I Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer

Another NBA season has come and gone and we have a new champion as the Toronto Raptors won their first, ever, NBA Championship in a 4-2 series win over the two-time defending NBA and five-time Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors. Often, when a dominant champion is dethroned, the door is opened to a changing of the guard. While this season is no different, the manner in which said door was opened for a change of the guard is through changes of address.

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When the San Antonio Spurs won their fifth NBA Championship in 2014, it appeared the torch of their long-term dynasty would be passed from Tim Duncan and Tony Parker to then-third year sensation Kawhi Leonard. Leonard began to showcase the possible limitless ceiling of his talent with a breakout performance during the Spurs' series loss in the 2013 NBA Finals to the Miami Heat. Since then, Leonard was consistently discussed as a candidate or awardee of Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, All NBA, First Team, and other superlative recognitions.

Rumors abound, the relationship between Leonard and the Spurs completely deteriorated by the end of the 2018 season, stemming from a dispute over the rehabilitation of an injury. A return of Leonard to the Spurs for the following season was an impossibility. A trade was necessary. The beat writers ascertained Leonard wanted to continue his NBA career in Los Angeles, either with the Los Angeles Lakers, with LeBron James, or the Los Angeles Clippers, coached by championship coach Doc Rivers. The Toronto Raptors, however, upped the ante. Despite Leonard being in the final year of his contract, with absolutely no assurances (or appearances) Leonard would re-sign in Toronto, the Raptors traded their long-time, All-Star shooter DeMar DeRozan and other considerations to San Antonio to receive Leonard.

Realistically, the Raptors, always a bridesmaid but never a bride in the NBA's Eastern Conference, had a narrow, one-year window to win a championship. Against the long odds of getting over the hump in the Eastern Conference and dethroning the Warriors' dynasty, the Raptors passed through that window and hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy earlier this month. Leonard's message: enjoy today; I won't be here tomorrow.

Reports have surfaced that the chances of Leonard remaining in Toronto are "fading." Though Raptors President Masai Ujiri expressed confidence in retaining Leonard, his desire to play out west is no secret. Next week, Leonard is meeting with Lakers legend Magic Johnson and Lakers Owner Jeanie Buss. It appears the lure of being a God in North America's fourth-largest on a team with the potential to be a dynasty in the making pales in comparison to the opportunity to join LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the new Showtime Lakers or their arena-roommates, the Clippers, in Leonard's home town of Los Angeles.

The Raptors' championship will affect the balance of power. Toronto's success appears likely to open up opportunity for all in the Eastern Conference and loosening the grip of the Warriors' absolute dominance of the Western Conference.

Don't be sad, Toronto, because it's over, or that it was brief, or that it was expensive. Be glad that it happened. 1

NEXT YEAR CAN WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT YEAR

The Golden State Warriors assembled the most prolific scoring lineup and explosive NBA offense in recent memory with the one-two punch of the Splash Brothers, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, with a "supporting staff" that would occupy spots on All-Star rosters and in NBA Finals MVP memberships, including a probable future Hall of Fame defender and enforcer in Draymond Green. The problem? The best player on the planet, LeBron James was assembling his own championship contender in Cleveland, teaming up with All-Stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. Suddenly, what appeared to be a chance to win not one..."not two...not three...not four"...NBA championships for the Warriors was shaping up into a battle royale in the spirit of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.

The Warriors and Cavaliers would meet in the NBA Finals in the next four consecutive seasons. At the end of the 2016 Finals, the Cavs and Warriors each earned a title against the other. The Warriors appeared built to run through any team without LeBron. Then came Kevin Durant. The rest is history. The Cavaliers and Warriors would play nine NBA Finals games in the next two seasons. The Warriors would win eight of those games, earning back-to-back NBA Championships.

Due to a calf injury, Kevin Durant was invisible from the Warriors 2019 Western Conference Finals drubbing of the Portland Trailblazers and the first four games of the Finals series against the Raptors. "Bad" would become "worse" as Durant, clearly not recovered from the injury, ruptured his Achilles tendon in the second quarter of Game 5 after scoring 11 points in 12 minutes of play. The Raptors won the series in six games and the Warriors dynasty, as it was, ended.

Despite being very likely to miss the entire 2020 season, Durant and the Brooklyn Nets reportedly agreed to a four-year deal worth more than $160 million. The Nets also announced that they will sign All-Stars Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan. With the fall of the Warriors comes the rise of the Nets, not next year, but in the year after next. The Eastern Conference, overnight, can expect a titanic battle for the conference honors between at least three teams: the Nets, the Milwaukee Bucks and 2019 NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the Philadelphia 76ers with their host of young superstars.

NBA free agency...! To the victor goes the trophy. To the losers go the spoils.

The Eastern Conference's newest Big Three. 2

1) Image from the Japan Times. 
2) Image from clutchpoints.com.