The NBA is a matter of couples

Throughout history, there have been thunderous teams defined by their megastar pairing. They had much more, of course, but they were articulated around that 1+1=ring(s). The clearest ones are Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in the Chicago Bulls and Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in the Los Angeles Lakers. Duós who built dynasties at the expense of others who were left without glory. Ask Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp (Seattle Supersonics) and especially John Stockton and Karl Malone (Utah Jazz) about Jordan and Pippen. But you can go further back, of course: Bob Cousy couldn’t get the Boston Celtics to win until Bill Russell arrived and they forged in green the greatest champion in history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson are sacred legends of the Lakers; and the center had already formed another formidable duo before, when he was still Lew Alcindor, with Oscar Robertson in Milwaukee. LeBron James has been one of the legs of three champion couples: with Dwyane Wade, with Kyrie Irving and with Anthony Davis. We could go on: Kobe and Pau Gasol, Julius Erving and Moses Malone, Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain…

Today, the best teams continue to be built around couples who act as pillars.

Today there are super squads, big threes and quintets of death. But the best teams continue to be built around couples who act as pillars. Jokic and Murray, together since 2016 in Denver, demonstrated it again in June. Everything else depends on the chemistry between these two stars, without that there is nothing: the Sixers are foundering because James Harden and Joel Embiid did not find peace last season although they led the League in assists (Harden, 10.7) and points (the MVP Embiid: 33.1). Old and new couples, with many expectations and a lot of pressure, in first or last opportunities… and only one title, the one defended, hand in hand, by Jokic and Murray on their throne at Mile High, the more than a thousand meters of attitude of Denver.