While the Golden State Warriors won 73 games during the season before signing Kevin Durant, there is a belief from Draymond Green that signing him was more of a necessity than a luxury. 

"I don't think that would have continued on without Kevin," Green told ESPN. "Everybody started defending us a certain way, and it got a lot tougher. Every team in the NBA has started building their team to compete against us, to be able to guard us, to literally match us. So I think as great as it was -- and I have no doubt in my mind we would have been right there again -- I do also think it was getting way tougher for us to figure out.

"And then we added Kevin and it wasn't."

While the Warriors fairly comfortably won a championship in 2017, they very nearly lost to the Houston Rockets in 2018, and then lost to the Toronto Raptors in 2019 with Durant out for nearly the entire Finals. 

The Los Angeles Lakers have cycled through 12 different starting lineups this season as they've struggled to find rotations and a style that maximizes their roster.

The Lakers thought the combination of Russell Westbrook and LeBron James would lead them to operate successfully by playing fast in the open court. 

Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes that sources have indicated "the injuries and inconsistency have led the coaching staff to put everything on the table and ponder whether they have to change their high-paced plan on the fly."

"The Lakers focus too much on the names versus the games of each person," one prominent agent told ESPN after the loss to the Trail Blazers.