as Western Conference contenders next season, we’ll forgive you since it feels like the climate around the NBA has experienced 15 seismic shifts since the 2019-20 tipped 12 months ago.

Here’s your reminder that the Warriors will be a playoff team in the West with their sharpshooters healthy, a rejuvenated Draymond Green who will be invested again with his bros back, and you know the front office will do something to capitalize on a championship window that should remain open for at least a few more seasons. Curry’s 32 and coming off a lost season while Thompson’s just 30 and back after missing 2019-20 with a torn ACL. Both should benefit from the extended down time after five straight grueling runs to the Finals that took their toll. They’re still among the top offensive duos in the game and I wouldn’t bet against a healthy Warriors team competing with the Lakers and Clippers for Western supremacy if its executives can pair the Splash Brothers with a more reliable third option than Andrew Wiggins. Time to work your magic, Bob Myers.

Until Giannis Antetokounmpo officially signs an extension with the Bucks, the wild speculation about his future in Milwaukee will persist. And honestly, even after the Greek Freak inks a massive deal that could be worth up to $230 million over fiver years—he said he has no intentions of leaving Milwaukee shortly after the Bucks’ early playoff exit—that doesn’t mean he can’t and/or won’t change his mind and force his way out of town like so many other superstars have in recent years.

It feels like the Antetokounmpo-Milwaukee marriage is tenuous and easily could be headed for a divorce if they author another embarrassing departure in the postseason. On the other hand, maybe we should believe Antetokounmpo that he’s loyal to the franchise that drafted him and developed him into a god damn beast on the hardwood since he’s not from here and grew up differently than many NBA stars. Most people would wager the back-to-back MVP doesn’t stick it out with the Bucks because history has a million examples of a transcendent talent like Antetokounmpo eventually leaving a small market for one of the league’s marquee franchises. But Giannis is built differently and maybe, just maybe, he’ll end up conducting his business differently. Just don’t expect the wild speculation about him hightailing it to Golden State or Miami or another sexier destination than southeastern Wisconsin to die down anytime soon.       

Controversy has an uncanny way of following Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving everywhere they go, probably because the two are never afraid to say some wild shit from time-to-time. Now that the pair will be back on the court after a lost 2019-20 season and playing together for the first time—under new and unproven head coach Steve Nash—the grand experiment going down in Brooklyn will be dissected and critiqued a million different ways. Both are used to it, of course. But let’s hope the two superstars, known for having bunny ears and acute sensitivity to slick talk—whether it’s from the media or fellow players—can rise above the noise and ball out the way we all expect.

The Nets are on the shortlist of serious NBA title contenders next season because they feature two top 10 NBA players and an impressive supporting cast. Honestly, if they fall short of reaching the NBA Finals in an Eastern Conference that appears wide open it’s going to be deemed a massive disappointment by many observers even though there are way more questions than certainties clouding this crew. Does Nash know what the hell he’s getting into? Will Durant and Irving really respect him them after their recent podcast comments? How will KD and Kyrie coexist? Will KD resemble the old KD a year and a half removed from his torn Achilles when the 2020-21 season finally tips? Will Irving stay healthy? And what’s the O/U on ridiculous social media generated controversies emanating out of Barclays Center? It feels like the Nets will either be a bright comet or a glorious shitshow. No matter what, they’re going to be fascinating.   

Technically, the jury’s still out on whether Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons can successfully co-exist. While many NBA observers would tell you the Sixers need to break up their dynamic duo, it ain’t going to happen (barring the most ridiculous of trade proposals this offseason) because Doc Rivers just arrived to coach ‘em up.

Perhaps a new voice is really all that Simmons and Embiid need after Brett Brown’s words weren’t hitting like they used to. But Philly’s problems aren’t just relegated to their stars—financially, they’re screwed with a mismatched rosters and owners of two of the worst contracts in the league given to Tobias Harris and Al Horford two summers ago. It’s going to take all of Rivers’s coaching powers to tap into the Sixers’ potential to be a wreaking ball in the East.

