Think-Talk

“Everyone needs somebody,” right? Yes, we all need each other, but most importantly, we all need at least one person in our life who is our confidante or a balancer of sorts. For married couples, this person often is the significant other. But even married couples need a confidante outside of marriage. This person could be your parents, a sibling, or a great friend. Identify such a person in your life today and be willing to be accountable, as well as to listen, obey, and have mutual respect for one another.

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If you’ve been following the NBA lately, especially since the NBA Drafts, you would have noticed or heard the numerous musical chairs (I’m referring to the trades and deals!) going on. Despite the ongoing “tradeals,” I thought it would still be fun and interesting to see how much change each Team has undergone when the 2020-21 Season starts.

As our lives need somebody, so do sports teams. Each Team has the superstars who the rest of the players revolve around. I was musing a while back about keep my Loving Basketball posts alive during the League’s recess and this is what I came up with; the NBA Team Star Duos. Let’s talk and learn about who they are.

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Who are the Super Star Duos of each NBA Team?

I hope the Star Duos were obvious to you as you watched the recently-completed NBA games; restarts, playoffs, and championship. If not, they are listed below.

Basketball is a team sport. But every team has a duo super-star around which the rest of the players revolve. The duo players get more playing times than the rest, are the “face of the Team/franchise,” and this status is topped with mega contracts. A few of the teams have more than two, but primarily it’s always the main two.

Trivia

Before we get to the Team Duos, first, a little trivia.

• Do you know how many teams are in the NBA today?
• Do you know when the NBA started?
• Do you know how many teams the NBA started with?

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As of today, thirty (30) teams play in the NBA; 15 each for the Western and Eastern Conferences. Of these, only two (New York Knicks and Boston Celtics) teams have maintained the same name and played in the same location since the League originally started with eleven (11) teams in 1946! Click here for a chronological history of the NBA.

Going back to NBA Team Duos,

Team Duos

1. ATLANTA HAWKS Trae Young, Clint Capela.
2. BOSTON CELTICS Jaysun Tatum, Kemba Walker, Enes Kanter, Jaylen Brown.
3. BROOKLYN NETS Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant (though he sat out through the season), Spencer Dinwiddie.
4. CHARLOTTE HORNETS Devonte Graham, Miles Bridges.
5. CHICAGO BULLS Wendell Carter Jr., Coby White.
6. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS Tristan Thompson, Kevin Lowe, Andre Drummond.
7. DALLAS MAVERICKS Luka Doncic, Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
8. DENVER NUGGETS Jamal Murray, Nikola Jokic, Jerami Grant.
9. DETROIT PISTONS Derrick Rose, Blake Griffin, Christian Wood.
10. GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS Step Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green.
11. HOUSTON ROCKETS James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon,
12. INDIANA PACERS Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner.
13. LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS Kawhi Leonard Paul George.
14. LOS ANGELES LAKERS LeBron James, Anthony Davis.
15. MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr..
16. MIAMI HEAT Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder, Andre Iguodala.
17. MILWAUKEE BUCKS Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Eric Bledsoe.
18. MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES D’Angelo Russell, Karl-Anthony Towns.
19. NEW ORLEANS PELICANS Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Lorenzo Bell.
20. NEW YORK KNICKERBOCKERS RJ Barrett, Julius Randle.
21. OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER Chris Paul, Steven Adams.
22. ORLANDO MAGIC Aaron Gordon, Nikola Vucevic, Evan Fournier.
23. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid. Tobias Harris, Al Horford.
24. PHOENIX SUNS Devin Booker, Ricky Rubio, Deandre Ayton.
25. PORTLAND TRAILBLAZERS Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum,
26. SACRAMENTO KINGS De’Aaron Fox, Harrison Barnes.
27. SAN ANTONIO SPURS LaMarcus Aldridge, DeMar DeRozan, Dejounte Murray.
28. TORONTO RAPTORS Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Serge Ibaka, Marc Gusol.
29. UTAH JAZZ Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert, Bojan Bogdanović.
30. WASHINGTON WIZARDS John Wall, Bradley Beal.

Now you have the list. Can you identify which team belongs to the Eastern or Western conference? 😊

The 2020-21 season has been scheduled to start on December 22; in time for the Christmas holidays. I’m looking forward to a fun holiday. I hope you are too. Basketball is my outlet.

Again, lots of changes have taken place; some of the players have changed teams and some are still in the works. Play along with me and let’s try to match the players to their new team for the season. I think it will be fun.

Thanks for reading. I hope you learned a thing or two.