“That’s the thing about the old days, they the old days”…… should be the slogan for the playoffs so far. The sweeps of LeBron James and Kevin Durant’s ball clubs and Steph Curry missing out on the tournament all together, officially announces the end for a trio that dominated the 2010s. The dominance of young and unconventional stars like Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards and Ja Morant, to name a few, has meant that the NBA is able to maximise its success as the current faces of the league begin to fade away.

For LeBron, he faces an important decision in the offseason with a player option in between his choice to stay or leave Los Angeles. He understands, even at age 39, the unwavering expectations that he still faces while chasing the ghost in Chicago. The Lakers themselves face massive uncertainty with Head Coach Darvin Ham being fired two days ago, the inconsistency in performances throughout the season and whether they need to prepare for life without the King. The ups and downs of the purple and gold’s season can be tied to a mix of injuries and strange lineup choices from Ham that began with his infatuation with Taurean Prince for the first 40 games of the season. Injuries to Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt at the start of the season, are all reasons for the slow start that concluded in an eventual first round exit.

Next season, the team will still have Davis, Reaves, Hachimura and their own first round picks to potentially trade for a third star but could it just be that a team that has Lebron has their first or second guy isn’t enough to win a championship anymore? He himself has admitted that his basketball mortality is around the corner, stating: “not very long”,  when asked how much longer he will play. However, the only goal left for him to achieve is playing with his son and USC freshman guard LeBron James Jr who recently was invited to participate in the pre-draft combine. Likely to be undrafted, we are sure it would go a long way for LeBron to have his own team sign his son and showcase a stage for the pair to shine together.

Durant has had somewhat of an outstanding solo season, playing 75 games averaging 27ppg. Especially with star teammates Devin Booker and Bradley Beal missing time throughout  different parts of the season. The trio played their first game together in December, after Beal missed the beginning of the season with a back injury. The Phoenix Suns’ issues going into the playoffs were easily identifiable, a poorly assembled roster and a big three that didn’t have enough rapport together. Unfortunately for the Suns their three All-Stars weren’t enough, missing the ‘superteam era’ by almost half a decade, getting swept by Edwards, doing his best young Michael Jordan impression. At a time where the defending NBA Champion Denver Nuggets employ a roster with a dominant player, a non All-Star no.2 and several role players, Phoenix likely didn’t need to trade for Beal and would’ve been better off maybe keeping DeAndre Ayton or moving him for better 3&D pieces. Three players on all max contracts, with very similar skill sets who don’t play a lot of defence is definitely a recipe for losing out in the first round, which they did.

For KD, since leaving the Golden State Warriors in 2019 he hasn’t really had a signature playoff win during that period. Going 7-9 during his stint in Brooklyn and 6-9 during this current run with the Suns. It’s clear that the expectations have declined for the small forward with the sports media landscape accepting his request to just ‘hoop’ irrespective of the result, explaining his positive reaction to Edwards barking at him in a passing of the torch moment.  Team owner, Matt Ishbia, this week stated that 26 other NBA general managers would trade their team for the Sun’s which couldn’t be further from the truth. The team lacks flexibility with the majority of their first round picks with other teams, their only likely path to manage the roster and salary cap is by trading Durant. However, with only one small problem, the team was made to win now. As a result, probably bringing back every piece from this season, except maybe Head Coach, Frank Vogel.

The case for Curry however is different to the other two. We haven’t seen him without another major star since Durant not counting Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins improved performances during the 2022 playoffs. This season has been a source of frustration for the point guard, almost being brought to tears after Draymond Green’s ejection towards the end of the season. The Warriors began their offseason trading Poole for 37-year-old Chris Paul, signalling their last run at a championship. Except, Green’s 12 game suspension for punching Jusuf Nurkic, Klay Thompson and Wiggins’ continued decline and Steve Kerr’s rotations ensured that this wouldn’t be the case. Finishing the season as the 10th seed, losing in the Play-In game to the injury riddled Sacramento Kings, signed off the team’s reign over the NBA.

Steph will likely be back in the Bay next season. But Wiggins and Thompson have little to no trade value, with the former on a massive contract and the latter a free agent in the summer. Green has value only to the Warriors, young players like Jonathan Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski are the future, the team really doesn’t have many options. Especially, as Team Owner Joe Lacob stated his desire to reduce the costs for an organisation that isn’t competing for championships. Over a week ago, Curry was the recipient of the Clutch Player of the Year award, which only further supports the theory that he’s still got a lot left in the tank. He’s spent the entirety of his career with one team, is it worth ending the loyalty to follow a path that resides elsewhere. The co-stars he won those championships with are either gone, inconsistent or unreliable. No one expects Steph to force his way out of the Warriors but at this point in his career the last resort might be the best option.

We haven’t seen the last of these three as they team up, Avengers style, for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. At 35, 36, and 39 years old, it might be that we are likely to see a farewell tour instead of a championship parade for any of the three, which is sad to admit. These legends, for many fans, have provided core memories in their NBA experiences. This could be the end for them, unless they all team up outside of Team USA for one last final run…….