Maybe I’m wrong here, but this kind of feels like it’s the beginning of the final stand of Simmons and Embiid. Some will tell you Philly should trade Embiid and keep Simmons because the point guard is a jump shot away from being a baby LeBron James. Others think it would be a mistake giving up on the one of the most offensively gifted bigs in Embiid. Logic would tell you in today’s NBA Simmons is the more valuable player with the higher ceiling so it feels like the Sixers would be prudent to prioritize building around Simmons. And that could very well happen next offseason after another campaign full of injuries and drama that’s punctuated by a disappointing flameout in the postseason. 

Most experts agree this is not an overly impressive draft class. LaMelo Ball, who could go first to Minnesota or third to the Hornets, is the one name everyone’s going to be focused on for reasons I think are pretty obvious. But for once, the intrigue isn’t necessarily on who will go first overall, but rather what Golden State does with its selection at No. 2. Do the Warriors keep the pick and chose a need or go with the best player available or do they trade the pick for another veteran star?

We laid out back in August why it seems preposterous the Warriors hang onto the pick, but the Golden State front office is one of the smarter ones in the league and they’ve done well evaluating talent—especially in the later rounds—in a number of drafts and maybe they completely surprise us and pick a young, athletic big to plug into the lineup. There are plusses and minues to every scenario, but if I was a betting man I’d wager on the Warriors dealing the No. 2 pick. 

The best available free agent this offseason is Anthony Davis. But if you think he’s signing with anyone other than the Lakers for the supermax you need to quit taking Quaaludes. The Lakers are going to lock up their star for the foreseeable future and the drop off after Davis in terms of franchise-altering talent is precipitous.

The next biggest name on the market is arguably Brandon Ingram and he’s a restricted free agent, meaning the Pelicans can match any offer for him—and most likely will. The next biggest name after Ingram is maybe DeMar DeRozan? But he has a player option with the Spurs. Same goes for Andre Drummond and the Cavs. Same goes for Gordon Hayward and the Celtics. Fred VanVleet and Montrezl Harrell are unrestricted free agents.

Those are some nice names—a few All-Stars and potentially future ones. But 2020 free agency will be nothing like 2019 when Anthony Davis was traded to the Lakers, Russell Westbrook was packaged to Houston, Kawhi Leonard shook up the NBA by signing with the Clippers—who also traded for Paul George at Leonard’s request—Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving took their talents to Brooklyn, Jimmy Butler left Philly to play in Miami, and Kemba Walker became a Celtic. 

For the collective bargaining agreement nerds out there, we're still awaiting word on how much the pandemic will affect the salary cap next season. 

Your guess is as good as anybody’s because NBA has no clue right now. Commissioner Adam Silver hasn't been afraid to admit that since he’s laid out multiple times all the reasons why the league probably isn’t beginning the 2020-21 (or should it just be the 2021 season?) until January at the earliest. And more likely February at this point. For starters, the league needs to give itself and its players some downtime after an arduous three months in the bubble that required a herculean effort by all to pull off. They also want to give the country time to get its shit together and get a better hold on the pandemic so fans can be welcomed back into arenas in every market.

Because the NBA needs fans back in the stands. The league lost a ton of basketball related income and its preposterous to think the NBA is going to coordinate some kind of bubble for the entire regular-season. Nobody with knowledge or insight into the league’s thinking has mentioned that as a real possibility. What the league pulled off down in Orlando was historic and commendable. It worked better than almost all of us could’ve imagined. But it can’t be replicated for a full-season with all 30 teams participating for a litany of reasons.

The NHL says its returning in January and my guess is you see the NBA back in February. That means no ball on Christmas for the first-time in forever, which is disappointing. But hopefully a start date in February means by that time there will be better testing, improved safety measures, and a better handle on the coronavirus allowing the NBA to get comfortable with a new normalcy that doesn’t eat away at billions of dollars in revenue.