The Los Angeles Lakers were represented well in these 2012 Summer Games, with their main star Kobe Bryant as the leader of Team USA. The Lakers are one of the most well-known sports franchises in the world and Bryant is a very popular player on the international stage. Everyone understands that the Lakers will always find ways to create championship teams and mediocrity is never accepted in Los Angeles.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are a team ready to take the league by storm, but the young nucleus may have to wait a little bit longer. The Lakers revamped their team and the Thunder players had to tip their caps to the successful off-season of their rivals, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“That’s what the Lakers do,” Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant. “They have great management and ownership to make those moves come to life.”
“Was I surprised? No,” Thunder guard James Harden said. “Big market. The Lakers always do a great job of getting good players. It doesn’t take away from us at all.”
The Lakers will be criticized as severely as the Miami Heat were when they put together their own Big Three. The Lakers now have a Fantastic Four and many people do not like the idea of super teams in the NBA. The lockout occurred due to a fight between small and big market teams, but ever since the work stoppage, the grouping of talent has not stopped.
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The Thunder are a beloved team because the front office drafted its three main stars, Durant, Harden and Russell Westbrook. Even though David Stern would like franchises to become dynasties through smart draft picks, it seems like eventually the bigger market teams will have their way.
Signing superstars will become a regular and all the excellent players will all want to play in the big cities. The NBA is turning into a large market league, and the Lakers’ off-season just proves that some teams will always have the upper hand over others.
