Ever since the infamous decision that brought Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and LeBron James together with the Miami Heat, the NBA has been a league where so-called "super teams" reigned supreme.
The Golden State Warriors took the concept to another level in 2016 when they signed Kevin Durant to a team that already featured three All-Star players in Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant.
With the NBA's tectonic offseason movement now seemingly at a halt, NBC Sports NBA Insider Tom Haberstroh ranked the top NBA duos, as KD's to Brohboklyn and the Los Angeles Lakers not being able to complete their mission to sign 2019 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard appears to have marked at least a temporary end to the "super team" ideal.
The Warriors' combination of Steph Curry and Draymond Green put the Warriors at No. 3 in Haberstroh's rankings.
This ranking might surprise some folks, but it shouldn't. No other team can flaunt an MVP winner and a Defensive Player of the Year in their primes. Putting accolades aside, Curry and Green complement each other's games in seamless fashion, solidifying their spot on this list.
Don't think they should rank this high? In the 868 minutes that Curry and Green have played without the aid of Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson or Andre Iguodala on the floor, the Warriors have still outscored opponents by 172 points, or 9.5 points every 48 minutes, per pbpstats.com. Curry and Green are still an elite duo. (For more on that, catch this BIG Number).
Most likely third candidate: D'Angelo Russell. Some might argue that this is a big three already with either Thompson or Russell representing that third slot. I'm not there yet. I'm taking the wait-and-see approach with Thompson's recovery from an ACL tear. Yes, Russell was an All-Star last season at 23 years old, but only as a fill-in for Victor Oladipo in a weaker conference. I don't like the fit next to Curry, but the Warriors have won championships and I have not.
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Although just about everybody has counted the Warriors out of the conversation in 2019-20, the team still features a combined 10 All-Star appearances in the lineup, without including Klay Thompson's five designations. If Russell picks up where he left off last season, he could be the catalyst that propels Golden State to another deep run in the NBA Playoffs.
