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The rise of "Superteams"
Ever since Kevin Durant joined the Warriors in 2016, they have been labeled as a "superteam" and teams have since followed that path to sign top-caliber players alongside players they think need help in order to pursue the NBA Finals and, of course, to match up with the capabilities of the Warriors.
We witness each year when the Cavaliers trade players to help LeBron, but before the start of the 2017 season, we saw plenty of top players join teams that needed an addition to make them a "superteam". Here are some transactions that occurred:
-PG Chris Paul joined James Harden and the Houston Rockets through trade
-Jimmy Butler was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who already had one of the best centers in the league, Karl-Anthony Towns, and shooter Andrew Wiggins
-Paul George was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder to get Russell Westbrook help he needed and did not have after Durant left. On top of that, Carmelo Anthony was traded to the Thunder as well, which many thought would help them be the top competitor against the Warriors, but they lost in the first round of the playoffs against the Utah Jazz.
-Kyrie Irving was traded to the Boston Celtics. While the rumors were that he wanted out of Cleveland, the Celtics needed to rebuild to compete against the Cavaliers. Trading for Irving and signing Gordon Hayward will certainly help them with that.
Even with these trades, teams are not able to win against the Warriors or Cavaliers in the playoffs. The majority of these superteams are in the Western Conference, which gives the Warriors a path to the Finals that is a bit harder, but there aren't many teams in the East to compete against the Cavaliers.
