1. LeBron James vs Kawhi Leonard
Are we missing a beat by not putting Giannis Antetokounmpo in this game? Probably, after both he and James have been the All-Star team captains over the last two seasons and a genuine rivalry is fostering, even if James leaving for the West and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018 didn’t help.
But the main event of the evening has got to be James vs Kawhi Leonard of the LA Clippers, because it is a matchup that has it is. Stylistically they are more similar to each other than Giannis is to either one of them, and their rivalry goes all the way back to Leonard’s time with the San Antonio Spurs.
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Leonard proved last season that he could lead a team to a championship, doing so in his lone campaign with the Toronto Raptors. He has now done this with as many franchises as LeBron, with the two now in the same city vying to make it a hat-trick of championships with different organizations.
That’s the other thing this rivalry has going for it, the already well-established overriding narrative of the two battling it out for the rights to own Los Angeles. The Clippers will never be the Lakers, even with Kawhi and Paul George on their roster. But with Leonard they don’t have to be, they’re doing their own thing and it could yet lead to championships.
It is the ultimate game of one-on-one. Leonard is the best perimeter defender in the league, while nobody has ever been able to fully slow James down on their own. Doing so is impossible. Both fall in love with their outside jump shot a little too much, although if you had to bet your life on one of these two making 10 3-pointers in a row, I’d go with Leonard.
It has the star names, playing in the biggest market, with championship experience on both sides. Two sure-fire Hall of Famers, still in or around their prime (LeBron’s prime looking like it may never end at this point). Plus it sets up the tantalizing sequel, which is what all good showdowns are supposed to it.
It’ll convince Kevin Durant to come back and get involved because if there’s one thing he hates it is being overlooked. He’ll be representing the now-overlooked eastern hub of New York through the Brooklyn Nets too. Durant vs Giannis, with the winner getting whoever comes out on top between LeBron and Kawhi in the pay per view event of the summer.