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The formation of NBA super teams is a vintage tradition dating back to the stacked Celtics and Lakers rosters of the ‘80s. However, individual players didn’t control their own destinies like modern stars.
The Miami Heat started this bromance era with LeBron, D-Wade, and Chris Bosh turning American Airlines Arena into their dorm room for four years. Kevin Durant was swayed to join Golden State by the togetherness of the Death Lineup (Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green) during his pitch meeting, and even the Hornets’ pairing of Boogie and The Brow was driven as much by their Kentucky connection as their on-court chemistry. Arranged bromances are being orchestrated around the league, but there are still superstars going it alone out there. These five pipe dream partnerships are unlikely, but they would undoubtedly prosper.
Nikola Jokic & Giannis Antetokounmpo
Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo created electricity like Tesla and Edison when they graced each other's presence as adversaries in 2017. As allies the two leading candidates for Most Improved Player of the Year would make sparks fly.
There was a time when two seven footers on the floor together would be given a nickname like the Twin Towers to emphasize their post advantage. The paradigm is shifting toward positionless basketball, movement, and floor spacing. Jokic and Antetokounmpo facilitate their respective offense by posting the third- and sixth-best single-season assist percentages for a player 6’10” or taller.
Yet, they're dissimilar enough to avoid being redundant. Jokic is the evolution of Draymond Green as a true point center who can pummel in the low post, shoot threes, anticipate open cutters, clean the glass, and score in volume.
Antetokounmpo is Diet LeBron. Outside the paint, his scoring repertoire needs refining, as only 27 percent of his attempts from downtown fall, but he has a 7’4” wingspan, freakishly large hands, and more frequent flyer miles gliding toward the rim than any player not named Westbrook.
James Harden & Kristaps Porzingis
Dirk Nowitzki originated the stretch-four position in Dallas back when Steve Nash was distributing the rock. James Harden is the 2017 analog to Nash, except he's put Mike D'Antoni's system into warp drive. Kristaps Porzingis is the evolution of the stretch-four proliferation Nowitzki began 20 years ago.
James Harden will win MVP, but he’s the lone All-Star on Houston’s roster. In the postseason, that will be their downfall. Porzingis has progressed quicker than anybody expected, which is amazing given that he hasn’t found his ideal place in the Knicks offense yet.
Porzingis and Harden in the pick and roll would be a devastating scenario. Go underneath the screen and Harden can punish his defender with a trey. If Porzingis picks and pops, his shooting touch is a threat. As the rolling rim runner, his ridiculous length and mobility already give defenses anxiety attacks.
Unlike Nowitzki, Porzingis also has the tools to be a force defensively. Harden has a penchant for escorting aggressive guards into the paint, and that’s where Porzingis comes into play. Porzingis swats away shots resulting from ill-advised forays into the paint like windmills mollywhopped Don Quixote. The duo would be limited in New York, where Phil Jackson is squeezing the embalming fluid from his tired and outdated triangle offense. In an era where Phil’s principles are in opposition to successful NBA offensive schemes, D’Antoni would take full advantage of Porzingis’s versatility.
Kawhi Leonard & Russell Westbrook
History will remember this season for Russell Westbrook’s triple-double average and authoritarian possession of the rock. A closer examination will draw attention to his awful shooting percentages and reckless abandon in clutch situations.
Among the 34 players who averaged 30 points per game for a season, Westbrook's 42 percent shooting average is third worst in league history. Even Kobe shot 45 percent from the field when he eclipsed the previous record-high usage rate. The hope is that Kawhi Leonard’s discipline and defensive tenacity can rub off. If Westbrook were as predatory in a defensive stance as he is offensively this would be a championship duo.
Westbrook sucks defenders toward the basket and prefers to kick out to perimeter snipers. Leonard’s catch-and-shoot proficiency fills a gap, and he’ll see benefits by receiving kickouts from a younger, weaponized version of Tony Parker. That energy Westbrook expends on offense could be conserved by deferring to Leonard.
There have been a slew of Baby Jordans or purported heirs to His Airness’s throne, but MJ himself has been quoted saying he sees a lot of himself in Westbrook. There’s something to that. Jordan experimented at point guard during the ‘88–‘89 season; it was Pippen who pushed him over the hump. Westbrook and Durant were too offense-oriented to coexist. In Leonard, Westbrook could discover his Baby Pippen.
Kemba Walker & Jimmy Butler
Toronto's Kyle Lowry and Demar DeRozan are the Eastern Conference's model for coexisting scoring guards. Anything Lowry and DeRozan can do, Jimmy and Kemba can do better. If that phrasing conjures up memories of Michael Jordan and vintage Gatorade jingles, then you can sympathize with Kemba Walker and Jimmy Butler. No matter what they achieve as individuals, it will always be overshadowed by a Jordan accomplishment.
Kemba and Jimmy have toiled in Jordan’s shadow for most of their respective careers. Kemba is the cornerstone of Jordan’s Hornets; Butler bears the burden of bringing a title to Chi Town. Neither has been very successful, through no fault of his own. There may not be a more underrated pair of playmakers with ice in their veins than Cardiac Kemba and Jimmy G. Buckets. Yet neither has had the benefit of playing with a healthy, vibrant All-Star. Butler’s a major upgrade over the Hornets’ Nicolas Batum, and Kemba is an improvement on the sputtering Derrick Rose, with whom Butler clashed in Chicago.
Paul George & Marc Gasol
During Indiana’s stretch of Eastern Conference Finals cameos, George spearheaded the stingiest defense in the league. Marc Gasol anchored a Memphis team that was branded Grit and Grind because of its backbreaking defense.
Until Joel Embiid can remain active longer than the black guy who dies first in every slasher flick, Gasol is still regarded as the best two-way center in the world. PauGasol’s brother won a pair of titles with Kobe, but Mike Conley is the only perimeter star Marc has ever paired with. After experimenting with Jeff Green, Rudy Gay, Matt Barnes, Chandler Parsons, and Lance Stephenson through the years, Memphis is in need of scoring balance in the backcourt. Enter Paul George.
George made his name as a two-way star, making All-Defensive teams every year since 2014, despite laboring through Frank Vogel’s dead-ball offense. Even without a primary perimeter scorer, Memphis has been successful at countering the pace-and-space offenses, and Gasol adapted to become a 38 percent 3-point shooter on 3.7 attempts per game. He took only three 3’s in 51 games last year. George’s sleek offensive repertoire would smooth out the remaining rough edges in Memphis.