The NBA has seen a lot of changes in the past four seasons. Back in 2016/17, the Golden State Warriors made a big move, luring Kevin Durant away from the Oklahoma City Thunder in a move that changed NBA history. Five years after that, they are struggling to be a competitive team again, led by Stephen Curry and Draymond Green in the absence of Klay Thompson, while Durant is part of the Brooklyn Nets alongside Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Blake Griffin.
That is not the biggest change we lived during the past five years, though, as the teams that were incredibly bad during that season are currently seen as the biggest candidates to play in the 2021 NBA Finals. Redditor “Hatarius” recently found out a very interesting fact about four teams that entered the race for the championship this season, the Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Phoenix Suns.
Hatarius reminded fans that these four franchises had the worst record in the 2016/17 season and now are seen by a lot of people as championship candidates.
The Nets went 20-62 (.244) and are now 29-14 (.674)
The Suns went 24-58 (.293) and are now 28-13 (.683)
The Lakers went 26-56 (.317) and are now 28-15 (.651) and defending champions.
The 76ers went 28-53 (.341) and are now 30-13 (.698)
Perhaps is a reach that the Suns are championship candidates now but they can surprise a lot of people if they keep their current level. Chris Paul and Devin Booker have created a very good association in Arizona and they could be a dark horse in the upcoming postseason.
The Nets have a lot of talent in their Big 4 and even though Kevin Durant has missed a series of games, the team is considered the strongest favorite to play come out of the East. They will have big competition with the Sixers, but now that they lost Joel Embiid to an injury, the situation could be bad for them.
The Lakers are also without their biggest star, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis was already inactive before that. It seems like the Suns are the healthiest team out of these four but there’s still time before the postseason. Once the big party starts, we’ll see different competition and will confirm if any of these actually lived up to the expectations.
