The NBA is an ever-changing league for sure. Each year, new faces will be in new places as a result of some absolutely ludicrous contracts that have been offered up in the offseason. Not that huge mega-deals are new to the league, but they sure have been popping up a lot more lately. In the past, these huge deals have created “superteams,” and these teams have been either very successful or quite the opposite. An example of success is the Miami Heat from a few years back. The Heat made the acquisitions of both LeBron James and Chris Bosh to go along with Dwyane Wade to dominate the league until James left for Cleveland two years ago. However, an example of a failure would be the Los Angeles Lakers from around the same time. Kobe Bryant was paired with both Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in what was supposed to dominate the West. Those plans never came to fruition, however. The most recent success story of a superteam are the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the combination of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, as well as other role players such as JR Smith and Tristan Thompson, they were able to capture the NBA championship last season. This offseason, another one of these “superteams” were formed, and the question is, will

Kevin Durant, former member of the Oklahoma City Thunder turned Golden State Warrior, received a huge contract this offseason. This contract not only placed him on a team with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, but it also made him the league’s biggest villain. He left the Thunder, a team that nearly knocked Golden State out of the playoffs late last season, to join forces with the defending champions of the West. Durant has probably been called every name in the book since the move, but the most constant one would be “sellout.” But, Durant wants a championship, and he thought that the Warriors would give him the best chance to accomplish that feat. However, many people have been asking if all of those scorers who demand the ball in their hands can co-exist on one team. Team chemistry is something that develops over time, and the Warriors will need to figure out if they can mesh together.

Another concern for having such a bolstered starting lineup is the lack of depth on the bench. The Warriors lost two of their biggest role players over the offseason in the form of rebounding specialist Andrew Bogut and also an all-around youngster in Harrison Barnes. Other players have been brought into play similar roles, but even in the early season, they have showed they won’t be nearly as effective as the players before them. Sacrificing some of the bench and their role players for a star is a high risk high reward situation. That star could end up really putting the team over the top, but it could also make the team lose a lot of production on the backside of their lineup.

The biggest thing in question for this upcoming NBA season is the potential for the Warriors’ success. Can they mesh together as a team and find that team chemistry? Can their starters overcome the lack of bench depth that they have this season? It’s far too early to tell, but it should be a very interesting nonetheless.