By Sam Lawler ’19, Staff Writer

Jimmy Butler to Minnesota. Chris Paul to Houston. Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to Oklahoma City. Gordon Hayward and Kyrie Irving to Boston. Paul Millsap to Denver. Chris Paul to Houston. Isaiah Thomas and Dwyane Wade to Cleveland. Ramon Sessions to the Knicks.

It’s been a busy NBA offseason with so many stars switching teams. The implications of all these trades and free agent signings will surely impact the NBA standings in a huge way, both for the 2017-18 season and for years to come. 29 NBA teams ultimately have the same goal—taking down the reigning champions, the Golden State Warriors, who have been dominant for the past three years and keep getting better. There were some teams who closed the gap on the Warriors last season, but do teams have enough to beat them after this offseason?

In an unofficial poll of Newark Academy kids, the pool of voters was split 50-50 on who would win the NBA Finals. Half said the Cavs will win the Finals, while the other half said the Warriors will repeat as champions.

But the Warriors remain heavy favorites to take the trophy home. While other contending teams like Houston, Oklahoma City, Boston, and Cleveland all made blockbuster deals to re-tool their team, Golden State kept it simple. They re-signed their two best players, forward Kevin Durant and guard Stephen Curry, to five-year deals. They were able to retain key bench players like Shaun Livingston, Andre Iguodala, Zaza Pachulia, and David West, all on relatively low-budget deals. They drafted Oregon standout Jordan Bell, who has the defensive potential to make an immediate impact. And on top of that, they signed Nick Young and Omri Casspi, both of which can contribute off the bench and provide even more three-point shooting. While many teams improved over the offseason, it is possible that none of it will matter if the Warriors continue to play at the level they have for the past few years.

Still, the offseason moves made by other teams did generate lots of buzz, and changed the present and future outlook for more than a few franchises. Freshmen Alex Fishbone and Chris Mulligan both agreed that Paul George going to the Thunder was the biggest acquisition that any team made. Paul George is a great player who is a star on both offense and defense. He, along with lockdown defender Andre Roberson, can turn the Thunder into a defensive-minded team that has a better chance to shut down the Warriors’ offense than any other team. George also lifts some of the scoring burden off the shoulders of reigning MVP Russell Westbrook, who averaged 31.6 points per game last year. The acquisition of George was also a huge factor in the Thunder re-signing Westbrook to a 5-year, $205 million contract extension, and a factor in Carmelo Anthony waiving his no-trade clause to accept his move from New York to Oklahoma City. OKC had a very successful summer, and perhaps have the best chance of taking the crown from the Warriors as the best team in the Western Conference.

With all of the pairings of stars that have been formed this offseason, the question has been raised: are superteams good for the NBA? Hall-of-Famer Michael Jordan, who is now the owner of the Charlotte Hornets, said that superteams will “hurt the overall aspect of the league from a competitive standpoint.”

Juniors Lauren Dougherty and Rahul Bendre agreed that superteams are bad for the NBA, with Rahul adding that “it makes the regular season and the first round of the playoffs seem irrelevant.” Rahul seems to have a point, especially considering that the Warriors lost just one game in the postseason before re-claiming their title.

Cavs-Warriors has been the NBA Finals matchup for three years in a row, and that is by far the most likely matchup for the upcoming Finals. There is no denying that the greatness of the Warriors, and LeBron James, has lifted NBA Finals ratings to heights that have never been reached before. But if the overall competitiveness of the NBA gets worse, and MJ’s prediction of the other 28 teams being “trash” comes true, the league could suffer both now and in the future.