Brooklyn Nets started the 2020-21 season among the favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA finals, led by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving’s All-Star duo backed by a robust supporting cast of talented players. After acquiring another All-NBA player, James Harden of the Houston Rockets, expectations that the Nets will win the championship have only increased.
As Stephen A. Smith said on ESPN’s Get Up, “now it’s the NBA Finals or burst” for the Nets.
Prior to the deal, the Nets were trailing the Milwaukee Bucks, the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA championship odds at BetMGM. Now with Harden, the Nets lag behind the Lakers as the second listed team.
LeBron James, who is often credited with launching the super-team era after leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 as a free agency to join fellow All-Stars Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in South Beach, was asked to voice his thoughts on the trade.
James didn’t have much to say and admitted that he is mainly focused on what’s going on with the Lakers.
“Obviously, business and things happen every year, and for me, my main focus is on what we do here and how we can continue to improve, and that’s what happened today,” James told reporters. “The exchange took place today, but I couldn’t afford it knowing that we had a team that we were going to have to play tonight, so my main focus was Thunder.”
LeBron and the Lakers will encounter the new look of the Nets for the first time on February 18 at the Staples Center.